League Competition Research Articles

The Political Economy of Football: Democracy, Income Inequality, and Men’s National Football Rankings

The question as to why certain countries outperform others in international football games warrants exploration. Herein, we argue that the synergy of economic development, democratic experience, duration of football associations, and low-income inequality improves the performance of men’s national football teams. Contemporary professional football is a typical “club good” that encourages members to take collective actions such as watching games, organizing associations, and investing in talent and capital for team success. We hypothesized that economic development sustains professional football, particularly in democratic regimes that allow for collective action through football associations. Wealthy democracies most effectively shape institutional incentives that improve the transparency, fairness, and competitiveness of leagues and contribute to their prosperity, which benefits the talent pool of national football teams. In addition, income inequality reduces national football performance. In this study, we used panel data from 121 countries for the 1999–2014 period as well as fixed-effects models to verify our hypotheses. The results show that a hundred units of democracy stock lead to a 0.145 natural logarithm FIFA score gain, as democracy stock exerted the most prominent effect on national football performance and additionally moderated the effects of long football association history to improve national football performance. A lower income inequality sequentially benefited to the performances.

There Is Little Difference in the Peak Movement Demands of Professional and Semi-Professional Rugby League Competition

Previous research has quantified the peak movement demands of elite rugby league match-play, but the peak accelerometer load or the semi-professional peak demands remain unknown. The aim of this research was to determine the peak movement demands of professional and semi-professional rugby league competition. Wearable microtechnology devices tracked the physical activity profiles of players during 26 professional (n = 351 files) and 22 semi-professional (n = 267 files) matches. Following each match, data were exported in raw form to extract the peak 1- to 10-min periods for speed, average acceleration, and accelerometer load of each player, using a rolling average method. To determine the difference between playing levels (professional vs. semi-professional) and position (forwards vs. backs), linear mixed models were used. The intercept and the slope were calculated based on the power law relationship to provide the peak, and rate of decay, of each dependent variable. Cohen’s effect size (ES) statistic was used to determine the magnitude of differences between positions and playing level. There was little difference between playing standards, with only small differences in running speed, with a greater intercept and slope for the professional forwards compared with semi-professional forwards (intercept ES: 0.37; 90%CL: 0.19 to 0.55; slope ES: 0.35; 0.15 to 0.55). For positional comparisons (forwards vs. backs), there was no difference in running speeds at the professional level, but there was substantially greater running speed for backs compared to forwards in semi-professional competition, with small to moderate differences (ES range: 0.60–0.39). Both professional and semi-professional forwards showed small to moderately higher accelerometer load compared to backs, which increased with period duration (ES range: 0.22–0.79). Similarly, acceleration demands were greater for forwards compared to backs across both playing standards, with moderate to large differences (ES range: 0.52–0.96). Overall, the results of this study show that there is a small difference in the peak running speed for forwards in professional competition, but otherwise there are no meaningful differences in movement demands of professional and semi-professional rugby league match-play. Forwards display greater acceleration and accelerometer load across a number of rolling average durations compared to backs.

Absolute and Relative Load and Injury in Elite Junior Australian Football Players Over 1 Season.

To investigate the association between training and match loads and injury in elite junior Australian football players over 1 competitive season. Elite junior Australian football players (n = 290, age 17.7 [0.3] y, range 16-18y) were recruited from the under-18 state league competition in Victoria to report load and injury information. One-week load (session rating of perceived exertion multiplied by duration) and all time-loss injuries were reported using an online sport-injury surveillance system. Absolute load measures (weekly sums) enabled the calculation of relative measures such as the acute:chronic workload ratio. Load measures were modeled against injury outcome (yes/no) using a generalized estimating equation approach, with a 1-wk lag for injury. Low (<300arbitrary units [au]) and high (>4650au) 1-wk loads were associated with significantly higher risk of injury. Furthermore, low (<100au) and high (>850au) session loads were associated with a higher risk of injury. High strain values (>13,000) were associated with up to a 5-fold increase in the odds of injury. There was a relatively flat-line association between the acute:chronic workload ratio and injury. This study is the first investigation of elite junior athletes demonstrating linear and nonlinear relationships between absolute and relative load measures and injury. Coaches should focus player loads on, or at least close to, the point at which injury risk starts to increase again (2214au for 1-wk load and 458au for session load) and use evidence-based strategies across the week and month to help reduce the risk of injury.

