The aim of this study is to examine how the introduction of the Video Assisted Referee (VAR) system influenced the English Premier League (EPL). Since its implementation in the English Premier League in 2019, VAR has been a constant source of debate and controversy. Many studies have been done on the immediate impact of VAR on other elite professional soccer leagues, but the scope of results is very limited and due to be updated. The data for the ensuing analysis consists of 3800 matches played in the English Premier League during the five seasons before (14/15, 15/16, 16/17, 17/18, and 18/19) and five seasons after (19/20, 20/21, 21/22, 22/23, 23/24) the implementation of VAR. The following variables were recorded for each match: goals, fouls committed, penalty kicks awarded, penalty kicks scored, shots, offsides, red cards, yellow cards, tackles, and interceptions. Match statistics were web scraped from the website FBref (www.FBref.com) using software packages in R. Welch’s T-tests, Mann-Whitney U-tests, and generalized linear models were used at an unadjusted 0.05 significance level to compare average total match statistics in the English Premier League for seasons before and after the implementation of the VAR, across three different time periods used for comparison: (i) 1 year before and after VAR, (ii) 3 years before and after VAR, and (iii) 5 years before and after VAR. In the 1 year comparison, we found a statistically significant increase in the number of average total match fouls, and statistically significant decreases in the number of average total match offsides, tackles, and interceptions. In the 3 year comparison, we found a statistically significant increase in the number of average total match tackles, and statistically significant decreases in the number of average total match offsides and interceptions. In the 5 year comparison, we found statistically significant increases in the number of average total match goals, penalty kicks awarded, penalty kicks scored, yellow cards, and tackles, and statistically significant decreases in the number of average total match offsides and interceptions. However, we discuss several other notable rule changes since the implementation of VAR in the English Premier League that could have also affected these results. Although we did observe multiple statistically significant differences in certain match statistics, it would be statistically inappropriate to conclude that VAR has caused these changes. Further, due to the large sample size, these results are likely statistically significant, but not as practically significant in the real world. In conclusion, VAR does not seem to drastically affect gameplay overall in the English Premier League.

Politics has been an integral part of Korean football since the Japanese colonial era when the game became a vehicle for the Korean independence movement. The split between North and South Korea following the Korean War further accentuated the intrusion of politics into the domain of Korean football. As Koreans residing on either side of the border followed the game with intense interest and often regarded performance in international competition as a signifier of national prestige, the governments of both North and South Korea attached more importance to football than to any other sport and became its foremost patrons. In these circumstances it is not surprising to find that the relative performance of the national teams of North and South Korea mirrored changing economic and political conditions. Thus the rapid rise of North Korean football in the 1960s was a reflection of the state’s systematic and successful postwar reconstruction. Since the 1980s, however, South Korea, with its booming economy, has clearly surpassed its increasingly impoverished northern counterparts in the football field. Undoubtedly, the most two important events pertaining to the development of Korean football were the 1966 and 2002 World Cups. They provided occasions when nationalist sentiment could be expressed through football in both North and South Korea. They also provided opportunities for Korean footballers, through their achievements on the field, to show that the gap between the traditional periphery and core of world football was narrowing. At the same time, participation in competition at this level, whether by teams from North or South Korea, suggested that there was a recognizable and distinctive Korean football style nurtured in training camps where the emphasis was on producing players with sufficient stamina to run at their opponents for ninety minutes. Tireless running football has been the characteristic of successful teams from both North and South Korea. Thus, while recognizing the profound ideological differences that separate North and South Korea, this thesis also emphasizes the football tradition and culture that ethnically homogenous Koreans have in common.

