Technology in association football
Technology in football has always been a topic of much debate with what some might call the purists/ traditionalists calling for as little as possible and who heavily oppose recent innovations such as the use of goal line technology. And then there are the masses that cry out for more citing the massive implications of potentially just one human error such as the one shown on the left of Lampard's disallowed goal in the 2010 World Cup against Germany.
Mainstream use of Hawk-eye dates back to 2001 however the technology was being developed as early as 1999. After success in other sports such as Tennis and Cricket (where it was initially a performance analysis tool for the former) Hawk-eye was finally introduced to football before the 2013-2014 season and is used as goal-line technology (Hawk-eye, 2014).
Video analysis when used correctly can become one of the key components of any football team. It is this importance that has led to most professional clubs using prozone or a similar video analysis company. And it is not as if they are used as token gestures in order to go along with what everyone else is doing as Prozone costs an estimated £100,000 to set up. It is in fact for many so crucial that the data found is even used in half time team talks by clubs as big as even Manchester City (Manchester City, 2014).
There are some who bemoan the cost but there is free or very cheap to buy software out there such as Longomatch and Dartfish so there is no reason why grassroots clubs can not become more involved with this side of the game. There is of course the issue at grassroots level with getting permission from parent and other teams in order to carry out footage. Finally there are some who say the increasing use of video analysis is undermining the need for a hands on coach where in fact it could be argued that it is endorsing the exact opposite and when used correctly as a tool can only enhance coach and player experiences within football (Setterwall, 2003).
Mainstream use of Hawk-eye dates back to 2001 however the technology was being developed as early as 1999. After success in other sports such as Tennis and Cricket (where it was initially a performance analysis tool for the former) Hawk-eye was finally introduced to football before the 2013-2014 season and is used as goal-line technology (Hawk-eye, 2014).
Video analysis when used correctly can become one of the key components of any football team. It is this importance that has led to most professional clubs using prozone or a similar video analysis company. And it is not as if they are used as token gestures in order to go along with what everyone else is doing as Prozone costs an estimated £100,000 to set up. It is in fact for many so crucial that the data found is even used in half time team talks by clubs as big as even Manchester City (Manchester City, 2014).
There are some who bemoan the cost but there is free or very cheap to buy software out there such as Longomatch and Dartfish so there is no reason why grassroots clubs can not become more involved with this side of the game. There is of course the issue at grassroots level with getting permission from parent and other teams in order to carry out footage. Finally there are some who say the increasing use of video analysis is undermining the need for a hands on coach where in fact it could be argued that it is endorsing the exact opposite and when used correctly as a tool can only enhance coach and player experiences within football (Setterwall, 2003).