組合せ論における諸問題を教材としたクリティカルシンキングを育成する数学授業の開発 ― 高校数学における授業実践「リーグ戦の対戦計画」を通して ―

組合せ論における諸問題を教材としたクリティカルシンキングを育成する数学授業の開発 ― 高校数学における授業実践「リーグ戦の対戦計画」を通して ―

Activity Profiles of Top-Class Players and Referees and Accuracy in Foul Decision-Making During Korean National League Soccer Games.

Joo, CH and Jee, H. Activity profiles of top-class players and referees and accuracy in foul decision-making during Korean national league soccer games. J Strength Cond Res 33(9): 2530-2540, 2019-The aims of this study were to compare the activity profiles between the top-class referees and players and elucidate the factors related to foul decision-making. Three hundred thirty-five elite-level players and referees were analyzed for distance covered during 20 matches of nationally held 2016 Korean league competitions. Distance covered by the players and referees was analyzed for the activity zones (slow walking, walking, jogging, running, high-intensity running, and sprinting) and 15-minute match periods. Mean distance between foul play and referee locations, foul plays, and 15-minute match periods were compared with the foul decision errors. Foul play and decision error rates (%) were also analyzed per segmented pitch zone. Although the total distance covered during a match and distances covered by jogging, running, and sprinting were significantly different between the players and referees, differences were within 1%. Significant differences in the distance covered before and after halftime were observed. The greatest distance between the foul play and referee locations, number of foul plays, and number of foul decision errors were observed at the 75-minute match period. Finally, the greater number of foul plays was observed in the neutral and attacking zones, and the foul decision errors were observed in the right defensive and left attacking zones 1. In conclusion, although the activity profiles may be different, referees should maintain certain level of physical fitness to match that of the players. To reduce the number of foul decision errors, factors such as match time, foul occurring location, and distance between foul play and referee locations should be considered.

Contestation, disruption and legitimization in women’s rugby league

Women’s professional team sport leagues have experienced a dramatic increase, yet research exploring the employment conditions and the perspectives the players involved is relatively sparse. The commencement of an inaugural rugby league competition for women in Australia and New Zealand provided a unique research opportunity to explore physical, sociocultural and organizational conditions and requirements of women athletes, and to identify inclusive management strategies and policies. Forty-nine perspective players for the professional competition were interviewed about their views on the transition of the women’s game from amateur to professional status and the associated management considerations. Two aggregate themes emerged from the interview data analysis: Gender identity and Institutional practice. The interview findings, together with an analysis of other women’s professional team sport enterprise agreements, informed decision making about the league’s size, duration and individual contract inclusions. Further implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Peak movement and collision demands of professional rugby league competition

ABSTRACTTo quantify the peak movement and contact demands of National Rugby League (NRL) and European Super League (ESL) competition players were tracked during 10 NRL (166 files) and 10 ESL (143 files) matches using microtechnology devices. The peak 1- to 5-min periods were then calculated for average match speed (m·min−1), and acceleration (m·s−2) when 0, 1, 2, and ≥3 collisions per min occurred. Linear mixed effect models and Cohen’s effect size statistic (± 90%CI) were used to determine the differences in movement profiles when collisions occurred. Compared to no collision periods, as frequency of collisions per minute increased, there were progressive reductions in running speed for most positional groups. The addition of 1 or more collisions per min resulted in average effect size reductions in match speed of −0.14 for NRL forwards, −0.89 for NRL backs, −0.48 for ESL forwards, and −2.41 for ESL backs. ESL forwards had the highest frequency of peak periods involving 3 or more collisions per min, 22% of all periods, followed by NRL forwards (14%), NRL backs (10%) and ESL backs (8%). This study highlights the peak movement and collision demands of professional rugby league competition and allows practitioners to develop training drills that reflect worst case scenarios.

