Science and Football (Routledge Revivals)

Proceedings of the first World Congress of Science and Football, Liverpool, 13-17th April 1987

Tom Reilly, Adrian Lees, Keith Davids, W. J. Murphy

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780415509114
• eBook ISBN: 9781135707750

First published in 1988, this book contains edited and revised papers presented at the first World Congress of Science and Football.

Held under the auspices of the International Council of Sport, Science, and Physical Education, the Congress was a unique gathering of international scientists researching into football and practitioners professionally involved in the many football codes. American football, soccer, rugby league, rugby union, Australian rules, Gaelic football and national variations of these games are all covered in depth, in both amateur and professional systems.

Nutrition, biomechanics, equipment, physiology, sociology, psychology, coaching, management, training, tactics, strategy are among the main subject areas the contributors cover. With over 22 countries represented and with players, managers and coaches involved as well as academics the book represents a truly international, comprehensive and practical picture of contemporary football.

Part I

Common threads: opening keynote address

FOOTBALL: THE COMMON THREADS BETWEEN THE GAMES

Brian Douge

West Australian Football League Inc., Subiaco Oval, Subiaco, W.A., P.O. Box 275, West Australia 6008, Australia.

Introduction

American Football, Australian Rules football, Gaelic football, Rugby League, Rugby Union and soccer are sports which have tremendous spectator appeal. Each of these football codes attracts 60 000 –120 000 spectators to its major championship matches. The fans are attracted to football for a variety of reasons ranging from traditional rivalry between teams to an appreciation of skills.

American Football, Rugby League and Rugby Union are codes which have a similar appearance. Players in these codes adopt ‘front-line’ positions prior to the commencement of each play, use throwing and running as the primary methods for transporting the ball, only kick the ball on a few specific occasions, employ body tackling as a major skill and are involved in stop and start passages of play which last between 5–90s. Soccer, Australian Rules and Gaelic football while being very different from the above mentioned three codes, have similar characteristics. Players in these codes adopt positions which are dispersed over the playing surface, use kicking as the primary method for transporting the ball, tend to pass the ball rather than run with it, use limited body tackling and are involved in relatively continuous play.

A computerised literature search highlighted an extreme variation in the number of investigations in each football sport. For example in the area of injury, there were 5400 studies conducted in American Football and only one study in Gaelic football. The apparent neglect of Gaelic football in this paper is not necessarily due to a lack of commitment to this particular code. It is rather due to the nonappearance of relevant material in the international sports medicine literature.

All codes are sensitive to the need to reduce the number of playing hours lost through injury. At all levels, the loss of a key player through injury results in a reduction in the competitiveness of a team (Ekstrand et al., 1983) and a high injury rate deters prospective participants.

Unfortunately because of the nature of football there is a relatively high risk of injury compared to other sports. Of 1652 sports injuries reported in three casualty departments in Brisbane, Australia in 1980, 35 sports were represented. Altogether 63% of cases occurred in either Australian Rules, Rugby League, Rugby Union or soccer: the figures could be due to the popularity of football as a sporting activity. Sixty percent of these injuries occurred during competition and 11% during training (Smithers and Myers 1985). Of 4673 sports injuries at Ulleval Hospital in Oslo (Norway) 35% were caused by football (Maehlum and Daljord, 1984).

The risk of injury is at one end of the spectrum of deterrents and attractions for football participants. At the other end of the spectrum are the highly attractive external and internal elements of football which encourage participants to ignore the injury risk.

This paper attends to those common elements of the football codes which have:–

(i)	captured the interest and attention of players and spectators, and
(ii)	prompted scientific investigation.

Common attractive components of football codes

Passing

Visual examination reveals that despite the varying methods used to project the ball, there are several similarities in the passing strategies adopted by each football code. Some of the common strategies include:–

(i)	short quick passing to create an opening in defence;
(ii)	long direct and indirect passing to develop space and provide an opportunity to increase the forward momentum of the team;
(iii)	placing the ball to the receiver's advantage, thus limiting any possibility of interception by a defender;
(iv)	supportive running to provide the ball carrier with planned or reactionary passing options;
(v)	the prevalence of automated responses which are interwoven with necessarily creative and impulsive passes;
(vi)	passing the ball with the intent of developing optimal ball and team momentum;
(vii)	the adoption of situationally specific passing strategies.

Evasion

Evasion is evident in most team sports. However, the need to optimise evasion skills is accentuated in football codes, particularly in American Football, Australian Rules, Rugby League and Rugby Union.

In each of these codes, the distance a player may run with the ball is not restricted. One of the most exciting sights at any football match is a solo run with the ball, knowing that the ball carrier is the only player who can be tackled. Some of the common evasion strategies include:–

(i)	false body movement (e.g. eyes and hip) to deceive the opponent into thinking that the ball carrier is committed to a path other than the intended path;
(ii)	use of acceleration and speed;
(iii)	selective use of peripheral vision;
(iv)	effective use of sidestepping, swerving and turning skills:
(v)	automated evasive responses to tackier strategies;
(vi)	support for the evading ball carrier is provided by teammates who either block the path of opponents or provide passing options. The availability of passing options enables the ball carrier to use a fake pass as part of the evasion strategy.

Catching

Catching the ball is a dominant skill in American Football, Australian Rules, Rugby League, Rugby Union, and Gaelic football. In soccer catching is restricted to the goalkeeper and therefore is not a dominant skill; nevertheless, it is extremely important.

Some of the common catching strategies include:–

(i)	in American Football, Rugby League, Rugby Union and soccer -protecting the ball by clutching it to the body as soon as possible. In Australian Rules and Gaelic football the ball is most often held in the hands after a catch to permit quick disposal;
(ii)	catching the ball in outstretched hands when being closely checked by an opponent;
(iii)	moving to meet the ball at the catcher's optimal height and speed;
(iv)	catching the ball in two hands rather than one;
(v)	developing quick reflexive catching skills to cope with unpredictable ball movement;
(vi)	selectively attending to the ball visually despite the possible risk of injury due to the aggressive posture of another catcher or a tackier.

Contact

Contact is permitted in American Football, Australian Rules, Rugby League and Rugby Union, however in soccer and Gaelic football intentional contact is prohibited. In all codes, the evaluation of the degree of contact in relation to the contact rules is typically dependent upon the interpretation of the umpire or referee.

Some of the common contact strategies include:–

(i)	moving into situations of possible collision with maximum momentum;
(ii)	mauling an opponent when tackling;
(iii)	performing the tackling skill in such a way that the risk of head and neck injury is minimal;
(iv)	deliberately using contact which is outside the rules of the game;
(v)	accepting the prevalence of unintentional contact and th...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part I Common threads: opening keynote address
• Part II Nutrition
• Part III Physiology of match-play
• Part IV Physiology of football training
• Part V Fitness test profiles of footballers
• Part VI Medical and environmental aspects of football
• Part VII Match analysis: strategic aspects
• Part VIII Match analysis: World Cup soccer 1986
• Part IX Biomechanics and football equipment
• Part X Biomechanics of football skills
• Part XI Psychological aspects of football skills
• Part XII Stress and psychological attributes
• Part XIII Sociological aspects of football violence
• Part XIV Management and coaching
• Index