Introduction: Rugby is a professional sport which places emphasises on strength, power, speed and endurance. Therefore the accurate assessment of rugby performance is very important for sports and exercise therapists to enable peak performance for the players. Lower limb strength is often tested by means of isokinetic testing, whilst functional power is tested by means of the vertical jump test. Sophisticated equipment used in the measurement of performance indicators, are often not available in smaller communities and rural areas. A good correlation between laboratory testing and functional testing could be of great value for determining performance in less fortunate communities. Aim of Study: To determine the relationship between isokinetic strength testing of the quadriceps and hamstring muscle groups and vertical jump performance in rugby players. Methods: Fifty one male, rugby players who were part of the Varsity Cup Tournament in (2011) participated in this study. Ethical approval was given by the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) of the University of Witwatersrand. Height and weight were measured. Isokinetic knee extensor and flexor strength was tested (Biodex system 4 dynamometer TM ) at 60˚/sec (5 repetitions), 180˚/sec (10 repetitions) and 300˚/sec (15 repetitions). A single leg vertical jump was done using the Vertec and the performance was assessed as maximal height jump in centimetres. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) are reported for all outcomes. The SPSS software (IBM. SPSS version 21) was used for analysis. A Pearson's Product Moment Correlation coefficient was calculated between the isokinetic parameters of quadriceps and hamstring muscles and the vertical jump height and power (watts). An independent t-test and a paired t-test were used to calculate the differences between the forward and backline players and the dominant (Dom) and non-dominant (ND) legs. Results: The mean age of the participants was 21.4 ± 1.2 years; they were 1.83 ± 7.4m tall and weighed 99.3 ± 13.8kg. There were 26 forward players (mean height of 1.88 ± 7.2m and mean weight of 109.9 ± 10.3kg) and 25 backline players (mean height of 1.80 ± 5.5m and mean weight of 88.3 ± 6.1kg). The forwards were significantly taller and heavier than the backline players (p = 0.0001). The forwards produced significant greater peak power in the vertical jump than the backline players in both the dominant and non-dominant legs (p=0.0001). The PT (Nm) decreased as the angular velocity increased from 60˚/sec to 300˚/sec. A significant negative correlation (r = - 0.313; p = 0.025) between peak torque (PT) concentric strength from the hamstrings at 60º/sec and the vertical jump height on the non-dominant side were found. Quadriceps PT to vertical power at the higher velocities showed significant correlations at 180º/sec (dominant: r = 0.294; p = 0.011) and 300º/sec (dominant: r = 0.352; p = 0.011; non-dominant: r = 0.293; p = 0.037). No significant correlations were found between peak torque and vertical jump height when corrected for body weight. When correlating PT and vertical jump power corrected for body weight significant negative correlations was found at 180º/sec (dominant: r = 0.319; p = 0.022; non-dominant: r = 0.305; p = 0.030) for the hamstrings. Conclusion: The findings from the presented study found no significant correlation between lower limb isokinetic knee muscle torque parameters and vertical jump performance in rugby union players. Future research should investigate the relationship between isokinetic testing and vertical jump height by including the parameters of a multi joint mechanism.

This thesis aims to examine the impact of transfer market habits on top European soccer clubs through three measures of sporting success. Using 2013-2018 data from Transfermarkt.com, Deloitte, and Forbes, including data on teams from 9 different European countries, this paper will be used to enable regressions on UEFA competition performance, club valuation, and social media followers. Using these three linear regressions, this thesis will attempt to determine the effectiveness of transfer market spending in improving key metrics of club performance. This thesis ultimately suggests a positive relationship between transfer spending and success in UEFA competitions as well as increases in club valuation. The results in this paper also suggests that this increased success in Europe leads to greater brand value through a significant social media impact.