Testing evolutionary algorithms for optimization of water distribution networks

Water distribution networks (WDNs) are one of the most important elements of urban infrastructure and require large investment for construction. Design of WDNs is classified as a large combinatorial discrete nonlinear optimization problem. The main concerns associated with the optimization of such networks are the nonlinearity of the discharge-head loss relationships for pipes and the discrete nature of pipe sizes. Due to these issues, this problem is widely considered to be a benchmark problem for testing and evaluating the performance of nonlinear and heuristic optimization algorithms. This paper compares different techniques, all based on evolutionary algorithms (EAs), which yield optimal solutions for least-cost design of WDNs. All of these algorithms search for the global optimum starting from populations of solutions, rather than from a single solution, as in Newton-based search methods. They use different operators to improve the performance of many solutions over repeated iterations. Ten EAs, four of them for the first time, are applied to the design of three networks and their performance in terms of the least cost, under different stopping criteria, are evaluated. Statistical information for 20 executions of the ten algorithms is summarized, and Friedman tests are conducted. Results show that, for the two-loop benchmark network, the particle swarm optimization gravitational search and biology and bioinformatics global optimization algorithms efficiently converge to the global optimum, but perform poorly for large networks. In contrast, given a sufficient number of function evaluations, the covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy and soccer league competition algorithm consistently converge to the global optimum, for large networks.

Relationship between power strength and anaerobic power index as a clear picture of the effect of strength training among young soccer elite players

Purpose: muscle contraction has both mechanical to produce movement and metabolic properties to produce energy. However, manipulation of strength training planes (horizontal or vertical) subject to be an important training strategy to develop soccer-specific power-based actions. Depending on mode of exercise and more important the energy demands. Material & Methods: this cross-sectional study was conducted to inspect the relation between power strength and anaerobic power index, proper to mode of exercise (vertical vs horizontal) among young soccer elite players. To achieve this goal, we based on anaerobic capacity repeat sprint test power index for103 male players with mean age (18.55±0.48) years, involved in the Oran league competition division one. In addition to their strength in Vertical Jump (VJ) and Standing Long Jump Test (SLJ), conducted in the Omni sports complex of the institute physical education and sport Chlef. Results: significant inverse correlations record between power strength and anaerobic power index in all comparisons practised. Support by the index of Max power anaerobic and fatigue as super predictors of players performance in horizontal plane. The opposite of vertical plane where the index of fatigue and Min power anaerobic are the super predictors. Conclusions: our results confirmed that to have a clear picture of the effect of strength training on physical performance. Trainers must take in their consideration, the mode of exercise and their energy index power demands affirmed in present via the development of max power anaerobic to enhance not only minimal but also the index of fatigue requiring the good developments of neuromuscular function, in which max power anaerobic levels play a big part in maximizing scores not only in vertical plane but also in horizontal jump.

An injury profile of basketball players in Accra, Ghana.

BackgroundBasketball is played in Ghana at amateur and professional levels. The demands (cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and metabolic capacity) of the game place players at risk of sustaining injuries. There is a dearth of evidence of injuries sustained during basketball games in Ghana.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to determine the injury profile of Ghanaian basketball players.MethodThis observational cross-sectional study was conducted at the Lebanon House and Prisons courts during the 2013 Greater Accra Basketball league for Division 1 and 2 male basketball teams. Injuries were recorded according to body part injured, causes of injury, player’s ability to return to play following an injury, type of injury and treatment received using a standardised injury report form and data capturing form. Twenty-eight league competitions and 28 training sessions were observed. Data were analysed using a Z-test for two proportions.ResultsSeventy-five injuries were recorded and the injury incidence was 0.190 and 0.084 per 100 participants during competition and training, respectively. Tackling attempts (42.67%) were the most common causes, followed by others (30.67%), which were dribbling, landing from a jump, sudden stops and jumping. Sprain (28%) was the most common injury. Knee injuries (21.33%) were more common than ankle injuries (17.33%). Out of the total injuries recorded, 85.33% did not receive any treatment.ConclusionKnee injuries were the most common and most injuries did not receive treatment. It is therefore important to educate basketball players and coaches on injury prevention measures as well as developing regular exercise programmes to help minimise their occurrence.Clinical implicationsBasketball injuries appear to be common so the outcomes of this study may provide prophylactic interventions and more focussed treatments regimens for basketball injury incidences in Accra.

