The media tend to focus on the discussion on the implementation of technologies in the front office of sports, on the actual playing field. Introducing Hawkeye electronic linesman and in-ear communication to the world of football or the bionic legs of South-African runner Pistorius are of course more mediagenic topics than the analytical software implementation. However I believe that the latter developments form a more potent force, a silent revolution, which deserves more of the limelight.
Football is a business were results strongly correlate with investment, which is shown by numerous studies again and again. The current trend of super rich investors / owners of clubs in the Premier League push the money game to an extreme. Creative use of technological innovations can upset this corelation, especially with regard to the procurement of players. Real time is slowly pushing its way to the world of sports. The Frankfürter Allgemeiner published an interesting background article in January of this year. eProcurement is being put into practice by the 1. FC Köln. In a semi-crowdsourcing solution, 30 students have been hired to operate the SportsLab. Statistics on players worldwide are being constantly updated, videos stored. Its aim is not to replace, but to complement and support the current scouting organization of the club, by displaying instant and accurate information on targets.
Video analysis was valued early on in the boxing sport. Football, more conservative in nature, have resisted against the introduction of quantitative analysis of the sport and of match footage. Coaches as Egil Olsen, Arsène Wenger and Louis van Gaal were scorned for their quantitative approach of the game, but their success eventually paved the way for the slow digital evolution in the sport. Currently solutions have been implemented on club level in which 6 to 8 cameras shoot stills in 5 to 8 seconds intervals. The video analysis occurs by manual tagging afterwards. Pattern analysis allows individual improvement and improved teamplay. The developments in person and pattern recognition will bring real time video analysis closer to reality, an intriguing idea.
offcourse one of the most real time focussed business is the betting business that is often involved with the sports, can the analysis that you propose be used to that end ?
Analysis of play patterns allows more accurate training of individual players and the team on strengths and weaknesses ánd anticipation of opportunities and threats of the opposing party.
The success based on this data depends on the skill of implementing and executing a strategy, assuming a good strategy has been derived from the available information.
For betting agencies there are so many uncertainties in this equation. Even a specialist understanding of the measures involved does not necessarily lead to a more accurate prediction than a more naïve method as for instance Elo rating. (This is of course an estimation and the two methods would have to be evaluated and compared properly.)
Demo of a real-timeaugmented reality concept of real-time offside. Based on Layar technology, produced by PSV Media.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnmxT6x85p8&feature=play er_embedded
