milo
Jack L. Jones
An interesting read I thought
http://gu.com/p/4b4ty
In February, football’s lawmakers approved the analysis of a player’s performance during live matches, via a tracking device in the shirt. So what impact will this have on a player’s health, game management – and the half-time team talk.
The Fifa Women’s World Cup final this summer was remarkable, and not just because England came within one game of playing in it. One in 12 Americans watched at least part of the game live, making it the most watched football game in US history, while Team USA secured a record third title, thanks in no small part to their midfielder Carli Lloyd scoring a 13-minute hat-trick. The third of these saw her lob the Japanese goalkeeper from the halfway line.
Less obvious, but possibly of more significance, were the small black gadgets about the size of an old Nokia mobile phone that the winning players were wearing between their shoulder blades. The final was the first major international match since the laws of the game were changed in February to allow players to wear performance-tracking devices during a match.
Many believe it is only a matter of time before the technology is given the go-ahead in the Premier League and other major competitions. While managers have had access to post-match data analysis for years, the ability to use it to inform tactical changes and substitutions during the game represents a major shake-up in the world’s most popular sport.
And it’s not the only way in which science is muscling in on what has traditionally been the domain of managers and their coaching staff.
DATA
Modern football data analysis has its origins in a video-based system that used computer vision algorithms to automatically track players. Developed 20 years ago in France, as a tool for broadcasters, it was adapted as a coaching aid and first used at Derby County in 1998 by Leeds-based company Prozone. This and other video tracking systems use multiple cameras inside stadiums, and human operators who manually record data, to gather information on things such as possession, passes, tackles, runs, interceptions and shots.
“Until recently, it was very much about collecting data on what had happened, without looking at why it had happened,” says Paul Power, a data scientist at Prozone. Power cites the great Italian defender Paolo Maldini as an example of a player who might be marked down by a system that values tackling and intercepting; because his positional play was so good he had less need to do these things. This helps explain why, at an industry seminar in London in March, Power used a video clip of a shoal of sardines reacting to the presence of sharks to illustrate the more sophisticated approach rapidly gaining ground in football. “We’re reconceptualising football as a complex dynamic system, using complex systems theory, which is derived from chaos theory,” he says.
The idea is to capture more useful information about, for instance, inter-player co-ordination, players making themselves available for passes and the ability of players to block the passing options of opponents through positional play.
While some top clubs, including Chelsea and Emirates Marketing Project, do basic video tracking-based number-crunching during games, most analysis is done post-match. What the majority of coaches want is to be able to use the live performance-tracking devices players wear in training sessions during matches. This is already done in other sports, including rugby (both league and union) and Australian rules football. It’s a change many expect to see in football within the next couple of years.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) agreed to change the rules in February, so that league and competition organisers can allow the wearing of such devices by players during matches, as long as they are shown to be safe and the data is not received in the technical area occupied by managers and coaches during matches. This means that in practice it can be delivered to them at half time in the dressing room.
Last month, the IFAB sent a circular to member organisations, explaining that it was up to league and competition organisers to check these conditions are met. However, along with Fifa, the organisation is planning to launch a testing programme next year, which will certify devices that are safe and give them quality ratings. It has also announced a longer-term research programme into potential medical benefits.
Previous attempts to introduce new technology into the beautiful game have generated long-running controversies. Why kill off the fun of heated debates over disputed refereeing decisions and replace the unquantifiable components of human grit and determination with killjoy technology and spreadsheets? traditionalists howl.
These arguments, along with a desire to keep the game as similar as possible across all levels, have been weakened by what is widely seen as the successful introduction of goal-line technology. Some senior football figures fear in-game tracking devices will give wealthy teams an advantage; however, such concerns are being eclipsed by the view that the systems could benefit players’ health, including the suggestion that they could prevent the handful of deaths of players from cardiac arrest each year.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s use of his: two years ago, he managed to alarm both footballing authorities and fashion commentators after removing his shirt, following a friendly against Real Madrid, to reveal a compression vest, containing a GPS unit, that bore more than a passing resemblance to a sports bra.
http://gu.com/p/4b4ty
In February, football’s lawmakers approved the analysis of a player’s performance during live matches, via a tracking device in the shirt. So what impact will this have on a player’s health, game management – and the half-time team talk.