Artikulasi Jersey Persib 2014

Persib jersey 2014 is the pride for bobotoh, because Persib became a champion for Indonesia Super League (ISL) competition in 2014. Not only to a! ract the customer, good performance of Persib also to attract the sponsor to promote their brands. Local culture of West Java use for Persib jersey 2014 design elements and become an interesting phenomenon in the middle of the issue of local culture decrease. Production of Persib jersey 2014 trough some processes, like simplifi cation to icon, logo, and design elements in jersey. Artwork design created from internal and external infl uences. The internal infl uences are idea/concept, regulation of FIFA, PSSI, and media requirements. The External infl uence is to understand the audience taste/trend. There are some processes such as regulation, signifi cation, consumption, production, and identity relates each others. In order to understand the meaning of Persi jersey of 2014, the Circuit of culture was created to fi nd the interrelated from as many angles, and in as many contexts, as possible to articulating the meaning. From the relation between Circuit of culture moments in Persib jersey, the meaning is spirit of team togetherness to victory until they become the pride of West Java. Keywords: Persib jersey, local culture, articulation, circuit of culture, the pride

Verifying Head Impacts Recorded by a Wearable Sensor using Video Footage in Rugby League: a Preliminary Study

BackgroundRugby league is a full-contact collision sport with an inherent risk of concussion. Wearable instrumented technology was used to observe and characterize the level of exposure to head impacts during game play.PurposeTo verify the impacts recorded by the x-patch™ with video analysis.Study designObservational case series.MethodsThe x-patch™ was used on eight men’s semi-professional rugby league players during the 2016 Newcastle Rugby League competition (five forwards and three backs). Game day footage was recorded by a trained videographer using a single camera located at the highest midfield location to verify the impact recorded by the x-patch™. Videographic and accelerometer data were time synchronized.ResultsThe x-patch™ sensors recorded a total of 779 impacts ≥ 20 g during the games, of which 732 (94.0%) were verified on video. In addition, 817 impacts were identified on video that did not record an impact on the sensors. The number of video-verified impacts ≥ 20 g, per playing hour, was 7.8 for forwards and 4.8 for backs (range = 3.9–19.0). Impacts resulting in a diagnosed concussion had much greater peak linear acceleration (M = 76.1 g, SD = 17.0) than impacts that did not result in a concussion (M = 34.2g, SD = 18.0; Cohen’s d = 2.4).ConclusionsThe vast majority (94%) of impacts ≥ 20 g captured by the x-patch™ sensor were video verified in semi-professional rugby league games. The use of a secondary source of information to verify impact events recorded by wearable sensors is beneficial in clarifying game events and exposure levels.

Management succession and success in a professional soccer team.

Research into sports team performance has shown that across many sports and league competitions, teams that change their coaches after a decline in performance do rebound, but fare no better on average than teams that have not changed their coach in a similar situation. A similar lack of succession benefits has been reported in studies of manager and CEO succession: it has not been established that changing a team’s leader improves a declining team’s performance. We study the effect of a change of coach on the performance of a professional soccer team. Based on rarely obtained access to a whole season (one year) of daily close observation of the team and coaching staff in practice and matches, this study uses quantitative and qualitative data to go beyond the “average” pattern reported in the literature. We document in detail how, in a single team case study over an entire season, the processes in leadership behavior changed with a change of coach, the effect this had on the state of mind of the team, how the match behaviors of the players changed, and how these changes translated into improved performance. The process effects of a leadership change on the performance of a sports team may hold insights for leader succession in management: in addition to the aggregate organizational and experience fit of the new team leader, the specific leadership processes introduced by the new leader are critical for performance effects.

