Sports stories without the shouting
One way to think of the current lockdown is that it is a period of ‘accelerated evolution’. People have been forced to dramatically change their way of life (a mutation) and if these new habits are useful when things get back to normal then they will become trends, with less useful mutations being resigned to …
Continue reading “Has the lockdown changed the future relationship between sport and eSport?”
With Epsom racecourse getting the go-ahead to run the Derby in July it looks like this year’s winner will be in the record books without an asterisk to denote the race was not held at Epsom. This is important for future breeding potential as the Epsom Derby is regarded as the pinnacle of what a …
Continue reading “Looking for a champion to emerge in the shortened flat racing season”
Could the Premier League’s New Normal offer a glimpse of hope for Norwich? Anyone who has had a football bet on a Saturday afternoon will be familiar with the old adage that towards the end of the season upsets happen as teams fighting for survival are more motivated than mid-table secure teams. Of course if …
Analysis of the outcome of different ways to end the 2019/20 Premier League season suggests some clubs might have very different objectives for upcoming talks on restarting football. As the Premier League meets to find a resolution to the season, almost everyone is hoping there can be some way to finish the remaining games of …
Continue reading “Will sporting integrity outweigh Premier League club self-interest?”
Imagine a fictional three ball featuring top golfers from 1900, 1930 and today. On the first tee our 1900’s golfer is happy to send the ball 180 yards down the fairway, although he’s not so happy when he sees the 1930’s player knock his drive 60 yards further to 240 yards. However, both are down-hearted …
Continue reading “What to do about ever increasing driving distances in golf”
The most successful Premier League team of the decade has undoubtedly been Manchester City, with four league titles and two FA cups. But another interesting stat is how they came to earn 63 more points than their nearest rivals in those years. The graph below shows the cumulative points won by the Premier League champions …
Continue reading “Why are top Premier League teams earning so many points?”
England beating New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup semi-final was a ‘shock’ that even had non-rugby fans talking on Saturday night. But looking at some tournament performance figures was it really such a shock? The graph below shows tournament points scored per minute and points conceded per minute for the four semi-finalists (only against …
I started putting work together on this blog by asking the question ‘are we seeing the rise of the disruptor in cycling?’ In the last two years there had been Grand Tour winners aged 22, 26 and 26 and a number of exciting young riders animating races. It felt like a new era was emerging …
Reading the excellent Shoe Dog by Phil Knight gives a new perspective on sports giant Nike. Usually when you think of Nike you think of a global corporate giant that controls every facet from design to manufacturing to marketing. But reading Knight’s memoir of where it all started you get the origin story. Nike the …
Continue reading “Endorsements have rocketed but still return on investment”
Since Padraig Harrington won in the British Open in 2007, Irish golfers have won 20% of golf’s Majors. This is quite a haul for a country with a population of 6.6m people and begs the question of how country demographics helps talent develop? Small is beautiful Research from Canadian academic Jean Cote and colleagues provides …
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