The English Premier League is regarded as one of the most prominent sporting competitions in the world. In the last decade the league (and by definition it’s member clubs) have become highly attractive to wealthy foreign investors, having taken ownership of a number of clubs across the league. This thesis seeks to investigate the motivations and consequences behind this foreign direct investment (FDI). The study uses a multi-method approach not commonly found within the sports economics or FDI literature combining both quantitative and qualitative methods. The thesis has generated responses from ‘elite’ level respondents at Premier League clubs together with members of the supporters’ movement. Existing data from club sources and market reports has been collected in order to assess the motivations and consequences of FDI. The thesis finds the motives behind football FDI to be somewhat different to those held by other forms of business organisation. Football is a mostly loss-making industry, but despite this weakness, some investors have purchased Premier League clubs for economic reasons. The importance of non-economic motives, such as profile enhancement, and the notion of the trophy asset were also found to be influential motives behind some football FDI. These aspects are not strongly reflected in the FDI literature, and they imply football is different to other forms of investment. FDI is shown to be mostly beneficial for the clubs receiving the investment, but for non-acquired clubs negative consequences are found in terms of wages, transfer costs, profits, and debt. For the Premier League itself, FDI has been positive in terms of enhancing the league’s stature, revenues, and the quality of matches. Some benefits were found at the regional level. This thesis covers the gap within the literature surrounding FDI and football, and also raises wider points about the generalizability of FDI theory to all industries.

Thesis (M Sport Sc (Sport Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / The purpose of this study was to describe the different methods used by coaches to improve decision making in ruby. The study included three coaches from the Western Cape area. Two of the three coaches worked with U/20A league teams and the third coach worked in the Super A league. Eight coaching sessions were video taped and analysed to identify the coaching method used when presenting skill development activities. The verbal behaviour each coach was also recorded. Five rugby games involving each of the teams were also analysed to determine which team had the highest success rates in key categories. The results showed that Coach 1 integrated decision making with skill practice primarily through the method of verbal feedback during sessions where he used a direct teaching style. His comments to players during technical skill instruction were focussed on linking their skill performance to its tactical use in a game. The other two coaches followed the expected pattern of using indirect teaching styles to teach players how to apply tactics. It was concluded that different coaches may use different teaching styles to improve players’ decision making. The belief that the direct style of coaching focuses on technical learning at the expense of tactical understanding may be false. Much more research needs to be completed on coaching methods before specific recommendations can be made to coaches about optimal approaches to balancing the demand for good tactical decision making and sound technical skill performance.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to investigate the business model of a professional South African Rugby Union by determining the core logic and practices of the Boland Rugby Union. Information was gathered mostly through semi-structured interviews conducted with board members of Boland Rugby. Additional information was gathered through observation, the media, the collection of relevant documents, as well as other secondary research methods. Boland Rugby, similar to most South African rugby provinces, has both an amateur and a professional arm. The study indicates that Boland Rugby Union offers a strong value proposition to its target segments focused on development and creating a platform for the different rugby codes to participate and develop. The professional arm is focused on providing the Boland Kavaliers with the necessary resources to compete against other provinces. Boland covers a wide geographical area and therefore a good structure is needed to make governance easier. Market limitations and especially financial resources create challenges towards creating a stronger commercial value. Therefore partnerships with local businesses are essential in providing the necessary value proposition. As shown by the literature review, there are strong links between the different business model components. An important finding was the co-creation that occurs continuously throughout the value creation process. Boland Rugby, its consumers, and all relevant stakeholders play an essential role in creating this value. The Osterwalder model used during the study acted as a good structure to capture the business activities. Looking forward, Boland Rugby will have to explore different business avenues through which they can create revenue and further develop their value offering. It was clear that there is a lack in strategic drive to meet a changing market environment, although the union finds itself in a comfortable position as their geographical area will remain theirs. Boland Rugby has financial challenges that accompany professional sport, and it requires a sustainable financial model with a clear strategy towards long-term objectives. The study recommendations indicate that a change towards professionalism is not necessarily the only option, and is not always well received within a structure that is built on an amateur approach. Depending on the future strategy going forward, commercial rationale will play a central role in future decision-making. One thing is certain, good governance and corporate values are necessary to increase the faith of stakeholders in the decision-making processes and leadership of Boland Rugby.

