The Scottish Premiership has been named one of the LEAST aggressive leagues in world football.

Despite its apparent reputation for being rough-and-tumble, our top-flight actually is among the lowest aggressors in terms of cards shown per match in the world.

According to the CIES Football Observatory, the Scottish Premiership averages just 3.44 yellow cards per game and only 0.2 reds in the same timespan.

READ MORE: Celtic among top ten cleanest sides in European football with less than 10 fouls per match

By comparison, the Bolivian Primera Division is the most aggressive with an average of 7.01 cards per game including 6.53 yellows and around one red every second game.

In terms of Scotland's clubs within the top league, Motherwell are the dirtiest by way of cards, averaging 2.31 cards per match. Ross County fall just shy with 2.30 per game, coming second in the table compiled by CIES.

Champions Celtic are the least aggressive side with just 1.11 cards per game, coming in at 1.07 for yellows and 0.04 for red cards.

Top 10 most aggressive:

  1. Primera Division (Bolivia)
  2. Primera Division (Uruguay)
  3. Liga Nacional (Guatemala)
  4. Primera Division (El Salvador)
  5. Primera A (Colombia)
  6. UPL (Ukraine)
  7. Liga Pro (Ecuador)
  8. Primera Division (Peru)
  9. Superliga (Argentina)
  10. Serie A (Italy)

Top 10 least aggressive: 

  1. J League (Japan)
  2. Eliteserian (Norway)
  3. V League (Vietnam)
  4. Premier League (Canada)
  5. K League (South Korea)
  6. Eredivisie (Holland)
  7. Allsvenskan (Sweden)
  8. Premiership (Scotland)
  9. A Lyga (Lithuania)
  10. Premier League (England)

Scottish Premiership top 10 most aggressive sides:

  1. Motherwell (2.31 average)
  2. Ross County (2.30 average)
  3. Hearts (2.26 average)
  4. Hibs (1.93 average)
  5. Livingston (1.93 average)
  6. Hamilton Accies (1.85 average)
  7. Kilmarnock (1.85 average)
  8. Aberdeen (1.70 average)
  9. Rangers (1.65 average)
  10. St Johnstone (1.62 average)
  11. St Mirren (1.31 average)
  12. Celtic (1.11 average)