The Fifa Women’s World Cup final this summer was remarkable, and not just because England came within one game of playing in it. One in 12 Americans watched at least part of the game live, making it the most watched football game in US history, while Team USA secured a record third title, thanks in no small part to their midfielder Carli Lloyd scoring a 13-minute hat-trick. The third of these saw her lob the Japanese goalkeeper from the halfway line.
Less obvious, but possibly of more significance, were the small black gadgets about the size of an old Nokia mobile phone that the winning players were wearing between their shoulder blades. The final was the first major international match since the laws of the game were changed in February to allow players to wear performance-tracking devices during a match.
Many believe it is only a matter of time before the technology is given the go-ahead in the Premier League and other major competitions. While managers have had access to post-match data analysis for years, the ability to use it to inform tactical changes and substitutions during the game represents a major shake-up in the world’s most popular sport.
And it’s not the only way in which science is muscling in on what has traditionally been the domain of managers and their coaching staff.
DATA
Modern football data analysis has its origins in a video-based system that used computer vision algorithms to automatically track players. Developed 20 years ago in France, as a tool for broadcasters, it was adapted as a coaching aid and first used at Derby County in 1998 by Leeds-based company Prozone. This and other video tracking systems use multiple cameras inside stadiums, and human operators who manually record data, to gather information on things such as possession, passes, tackles, runs, interceptions and shots.
“Until recently, it was very much about collecting data on what had happened, without looking at why it had happened,” says Paul Power, a data scientist at Prozone. Power cites the great Italian defender Paolo Maldini as an example of a player who might be marked down by a system that values tackling and intercepting; because his positional play was so good he had less need to do these things. This helps explain why, at an industry seminar in London in March, Power used a video clip of a shoal of sardines reacting to the presence of sharks to illustrate the more sophisticated approach rapidly gaining ground in football. “We’re reconceptualising football as a complex dynamic system, using complex systems theory, which is derived from chaos theory,” he says.
The idea is to capture more useful information about, for instance, inter-player co-ordination, players making themselves available for passes and the ability of players to block the passing options of opponents through positional play.
While some top clubs, including Chelsea and Emirates Marketing Project, do basic video tracking-based number-crunching during games, most analysis is done post-match. What the majority of coaches want is to be able to use the live performance-tracking devices players wear in training sessions during matches. This is already done in other sports, including rugby (both league and union) and Australian rules football. It’s a change many expect to see in football within the next couple of years.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) agreed to change the rules in February, so that league and competition organisers can allow the wearing of such devices by players during matches, as long as they are shown to be safe and the data is not received in the technical area occupied by managers and coaches during matches. This means that in practice it can be delivered to them at half time in the dressing room.
Last month, the IFAB sent a circular to member organisations, explaining that it was up to league and competition organisers to check these conditions are met. However, along with Fifa, the organisation is planning to launch a testing programme next year, which will certify devices that are safe and give them quality ratings. It has also announced a longer-term research programme into potential medical benefits.
Previous attempts to introduce new technology into the beautiful game have generated long-running controversies. Why kill off the fun of heated debates over disputed refereeing decisions and replace the unquantifiable components of human grit and determination with killjoy technology and spreadsheets? traditionalists howl.
These arguments, along with a desire to keep the game as similar as possible across all levels, have been weakened by what is widely seen as the successful introduction of goal-line technology. Some senior football figures fear in-game tracking devices will give wealthy teams an advantage; however, such concerns are being eclipsed by the view that the systems could benefit players’ health, including the suggestion that they could prevent the handful of deaths of players from cardiac arrest each year.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s use of his: two years ago, he managed to alarm both footballing authorities and fashion commentators after removing his shirt, following a friendly against Real Madrid, to reveal a compression vest, containing a GPS unit, that bore more than a passing resemblance to a sports bra.