High among the mountains and olive groves of Israel's Western Galilee, a group of Palestinian women regularly meet to do something unexpected. They play soccer. In Israel. Banat Sakhnin is the only Palestinian women's soccer team in the Israeli league. The players, coaches, and manager are Israeli citizens, but represent a minority within the Jewish state. As such, the women who play for Banat Sakhnin face challenges from multiple sides. This dissertation argues that Palestinian women's access to soccer in Israel is intimately tied to complex and contradictory community and national ideas about Palestinian-ness. Women's participation in an overtly physical activity puts their bodies on public display to be symbolically constituted as versions of "Palestinians," "Israelis," or an amalgamation of both. Additionally, soccer's reputation as a male sport in Israel further complicates women's access to it as players or as fans. This dissertation is based on intensive field research conducted from January 2006-December 2007. The interviews, stories, archival research, newspaper articles, and personal experience I collected revealed a complex picture of what life might be like for young Palestinian women who play soccer in Israel. I found that soccer players face limitations placed upon them by their coach and manager in the form of protectiveness and monitoring of their "propriety." I found that they face limitations from their families and communities who view soccer as a "hobby" that should end when the players marry. The team itself faces financial difficulties, because of a lack of popular interest in women's soccer, and a lack of commitment by the governing bodies of soccer in Israel. Yet, the players are not fully passive, and find ways to pursue their own goals around these structural and cultural limitations. This research contributes to the anthropology of women and power in the Middle East and the sociology and anthropology of soccer. Scholarship on women's soccer in the Middle East has focused on women's role in Islam. I suggest that this focus overshadows other gendered, cultural, and political barriers faced by women in Middle Eastern countries. The story of Banat Sakhnin adds to research about women's lives in the Middle East and Israel, because it focuses on female athletes playing a sport perceived to belong to the realm of men. It explores the ways in which the players' transgression of this gendered norm shapes and transforms other kinds of ideas about "Palestinian-ness" and "womanhood" in Israel.

With American football becoming increasingly popular in the United States, more efforts have been made on technology and advancements to reduce the number of injuries sustained by athletes. However, few studies have been conducted to evaluate how the field type, field condition, and shoe type interact with each other to induce injuries. To fill in the gap in the literature, this thesis used epidemiological methods to investigate the effect of field condition and shoe type on lower extremity injuries, specifically knee and ankle injuries, using real player data from the 2008, 2009, and 2010 football seasons from The University of Iowa. Results showed that over three seasons, 189 athletes experienced approximately 38,000 football exposures in 312 days. The athletes endured 250 injuries, in which 129 (51%) occurred in the lower extremity. Of all injuries, 34 (14%) involved the knee and 30 (12%) involved the ankle. Most of the lower extremity injuries, specifically knee injuries and ankle injuries, were of the joint (non-bone) and ligament type. Practices contributed to 73% of exposures, 11% for games, and 16% for other over the three sessions studied. 65% of all exposures occurred on an artificial surface, compared to 36% of all exposures that occurred on a natural surface. Most games were played on a natural surface (56%), while most practices occurred on an artificial surface (56%). For surface condition, 89% of all exposures were categorized as a normal condition compared to the 11% categorizes as a not normal condition. Most athletes used shoes with 9-12 cleats compared to shoes with 7, more than 12, or no cleats. In addition, most athletes used shoes with a high top at the shoe opening compared to a low top and shoes with short cleat lengths compared to long cleat lengths. The field condition variable (not normal vs. normal) was the only unadjusted GLM with significant results for all lower extremity injuries (Chi-square p-value=0.0307) and ankle injuries specifically (Chi-square p-value=0.0253). When the predictor variables were adjusted for team activity (i.e., games and practices) only the playing surface model was significant for all terms, including team activity (Chi-square p-value=0.0018), surface (Chi-square p-value=0.029), and the interaction term (Chi-square p-value=0.0189). This model was further analyzed for practice and games separately, and it was found that surface was significant in predicting lower extremity injuries in a game setting (Chi-square p-value=0.005). For all lower extremity injuries, the odds of having a lower extremity injury on an artificial surface in a game setting was 2.89 times more likely than on a natural surface. For the condition, top height, and number of cleat models, only the team activity term was found significant (Chi-square p-value=0.0143, <.0001, and 0.0038, respectively). When these models were further analyzed for practice and games separately, only field condition was found to be significant in a practice setting. For all lower extremity injuries, the odds of having a lower extremity injury in a not normal condition in a practice setting was 2.04 times more likely than in a normal condition. The cleat length model was not found to be significant when adjusting for team activity. The results of this analysis provide a foundation for future studies to understand why several extrinsic risk factors may be associated with lower extremity injuries.