Forecasting football match results in national league competitions using score-driven time series models

We develop a new dynamic multivariate model for the analysis and forecasting of football match results in national league competitions. The proposed dynamic model is based on the score of the predictive observation mass function for a high-dimensional panel of weekly match results. Our main interest is in forecasting whether the match result is a win, a loss or a draw for each team. The dynamic model for delivering such forecasts can be based on three different dependent variables: the pairwise count of the number of goals, the difference between the numbers of goals, or the category of the match result (win, loss, draw). The different dependent variables require different distributional assumptions. Furthermore, different dynamic model specifications can be considered for generating the forecasts. We investigate empirically which dependent variable and which dynamic model specification yield the best forecasting results. We validate the precision of the resulting forecasts and the success of the forecasts in a betting simulation in an extensive forecasting study for match results from six large European football competitions. Finally, we conclude that the dynamic model for pairwise counts delivers the most precise forecasts while the dynamic model for the difference between counts is most successful for betting, but that both outperform benchmark and other competing models.

The Effect of Personality Characteristics of Students on Positive Perception Level: A Study to Hockey Super League Players

The study was done in order to determine the effect of personality characteristics of students female athletes who participated in Hockey Super League competitions organized in Konya Province between the 15th and the 28th of April, 2018 upon their positive perception level. The study was consisted of 116 students female athletes who participated in hockey super league competitions (Average age= 18.21±2.98). In order to determine students athletes’ personality levels; “Eysenck Personality Inventory” designed by Francis et al. (1992) and “Positive Perception Scale” adapted by Akın and Kaya (2015) for the Turkish language were used. For the analyses of the data; histogram technique was employed in order to find whether or not data followed a normal distribution and as a result, it was identified that all sub-dimensions of mental endurance and positive perception scale followed a normal distribution. Accordingly, t test and One-Way-Anova tests were employed in order to explore basic differences and Canonical Correlation analyses were performed in order to find the effect between personality and positive perception levels. As a result; it was concluded that athletes demonstrated moderate level of personality and positive perception. It was seen that there was a moderate and significant correlation between sub-dimensions of Eysenck personality inventory and positive perception scale.

Influence of Club Facilities and Equipment on Talent Identification for Players in Rugby Clubs in Kenya

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of club facilities and equipment on talent identification for players in rugby clubs in Kenya. The club facilities and equipment included rugby pitch, gymnasium, scrum machine, tackle bags, tackle suits, hit shields, balls and marker cones. Data were collected using Questionnaires and interviews from rugby players (n= 125) and coaches (n=15) during the 2017/2018 Kenya Rugby Union league competition. Data were analyzed through both descriptive and inferential statistics of Chi- square test of independent measures. A null hypothesis stating that there is no significant difference in the mean rugby talent identification index when the influence of the rugby players’ club facilities and equipment is classified as high or low was tested. Despite the coaches view that availability of facilities and equipment has an influence on the talent identification process, the findings indicate that there is no evidence that rugby club facilities and equipment plays a significant role in talent identification for rugby players in rugby clubs in Kenya. The study however recommends that the rugby clubs should invest in good facilities and equipment as this would go a long way in ensuring player safety and minimizing the risk of injury during the talent identification process. Other studies involving the rest of the socio-cultural attributes that are likely to impact on talent identification like family, coaches, schools, peers, need to be conducted.

