I’ve been reading the weekly secret footballer in The Guardian. Last Saturday the column, which is written by an anonymous premier league footballer, described the growing use of statistics in football. The description was of a game that was being fundamentally changed by new forms of measurement and analysis. The piece described how certain forms of measured activity were statistically more likely to lead to victory in the match. As such players who performed such activities and had good statistics were highly valued. And generally players were instructed to do certain things on the pitch, with their effectiveness then being measured. The consequence seemed to be that the game itself was transformed by metrics, measurement and analysis. The data created about the game recursively fed back into the actual playing of the game. What is valued seems to be related very closely to the type of play that can be measured – and then shown to be related to positive outcomes. So it sounds like football is being changed by statistics about football.
-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Archives
- February 2020
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
Categories
Meta
Pingback: Football and numbers | Thinking culture
Pingback: Mapping football data | Thinking culture