George Taliaferro was a trailblazer. He was the first black quarterback in professional football, the first black quarterback in the National Football League (NFL), and the first black man to be drafted by an NFL team.Taliaferro's story of perseverance revealed the slow and difficult process of integration in high school, at Indiana University, and in his professional football career. The obstacles he faced and the lessons he learned were representative of issues related to the integration of the NFL.A combination of personal narrative and historical investigation was used in this creative project. In addition to Taliaferro's first-hand accounts, depth and perspective were added through interviews and reportage.The biography that resulted, the story of Taliaferro's resolve, became a vehicle for telling a larger story, the integration of the NFL. / Department of Journalism

This thesis explores the process of implementation of the FA's Charter Standard scheme in England. The football development scheme, for schools and clubs, is the first nationally led initiative to attempt instantiate structures and minimum standards of practice at the junior level of football in England. Implementation of the scheme has taken place within the context of New Labour s modernising drive for sport. Moreover, the area of grassroots football has escaped any sustained analysis in academia. Therefore, the thesis aims to provide insights into this area and re-dress the balance somewhat from the pre-occupation of analysing the elite levels of the game. The nature of implementation is complex and multi-faceted, and a primary aim of the study is to identify and analyse the dynamics of implementation in three distinct geographical areas (or clusters) of grassroots football. The study focuses on the meso level of analysis, which centres on the structures and dynamics of relationships between County FA personnel, grassroots football volunteers, teachers and sport development professionals whose responsibility it is to implement the Charter Standard. The macro level of analysis is also briefly considered, where the primary concern is to highlight how such individuals are constrained or facilitated in implementing the Charter Standard, and the relative positions of power they occupy. A qualitative methodology is utilised to elicit data in respect of implementation, generating themes and issues specific to each of the three case studies (or clusters), allowing for general comparisons. Within the case study approach, the dialectical approach to policy networks is applied to provide a framework in which to analyse and discuss theories and processes of implementation. This has proved useful in highlighting conflict and ambiguity between individuals regarding the ethos, and criteria within, FA Charter Standard criteria. Indeed, it is evident that implementing the Charter Standard is problematic for both professionals and volunteers within the context of modernisation. The study concludes by noting changes in the practice of grassroots football. Volunteers have been drawn into football development work which has altered their experience from a largely spontaneous, leisurely activity of choice, to one in which they are expected to conform to professionalised practices in order to implement, and gain Charter Standard accreditation for their club or school.

The growing body of literature on women's football has focused mainly on the development of the game and experiences of past and present players. Despite the emergence of research on women's football internationally there has not yet been exclusive attention to either of these areas in the Scottish context. Using an interpretive framework this thesis is organised around four main themes: the development of women's football in Scotland; socio-demographic characteristics of women footballers; the process of socialisation; and, the subculture of women's football. The synthesis of elements within the interpretive framework ensures that the research offers an interpretation that is both contextualised historically and informed by an understanding of the meaning of football in the context of players' private lives. In relation to the history of the game, the development of women's football in Scotland has indeed been shaped by the particular Scottish context. The research concludes that the socialisation of women into football in Scotland is an interactive and often a reciprocal process. The subculture of women's football in Scotland is characterised by three interlocking group cultures. The meaning of football in players' lives influences the nature of their individual membership to these group cultures and the importance they attach to elements of subcultural capital. The various meanings attached to football give rise to potential sources of tension between the dominant, emergent and residual elements of culture within the subculture. This original theoretically and empirically informed study of women's football in Scotland makes a contribution to the growing body of research on women's football and to our understanding of the social and historical significance of sport in Scottish society.

