New moves by the Premier League to remove betting firms as front of shirt sponsors have gained significant headlines in recent days.
Since the announcement, sports business experts have speculated about the consequences of this decision. Limiting the sponsorship options for one of the industry’s major partnership categories is likely to have a significant impact.
Preparations for France’s World Cup final appearance vs Argentina have been seemingly hit by an outbreak of illness amongst the squad. Prior to their semi-final, reports started to emerge that players were unwell. Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot missed the 2-0 victory over Morocco with the France Football Federation (FFF) confirming the reason both players were absent was due to illness.
Concussion and brain trauma are emotive subjects in sport. As research continues to uncover the impact that traumatic head injuries have, discussions about safety and the long term health of players will only get louder. In the USA, as early as 1906 doctors were publishing papers highlighting the dangers of concussion linked to playing American Football. In the UK, ongoing research that identifies a link between heading and dementia in football has drawn major attention.
It’s been a turbulent few weeks in the UK. U-turns and diversions have been front and centre of the news agenda. It seems U-turns come at considerable cost in many walks of life. In a sporting context, turning, particularly at high speed and repeatedly come at a significant physiological cost. Fortunately, a new paper evaluating the turning demands of a Premier League team has recently been published and could help create a new understanding of this vital performance metric.
A few weeks ago we wrote a blog that highlighted the danger of pseudoscience. That article focused on how products and activities that don't stand up to scientific rigour can harm the industry and individuals. The issue put simply, is that by offering quick fixes and false hope, people don’t engage in proven strategies to support health or performance gains and therefore miss out on benefits in either health or performance.
In just under a month, England will host the 2022 UEFA Women’s European Championships. The event will draw the best players from across the continent and is set to break records in terms of both live attendance and TV viewership. Reigning Champions Netherlands, currently ranked 5th in the world, will seek to defend their title against the historic powerhouse of European football, Germany (ranked 4th) and the number 2 and 3 ranked nations Sweden and France respectively.
Good news for England football fans dreaming of being in the stadium to witness ‘football coming home’. After recent success with a raft of pilot schemes, the UK Government has announced an increase in the number of fans able to attend Euro 2020 matches at Wembley. The increase means the home of English football will, from the knockout stages onward, allow attendances of up to 45,000 fans, equal 50% of capacity.
As restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic ease further in the UK, football fans will once again be allowed into stadiums for the final few games of the season. The new regulations, announced by the government, will see only home fans allowed to attend and limits of up to either 25% capacity of the stadium or 10,000 people, whichever is the smaller.
This week the Carabao Cup returned to action and instantly added to the pressure on José Mourinho as Manchester United were knocked out of the competition on penalties by Derby County.
Penalties are an increasingly important factor in domestic knockout competitions. The format of the FA Cup and Carabao Cup has been changed to reduce crowded fixture lists of clubs playing in European competition . In the Carabao Cup replays and extra time have been abolished in the early rounds, whilst In the FA Cup penalties are used to decide the outcome of matches from the quarter finals onwards (if the match and extra time ends in a draw).
Prior to this summer’s World Cup Gareth Southgate said when asked about the ‘lottery’ of penalties, “it’s not about luck. It’s not about chance. It’s about performing a skill under pressure. There are individual things you can work on within that.”
Some research suggests that an area to be considered is the colour of the kit kit. Back in 2005 research was produced highlighting the seemingly positive effects of wearing red in sporting situations. In the study, Hill & Barten showed that fighters were more likely to win when wearing a red vest verses a blue one. This was followed by a study featuring some of the same authors showing that red kits were associated with better home performance in English football (Attrill et al, 2008).
The theory of colour equating to performance benefit has even been examined relating to penalty success. Greenlees et al, (2008) reported that goalkeepers thought their chances of saving a penalty were lower when the taker was wearing red. Perhaps Southgate was aware of this in the summer, as England whilst wearing all red won their fist ever penalty shoot out at a World Cup.
As Manchester United’s players strode forward against Derby to take their penalties, seemingly the research was on their side. Not only is red associated with success but the comparison group in the Greenlees study was wearing white, similar enough to the light grey worn by Derby’s players.
After 15 penalties Phil Jones walked up to the spot. Flashing through his mind must have been the more recent research featuring German goalkeepers’ perception of success (Furley et al, 2012). This study showed no perceptual advantage for the taker when wearing red. The German keepers were much more influenced by the body language of the taker when considering how successful they felt they would be in saving the penalty.
Jones missed the decisive spot kick with the poorest effort of the night. Ultimately, at the upper echelons of sport the details matter. But the fundamentals matter more and in the likes of Frank Lampard and Gareth Southgate we are seeing managers who understand the value of sport science in enhancing these performance fundamentals.
Lampard spoke after the game regarding his team’s penalty practice the day before the match, knowing it was a likely factor in the outcome of the fixture. Southgate spoke extensively about the preparation needed to win a penalty shootout on the world stage.
Where previous generations have stuck to the ‘you can’t practise penalties’ line. This new breed of elite coaches understand the value of deliberate, structured and focused practice in order to achieve the best outcome possible.
Sport science plays a significant role in modern sporting performance. Fans, in particular, are fascinated to hear about the margins often attributed to the latest technological developments and equipment innovations. Sometimes however, sport science’s greatest value is to enhance the fundamentals of training and preparation rather than tell you what colour shirt to wear.
Sport Science Agency works with brands, broadcasters, rights holders and agencies to create insight, experiences and content from the latest sport science research. If you want to know more just drop us a note via info@sportscienceagency.com and we can arrange to go for a healthy performance boosting drink.
As English football enters the most congested period of the season all the usual debates about player fatigue and injury prevention have started. Managers talk about player welfare and the need for ample recovery time. Add to this the increasing tactical maturity of the Premier League and it is not surprising that managers, coaches and players often voice disapproval regarding the short turnaround times between games at this time of year.
