The focus of this study is to examine the dispersion of football-generated revenue and athlete talent among Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams in the modern College Football Playoff (CFP) era. ...This study is a follow-up to Caro and Benton’s examination of the “Great Divide” in 2012. The results of this study indicate that the conference and university stratification that existed through the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) era has intensified over the last decade. This study quantifies the inequality in college football and recommends means to correct or control this disparity, including the possibility of the Group of Five collective breaking off and beginning their own subdivision. College football may be past the point where parity in recruiting and revenue can be achieved. The implications and realities of this outcome are considered here.
Background
Quantifying the peak match demands within the football codes is useful for the appropriate prescription of external training load. Wearable microtechnology devices can be used to identify ...the peak match demands, although various methodologies exist at present.
Objectives
This systematic review aimed to identify the methodologies and microtechnology-derived variables used to determine the peak match demands, and to summarise current data on the peak match demands in the football codes.
Methods
A systematic search of electronic databases was performed from earliest record to May 2018; keywords relating to microtechnology, peak match demands and football codes were used.
Results
Twenty-seven studies met the eligibility criteria. Six football codes were reported: rugby league (
n
= 7), rugby union (
n
= 5), rugby sevens (
n
= 4), soccer (
n
= 6), Australian Football (
n
= 2) and Gaelic Football (
n
= 3). Three methodologies were identified: moving averages, segmental and ‘ball in play’. The moving averages is the most commonly used (63%) and superior method, identifying higher peak demands than other methods. The most commonly used variables were relative distance covered (63%) and external load in specified speed zones (57%).
Conclusion
This systematic review has identified moving averages to be the most appropriate method for identifying the peak match demands in the football codes. Practitioners and researchers should choose the most relevant duration-specific period and microtechnology-derived variable for their specific needs. The code specific peak match demands revealed can be used for the prescription of conditioning drills and training intensity.
The risk of heat-related illness and death may continue to increase in many locations as a consequence of climate change, but information on the effectiveness of policies to protect populations from ...the adverse effects of excessive heat is limited. In 2009, the National Athletic Trainers' Association Inter-Association Task Force (NATA-IATF) released guidelines to reduce exertional heat illness (EHI) among U.S. high school athletes participating in preseason sports activities, including preseason practice sessions for American football. A subset of state high school athletic associations have implemented state-mandated guidelines consistent with the 2009 NATA-IATF recommendations, but their effectiveness for reducing preseason EHI is unknown.
This study examines the association between the enactment of state high school athletic association-mandated NATA-IATF guidelines and the rate of EHI among high school students during preseason American football practice sessions.
We performed a quasi-experimental interrupted time-series study of EHI during high school American football practices in the 2005/2006-2016/2017 school years. We estimated state-level EHI rates using High School Reporting Information Online injury and athlete-exposure data, and used generalized estimating equations Poisson regression models to estimate incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) comparing state-years with and without mandated NATA-IATF guidelines. State-level covariates included state-year-specific average August temperatures, yearly deviations from each state's August average temperature across the study period, and school year.
Data were available for 455 state-years from 48 states, including 32 state-years (7.0%) from 8 states when mandated guidelines consistent with the NATA-IATF recommendations were implemented. During an estimated 2,697,089 athlete-exposures, 190 EHIs were reported. Estimated preseason EHI rates were lower during state-years with versus without mandated guidelines (adjusted Formula: see text, 95% CI: 0.23, 0.87).
Our findings suggest that high school athletes would benefit from enactment of the 2009 NATA-IATF guidelines. Similar analyses of the effectiveness of other public health policies to reduce adverse health effects from ambient heat are warranted. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP4163.
The aim of this investigation was to determine the position and duration specific activity of the most demanding passages of play in football players. Global positioning system data were collected ...from twenty-three football players across a competitive season. A total of 605 individual match files were analysed. Players were categorised based on positional groups; full-back (FB), central defender (CD), midfielder (MF), wide midfielders (WMF) and forwards (FW). The most demanding passage of a match play was analysed using a rolling average method, where maximal values were calculated for four different time durations (1', 3', 5' and 10') using distance (m·min
), high metabolic load distance (HMLD) and average metabolic power (AMP) as variables of interest. Using distance as the criterion variable, MF and WMF positions covered greater distance, and fewer sprinting meters (>7.0 m·s
, m·min
). With HMLD as the criterion variable, the values for WMF and MF positions were higher than the CD and FW positions. The MF and WMF positions performed more high-intensity accelerations and decelerations when the criterion variable was AMP. These results provide an understanding of the most demanding passages of play to inform training practices for specific football playing positions.
In modern football, physiological assessments are becoming increasingly important for optimal performance not only in adults but also in youth. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of ...six-week plyometric exercises with tabata protocol on some biomotor properties in U-16 male football players. The athletes were randomly divided into 2 groups as experimental (n:12) and control (n:12). The plyometric exercise programme was applied to the experimental group in addition to their own football training 2 days a week for 6 weeks, while the control group only participated in football training. The normality level of the data was determined by Shapiro-Wilk test. Independent Sample T Test for independent groups and Paired Sample T Test for dependent groups were used to analyse the normally distributed data. According to the research findings, a statistically significant difference was found in the pre-test - post-test measurement values of all performance tests of the experimental group and between all performance tests (T-Agility, 20-m sprint, vertical jump, flamingo balance and long jump standing) of the experimental and control groups (p < 0.05). No significant difference was found in the control group (p>0.05). In conclusion, it can be said that six-week plyometric exercises applied with Tabata protocol were effective in the development of some biomotor properties in U-16 male football players. In this context, it can be stated that plyometric exercises added to training plans can be used as an effective method in the development of performance parameters of athletes.
Football fans, pundits and even managers have long debated whether having a player sent off can actually make a team stronger. Matthew Dowsett takes a Neymaresque dive into the data
Football fans, ...pundits and even managers have long debated whether having a player sent off can actually make a team stronger. Matthew Dowsett takes a Neymaresque dive into the data
In recent years, scholars have understood the increasing use of the St George's Cross by football fans to be evidence of a rise in a specifically 'English' identity. This has emerged as part of a ...wider 'national' response to broader political processes such as devolution and European integration which have fragmented identities within the UK. Using the controversial figurational sociological approach advocated by the twentieth-century theorist Norbert Elias, this book challenges such a view, drawing on ethnographic research amongst fans to explore the precise nature of the relationship between contemporary English national identity and football fan culture. Examining football fans' expressions of Englishness in public houses and online spaces, the author discusses the effects of globalization, European integration and UK devolution on English society, revealing that the use of the St George's Cross does not signal the emergence of a specifically 'English' national consciousness, but in fact masks a more complex, multi-layered process of national identity construction. A detailed and grounded study of identity, nationalism and globalization amongst football fans, English National Identity and Football Fan Culture will appeal to scholars and students of politics, sociology and anthropology with interests in ethnography, the sociology of sport, fan cultures, globalization and contemporary national identities.
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