This thesis investigates problems of performance modelling in sport. Mathematical models are used to evaluate the performance of individuals, teams, and the competition rules under which they compete. The thesis comprises a collection of papers on applications of modelling to Australian rules football, soccer and cricket. Using variations of the model wij = ui + hi - uj + eij where wij is the home team winning margin when home team i plays away team j, ui is a team rating, hi is an individual ground effect and eij is random error, the evaluation of team home ground advantage effect (HA) is studied in detail. Data from the Australian Football League and English Association Football for 1980 to 1995 are investigated. The necessity of individual team HAs is demonstrated. The usual methods of calculating HA for competitions is shown to be inappropriate for individual teams. The existence of a spurious HA when home and away performances are compared is discussed. For a balanced competition, fitting the above model by least squares is equivalent to a simple calculator method using only data from the final ladder. A method of calculating HA by pairing matches is demonstrated. Tables of HA and paired HA in terms of points/game for each year are given. The resultant HAs for both Australian rules football and soccer are analysed. Clearly there is an isolation effect, where teams that are isolated geographically have large HAs. For English soccer, the paired HA is shown to be linearly related to the distance between club grounds. As an application of these methods, the development and implementation of a computer tipping program used to forecast Australian rules football by rating teams is described. The need for ground effects for each team and ground, and the use of heuristic methods to optimise the program is discussed. The accuracy of the prediction model and its implementation by publication in the media is discussed. International comparisons show prediction methods are limited by the data. Methods for evaluating the fairness of the League draw and the finals systems are given. The thesis also investigates the use of dynamic programming to optimise tactics in football and cricket. The thesis develops tables giving the optimal run rate and the expected score or probability of winning at any stage of a one-day cricket innings. They show a common strategy in one-day cricket to be non-optimal, and a heuristic is developed that is near optimal under a range of parameter variations. A range of dynamic programming models are presented, allowing for batsmen of different abilities and various objective functions. Their application to performance modelling are shown by developing a radically different performance measure for one day cricket, and applying it to a one-day series.

In a club rugby union environment, sports nutrition information is frequently delivered to players by the central team figure, the coach. Rugby coaches in New Zealand undertake negligible formal nutrition training to become a coach, and the development of their knowledge base remains their responsibility. There is currently no literature on the nutrition knowledge level of New Zealand coaches. Internationally, literature on coaches' nutrition knowledge and dissemination of that knowledge is scarce. Research to date has used questionnaire techniques to quantify coaches' knowledge. These questionnaires have not been assessed for their psychometric properties. As such, a true measure of knowledge cannot be guaranteed from any of these contemporary studies. Therefore, the aims of this thesis were: 1) To design a nutrition knowledge questionnaire satisfying adequate statistical measures of validity and reliability; 2) To utilise the validated questionnaire to investigate the nutrition knowledge level of these coaches 3) To investigate whether or not New Zealand premier club rugby coaches provide nutrition advice to their athletes and the factors affecting this; and 4) To investigate the factors that predict coaches' knowledge. Study 1 involved designing a questionnaire that satisfied acceptable psychometric criteria of validity (content and construct) and reliability (test-retest). It was designed by an expert panel of sports dietitians and distributed to five groups, dietitians, university business staff, and nutrition, business and fitness students, selected for their expected variation in sports nutrition knowledge. Construct validity was high as indicated by significant mean knowledge score differences between the groups (p = 0.0001). Dietitians and nutrition students achieved significantly greater mean scores than the remaining groups. The questionnaire was administered a second time to the business staff and the dietitians to assess test-retest reliability, for which two methods were used. The first method involved a Pearson's product-moment correlation, and demonstrated acceptable reliability (r = 0.74-0.93), aside from the fluid sub-category (r = 0.52). The second, and more robust, method involved a percentage calculation of questions answered in an identical manner on both test occasions. A good test-retest concordance was achieved, with 81.2% duplication of responses of all questions. The findings of this study indicated that the questionnaire was suitably valid and reliable to determine the sports nutrition knowledge of New Zealand premier club rugby coaches. In Study 2, coaches (n = 168) completed the validated questionnaire, received by Internet, linked via e-mail, or (in case of inaccessibility), standard mail. Coaches responded correctly to 55.6% of all knowledge questions. Those who provided nutrition advice to their players (83.8% of the group) obtained a significantly greater knowledge score, 56.8%, than those who did not provide advice, 48.4% (p = 0.008). The study also examined the factors determining nutrition knowledge level. Significant relationships were identified between total knowledge score of all coaches and their qualifications (p = 0.0001), their own knowledge rating (p = 0.0001), whether or not they underwent nutrition training (p = 0.002) and whether or not they provided nutrition advice (p = 0.004). It can be concluded that New Zealand premier club rugby coaches are inadequately prepared to impart nutrition advice to athletes and could benefit from further nutrition training.

