The issue of concussion and head injury in sport continues to gain media attention. It is an area SSA has been involved with for a number of years. Our work has focused on football via Rezzil’s Player 22 VR heading system and rugby, American football and Australian rules via HITIQ.
As for so many, 2021 was another Covid-19 affected year for Sport Science Agency and its staff. In the UK, crowds were absent from major sporting fixtures until May. Even after they returned numbers remained restricted. As the year progressed, however, restrictions were gradually removed and for many, a welcome return of events and full capacity stadia brought the sports industry surging back to life.
The issue of fixture congestion and player welfare, perhaps predictably, came back to the fore recently as it seems to at this time every year. Multiple managers, and most notably Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, have spoken out about the demands on players during the festive period. The usual debates surrounding fatigue, recovery, and injury have now been heightened by squad depletion that has hit many teams due to Covid-19.
Recent comments from Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has given player welfare a greater spotlight. Fixture congestion, injury, illness and obviously Covid-19 make his comments difficult to ignore.
Take a look at the video below to see SSA’s Dr Tom Brownlee discussing the matter with the BBC’s Olly Foster on Sports Day.
The signing, by Manchester United, of Cristiano Ronaldo, created considerable media coverage. The nature of the transfer, with the Red Devils seemingly snatching him from under the noses of cross-city rivals Manchester City only heightened the intrigue. In modern football, signing a player with a global reach and appeal such as Ronaldo heightens any club’s commercial opportunities. Ronaldo is the most followed person on Instagram meaning club partners are set to benefit from increased exposure and value across numerous metrics.
The British & Irish Lions brings together the best players from four nations to create an All-Star team. Performance staff are also picked from across the home unions and meet up with the team only weeks before the tour begins.
This week saw a major step forward with Vodafone, as part of its partnership with the British & Irish Lions, unveiled its new PLAYER.Connect system. PLAYER.Connect takes advantage of Vodafone’s connectivity and Internet of Things (IoT) technology to allow the integration of multiple wearable data sources into one performance dashboard.
A new blog from guest writer and sports communications expert Aaron Gales.
Another game and another series of records broken by Cristiano Ronaldo. Two goals for Portugal in their 3-0 victory in their opening Euro 2020 game against Hungary saw Ronaldo become the first player to play in five consecutive European Championships and break the competition’s all-time scoring record, one he had previously shared with Michel Platini.
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.
As many expected, Alun Wyn Jones will captain the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour as they take on Japan and then World Champions South Africa this summer. Much media hype and speculation surrounded the announcement but as a three-tour veteran, which includes experience of leading the triumphant third test in 2013 against Australia the Welsh captain’s selection was not a huge surprise.
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. Ongoing research that identifies a link between heading and dementia in football draws major attention here in the UK. Additionally, a recent legal case brought against the RFU, WRU and World Rugby alleging failure to protect against the risk of concussion will have serious ramifications for the game no matter what the outcome.
It is pre-season for Formula 1 right now, so if you are a fan, your social media will be awash with images of the 2021 cars and the drivers getting in condition for the year ahead. Over the years the fitness demands of racing a Formula 1 car have changed considerably. While drivers are still able to enjoy a glamorous lifestyle, their focus has had to shift somewhat to ensure they are physically and mentally able to maximise the capabilities of the cars. Driving talent is no longer enough to ensure a seat at the pinnacle of motorsport.
The 2020 Australian Open was the last tennis grand slam to be played without the major impact of Covid-19. The subsequent slams that year were either cancelled (Wimbledon), postponed (French Open) or suffered from major player withdrawals (US Open). As the top-flight tennis returns to Melbourne and the pandemic remains, it is not surprising that the movement of over 1,000 people associated with the Open into Australia has come with serious complications.
In March 2020, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, and the Prime Minister of Japan, Abe Shinzo, held a press conference call announcing that the Tokyo 2020 Games would be postponed until no later than the summer of 2021. As we enter 2021 and the end of the Covid-19 pandemic comes into sight, all parties are still insistent that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad will go ahead.
Since March and the dawning realisation of the seriousness of Covid-19, 2020 has presented challenges for sport scientists. At the elite end of the profession, event cancellations, postponements and lockdowns inhibited training and monitoring plans. For those that use exercise as a health intervention, social restrictions interrupted programmes and the worry of increasing sedentary behaviour caused concern particularly among older and isolated groups. In this blog, Sport Science Agency will take a look back at some of the key developments that have shaped sports science in 2020.
With the ending of the UK’s month-long autumn COVID-19 national lockdown, the government has moved to continue its tentative steps back towards normality by allowing crowds to return to sporting fixtures. Inevitably, the focus has fallen on football with clubs in tiers 1 and 2 areas allowed to welcome 4,000 and 2,000 fans respectively.
Sport Science Agency’s John Mulcahy, Alex Skelton and Sport Scientist Tom Brownlee discuss the value and opportunities that performance programmes offer sports marketers.
Ensuring credible and insightful content by working with performance experts is the key to success…