Playing in the UEFA Europa League Does Not Adversely Affect English Premier League or La Liga Performance

Purpose: This article presents data challenging the widely held but untested view that concurrently playing mid-week Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Europa League matches adversely affects domestic league performance. Method: Over 16 seasons we compared next-season domestic league performance of the two highest finishing UEFA Europa League qualifying clubs with the two highest finishing non-qualifiers in England and Spain. Results: Clubs concurrently playing UEFA Europa League football showed significantly superior domestic league performance including wins, losses, goals, goal difference and points tally. The number of European matches played was not related to domestic league performance. Conclusions: The absence of prior rigorous analysis including appropriate comparison data has led to the proliferation of a widespread confirmatory bias, defined as the tendency to seek out evidence that backs one’s hunches and to ignore evidence that contradicts them. Based on our evidence, football professionals, journalists, pundits, and fans should consider the UEFA Europa League competition more favorably.

Maintaining Professionalism in Semi-Professional Sport: Are We Asking too Much?

How integrity is understood depends on the context. This paper explores the idea of integrity of sport, specifically the sub-elite South Australian National Football League competition. This mixed-methods study utilized both surveys and interviews to understand the issues that threaten the integrity of the South Australian competition. Threats emerged regarding financial remuneration, competition fairness and demands for semi-professional athletes. Athletes competing at sub-elite levels are expected to uphold the same standards as those competing in the national elite competition without the same financial remuneration. This potentially motivates players to leave the sub-elite competition in favor of lower leagues where there are fewer commitments and higher pay. Sub-elite footballers also engage in some high-risk behaviors, which can undermine the community’s trust in the sport, thereby threating its integrity. Further research regarding the integrity of football supporters is warranted to maintain the integrity of the overall competition.

Incidence and characteristics of injury in under-19 academy level rugby league match play: A single season prospective cohort study

ABSTRACTAcademy rugby league competition is an important step along the pathway to professional status, but little is known about injury at this level of the game. The aim of this research was to establish the nature, incidence and burden of injury in English academy rugby league. Using an observational prospective cohort study design, and a time-loss injury definition, the injury outcomes of three professional rugby league academies were recorded during the 2017 season. A total of 87 injuries occurred in 59 matches for an overall injury incidence of 85 (95%CI 67–103) injuries per 1000 hours played. The mean severity of injury was 22 ± 19 days resulting in an overall injury burden of 1898 (95%CI 1813–1983) days lost per 1000 hours. The tackle event was the most common cause of injury (77% of all injuries). Forwards sustained a greater proportion of injuries than backs (forwards 67% vs. backs 33% of injuries). Concussion (13 (6–20) per 1000 hours) and ankle sprains (11 (4–17) per 1000 hours) were the most commonly diagnosed injuries. The shoulder joint was the most commonly injured site (17 (9–25) per 1000 hours). The incidence of injury for academy rugby league is similar to senior professional rugby league.

Analysis of Competitiveness in the NBA Regular Seasons

Research background and hypothesis. Several attempts have been made to understand some modalities of sport from the point of view of complexity. Most of these studies deal with this phenomenon with regard to the mechanics of the game itself (in isolation). Nevertheless, some research has been conducted from the perspective of competition between teams. Our hypothesis was that for the study of competitiveness levels in the system of league competition our analysis model (Shannon entropy), is a useful and highly sensitive tool to determine the degree of global competitiveness of a league.Research aim. The aim of our study was to develop a model for the analysis of competitiveness level in team sport competitions based on the uncertainty level that might exist for each confrontation.Research methods. Degree of uncertainty or randomness of the competition was analyzed as a factor of competitiveness. It was calculated on the basis of the Shannon entropy.Research results. We studied 17 NBA regular seasons, which showed a fairly steady entropic tendency. There were seasons less competitive (≤ 0.9800) than the overall average (0.9835), and periods where the competitiveness remained at higher levels (range: 0.9851 to 0.9902).Discussion and conclusions. A league is more competitive when it is more random. Thus, it is harder to predict the fi nal outcome. However, when the competition is less random, the degree of competitiveness will decrease signifi cantly. The NBA is a very competitive league, there is a high degree of uncertainty of knowing the fi nal result.Keywords: complex systems, basketball, entropy, competition, randomness.