The purpose of this thesis was to study the injury characteristics in elite football, and risk factors for injury with special emphasis on anterior cruciate ligament injury. All five papers followed a prospective design using a standardised methodology. Individual training and match exposure was recorded for all players participating as well as all injuries resulting in time loss. Severe injury was defined as absence from play longer than 4 weeks. In Paper I, all 14 teams in the Swedish men’s elite league were studied during the 2001 season. In this paper, all tissue damage regardless of subsequent time loss was also recorded. There were no differences in injury incidence between the two injury definitions during match play (27.2 vs. 25.9 injuries per 1000 hours, p=0.66) or training (5.7 vs. 5.2 injuries per 1000 hours, p=0.65). Significantly higher injury incidences for training injury, overuse injury and re-injury were found during the pre-season compared to the competitive season. Thigh strain was the single most common injury (14%). In Paper II, 8% of all players in the Swedish men’s elite league 2001 had a history of previous ACL injury at the start of the study period. These players had a higher incidence of new knee injury during the season than players without previous ACL injury (4.2 vs. 1.0 injuries per 1000 hours, p=0.02). The higher incidence of new knee injury was seen both when using the player (relative risk 3.4, 95% CI 1.8-6.3) and the knee (relative risk 4.5, 95% CI 2.3-8.8) as the unit of analysis. In Paper III, eleven clubs in the men’s elite leagues of five European countries were studied during the 2001-2002 season. The incidence of match injury was higher for the English and Dutch teams compared to the Mediterranean teams (41.8 vs. 24.0 injuries per 1000 hours, p=0.008) as well as the incidence of severe injury (2.0 vs. 1.1 injuries per 1000 hours, p=0.04). Players having international duty had a higher match exposure (42 vs. 28 matches, p&lt;0.001), but a tendency to a lower training injury incidence (4.1 vs. 6.2 injuries per 1000 hours, p=0.051). Thigh strain was the most common injury (16%) with posterior strains being more frequent than anterior ones (67 vs. 36, p&lt;0.0001). In Paper IV, the national teams of all 32 countries that qualified for the men’s European Championship 2004, the women’s European Championship 2005 and the men’s Under-19 European Championship 2005 were studied during the tournaments. There were no differences in match and training injury incidences between the championships. Teams eliminated after the group stage in the women’s championship had a significantly higher match injury incidence compared to teams going to the semi-finals (65.4 vs. 5.0 injuries per 1000 hours, p=0.02). Non-contact mechanisms were ascribed for 41% of the match injuries and these injuries were more common in the second half. In Paper V, all 12 clubs in the Swedish women’s elite league and 11 of 14 clubs in the men’s elite league were studied during the 2005 season. The prevalence of a history of previous ACL injury at the start of the study was three times higher among the female players (15% vs. 5%, p=0.0002). During the season, 16 new ACL injuries were recorded. There was a tendency to a lower mean age at injury among the women (20 vs. 24 years, p=0.069). Adjusted for age, no gender-related difference in the incidence of ACL injury was seen (relative risk 0.99, 95% CI 0.37-2.6). Age was associated with ACL injury incidence in women where the risk decreased by 24% for each year increase in age (relative risk 0.76, 95% CI 0.59-0.96).

