As the number one sport in the UK, professional football has come a long way since its debut in 1863. Implemented by the Football Association, football rules were first introduced in the 19th century and both training and gameplay traditionally relied heavily on pure talent to adhere to such rules.
In the 21st Century, football still requires talent across the board. From players to referees and managers to football clubs, technological advancements have progressed the standards of training and gameplay, making rule-following much easier. We’ll take a look at just some of the ways in which tech has helped the business of football.
Performance platforms
Football has always been a competitive sport, but since it is also a money-making business, the stakes are higher than ever before. While this puts pressure on each football player to perform well, it also requires clubs to make the right decision when choosing a player to recruit. After all, investing in a player whose performance is low is likely going to cost the team the winning trophy. With technology and platforms like Wyscout, searching for the best players is all the easier. Its features work to pool analysis of football players together in one platform so that clubs can gain access to player performance, including player pros and cons like speed, goal kicks, concentration, and team performance. In assisting clubs in their decision-making process, technology has enabled football teams to strive.
While thanks must go to these types of platforms in gathering analysis, the method of collection deserves praise too. Thanks to GPS tracking wearable devices, namely watches, a player’s speed, pace, endurance, and more can be tracked. While fit for training purposes since it allows players to assess their strength and weaknesses, this method of data collection works hand in hand with performance platforms.
Gameplay
While technology for performance tracking and analysis has been around since the noughties, technology to assist and improve gameplay only came about around a decade later. One of the first technological advancements for the benefit of gameplay was communication devices, namely radio sets and earpieces, which has allowed for information to be shared between managers, and referees and their assistants. As a result, match play decisions have been made all the easier, since a linesman can easily communicate to the referee if something is in fact, offside.
Aiding more precise decision making, Goal Line technology was introduced in 2011 and determines whether a goal has been scored or not. While officials ultimately make the call on this decision, the technology is there as an assistant. More recently in 2019, Virtual Assistant Referee (VAR) was introduced to football and records footage for playback to ensure there is minimal error when making key match decisions.
Online games and betting
While technology has aided professional football, it has also allowed the average person to access football. Via technology, football has thus gone beyond the pitch and can be seen on TV screens, computers, consoles, and mobile phones. With sites like William Hill, football fans and other members of the public can bet on games in real-time which gives them a sense of involvement. Since live streaming and scores are accessible via sites like these, technology has allowed football to land in the hands of many more than before. Equally, football goes beyond the matches themselves and with games like FIFA, anyone anywhere can play on their computer or console. With such accessibility to football via technology, it’s therefore no wonder it is the number one sport in the UK.
It is clear that technology has helped football become a profitable business that takes pride in skill, fair play, and accessibility, and without it, football wouldn’t be the game that the nation knows and loves today.
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