Uppsatsen tar sin utgångspunkt i antagandet att det existerar ett antal så kallade misfits inom svenska elitfotbollsklubbar. Detta grundar sig i att 13 av 16 klubbar i Allsvenskan visade ett negativt driftresultat 2009. Med anledning av detta är syftet med uppsatsen att identifiera problem och möjligheter som finns relaterade till affärsutvecklingen inom svensk elitfotboll. I ett andra steg analyseras vilka åtgärder som krävs för att lösa de identifierade problemen och tillvarata möjligheterna. Svensk forskning inom affärsutveckling och fotboll är högst begränsad, varför vi anser att vår uppsats har ett betydande kunskapsbidrag. För att uppnå syftet har intervjuer med VD:ar i fyra olika allsvenska klubbar samt generalsekreteraren för Föreningen Svensk Elitfotboll genomförts. Intervjusvaren har därefter analyserats och jämförts med inhämtad teori innan uppsatsens huvudsakliga slutsatser presenteras. Dessa åskådliggörs dels översiktligt som en egen figur över de misfits vi identifierat inom elitfotbollens affärsutveckling, och dels som förslag på åtgärder för att lösa de misfits som förekommer. / This paper commence from the assumption that it exists a couple of misfits within Swedish professional football clubs. This is based upon the fact that 13 of 16 clubs in Allsvenskan showed a negative operating profit in 2009. On account of this the aim of this paper is to identify problems and opportunities related to business development within Swedish professional football. At the next step measures that is demanded to solve the identified problems and take benefit of the opportunities is analyzed. Swedish research on the matter of business development and football is limited, why we consider our paper to have a lot to offer to the research. In order to fulfill the aim, interviews with CEO:s in four different Swedish professional football clubs and the secretary-general of the Association of Swedish Professional Football have been made. The material from the interviews is then being analyzed and compared with the theories before the main conclusions of the paper are presented. These are illustrated partly synoptically as a figure over the misfits that we have identified within the business development in Swedish professional football, and partly as suggestions of measures in order to solve the misfits.

Abstract   Our intent with this study was to find out what changes have been made during the last 30 years in the way that the media reports from certain events. We choose to study the world of football and specially the Swedish national team and it’s relationship to the Swedish television medium in the World Cup of 1974 and the World Cup of 2006.   The study mainly focuses on the differences in commentary and in the production from both of the championships. We used Keith Selby and Ron Cowdery’s book How to study television and Mats Ekström and Lars-Åke Larsson’s book Metoder i kommunikationsvetenskap as tools to analyze the games we watched.   The result showed that there’s been a lot of changes media wise between the two championships. Most of the changes have been made because of the evolvement of the media industry and also because the viewers are getting better knowledge of the subject and thereby demand that the media keeps up with their pace.   The main differences in commentary and production regarding both championships can be found in the picture production. By adding more cameras, developing the picture quality and adding better sound the overall experience of a football game have increased. From 1974 when a game was just distributed from the arena to the viewers home to 2006 when the game is a complete experience.     Title: “From ‘high and good’ to ‘watch out for Gerrard’” A qualitative study of genre change   Year: 2009   Authors: Johan Bagewitz and Björn Lundblad   Number of pages: 70   University: Växjö universitet   Keywords: Media and Communication, Television production, Football

<h1>Abstract</h1><p> </p><p>Our intent with this study was to find out what changes have been made during the last 30 years in the way that the media reports from certain events. We choose to study the world of football and specially the Swedish national team and it’s relationship to the Swedish television medium in the World Cup of 1974 and the World Cup of 2006.</p><p> </p><p>The study mainly focuses on the differences in commentary and in the production from both of the championships. We used Keith Selby and Ron Cowdery’s book <em>How to study television</em> and Mats Ekström and Lars-Åke Larsson’s book <em>Metoder i kommunikationsvetenskap</em> as tools to analyze the games we watched.</p><p> </p><p>The result showed that there’s been a lot of changes media wise between the two championships. Most of the changes have been made because of the evolvement of the media industry and also because the viewers are getting better knowledge of the subject and thereby demand that the media keeps up with their pace.</p><p> </p><p>The main differences in commentary and production regarding both championships can be found in the picture production. By adding more cameras, developing the picture quality and adding better sound the overall experience of a football game have increased. From 1974 when a game was just distributed from the arena to the viewers home to 2006 when the game is a complete experience.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Title:</strong> “From ‘high and good’ to ‘watch out for Gerrard’” A qualitative study of genre change</p><p> </p><p><strong>Year</strong>: 2009</p><p> </p><p><strong>Authors</strong>: Johan Bagewitz and Björn Lundblad</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Number of pages</strong>: 70</p><p> </p><p><strong>University</strong>: Växjö universitet</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> Media and Communication, Television production, Football</p>