La thèse est consacrée à la sociologie de la formation au métier de footballeur. Il s'agit de comprendre comment on devient, ou non, joueur de football professionnel, aussi bien du point de vue de celui qui vit la formation (le joueur) que de celui qui la fait (le formateur). Pour cela, nous avons mené une série d'entretiens (quatre-vingt dix) et d'observations (cinquante séances d'entraînement et deux semaines d'immersion continue) dans les trois clubs professionnels de la région Nord / Pas de Calais que sont le Racing Club de Lens, le Lille Olympique Sporting Club et le Valenciennes Football Club ainsi qu'au centre fédéral de préformation de Liévin. La démarche de comparaison entre les différentes instances de formation que nous avons adoptée permet d'emblée de questionner l'unicité supposée du système de formation "à la française". En parallèle de cette comparaison des lieux de formation, le recours au concept de carrière permet, en observant l'entrée, le déroulement et la sortie de la formation, de mettre en évidence l'absence de linéarité dans les trajectoires qui amènent au professionnalisme.C'est au cours de plusieurs étapes rythmées par moments clés, en côtoyant divers groupes et segments professionnels que se structure progressivement une identité professionnelle de joueur de football de haut niveau. Mais si les lauréats sont à l'évidence devenus des professionnels d'un système de formation hyper sélectif et incertain, sont-ils, pour autant préparés à affronter le marché du travail des footballeurs ? Lorsque l'on sait que plus de la moitié des premiers contrats professionnels ne seront pas renouvelés, rien n'est moins sûr. / The thesis focuses on how to get to the various stages to the work of professional footballer, seen from sociological aspects. We want to understand how it is possible to become – or not – a professional football player both from the perspective of the one who lives training (the player) and the one who makes it (the trainer). In order to do this, we conducted a series of interviews (ninety) and observations (fifty training sessions and two weeks of continuous immersion) in the three professional clubs in the region Nord / Pas de Calais that are the Racing Club of Lens, the Lille Olympique Sporting Club and the Valenciennes Football Club and the federal preformation center of Lievin. Comparing these different places of the formation, allows us immediately to question the supposed unity of the French football model of education. Besides this first comparison, using the concept of career allows us, by observing the beginning, the process and the close of the education, to show that there is no linearity in the trajectories that lead to the work of professional football player. It is during several stages defined by key moments and by meeting different professional groups and segments that the football player’s professional identity is progressively structured. However, we can wonder if young people who manage to survive to a such uncertain and selective model of formation are really prepared to evolve in the professional football market. When we know that half of the first professional football contracts are not prolonged, we can’t positively answer to this.

Dès 1890, les footballeurs français de haut niveau ont suscité l’intérêt de publics toujours plus nombreux. Mais s’ils ont été les premiers à attirer l'attention de l'opinion, il s'avère que les entraîneurs, qui sont demeurés longtemps méconnus, ont joué un rôle primordial dans l'évolution et les progrès du football français. A partir des années 1920, ils investissent le champ du ballon rond et tentent d'imposer leur vision de la pratique et de l'entraînement. Mais ils se heurtent à divers obstacles qui entraveront leur influence durant des décennies. L'ensemble des entraîneurs professionnels ne se constitue en véritable profession qu'à partir des années 1950, en s'appuyant sur une « Amicale », une organisation déterminante dans la structuration de leur identité, ainsi que sur une formation performante. Les entraîneurs deviennent plus visibles aux yeux du grand public depuis les années 1980. Mais en fait cette exposition médiatique est à double tranchant : si elle permet de souligner leur rôle dans les progrès du football français, elle met davantage encore en péril une stabilité professionnelle qui leur a toujours été contestée. L'histoire de la profession des entraîneurs s'organise autour de l'action d'individualités déterminantes comme Gabriel Hanot ou Georges Boulogne, mais également d'actions collectives souvent initiées par leur syndicat, mais aussi par leur hiérarchie représentée par la Direction Technique Nationale. Ces hommes et ces organisations ont pris conscience que l'action des entraîneurs ne se limite pas au terrain, ni à l'entraînement et à la compétition et que leur profession présente de nombreuses caractéristiques du travail des cadres. / Since 1890, élite French footballers have become the centre of interest for an ever increasing number of people. But although players were the first to attract attention, it is taken for granted that coaches played the most prominent role in the evolution and improvement of French soccer. However, they remained largely unknown for many years. As early as the 1920s, they invested the area of French soccer and tried to teach their own perception of how to train for an play the game. But they faced some difficulties, which would slow their influence for several decades. Coaching did not become a real occupation till the 1950s, when they created an organization called “Amicale”, which played a decisive part in establishing their own identity as well as creating an efficient academy process. Coaches have become better known by the general public since the 1980s, but this new media coverage is a two-edged sword: on the one hand, it gives them credit for their action in improving French football, but on the other hand it threatens more and more their professional stability, which they have always been denied. The history of professional coaching suggests we take a look at the action of decisive individuals like Gabriel Hanot or Georges Boulogne, but also at collective actions which were often driven by their own union, or by their hierarchy through the D.T.N. (National Technical Direction). These men and organizations have become aware of the fact that coaching does not amount to the practice pitch alone, nor to training and competition, and that their occupation shows many similarities to managerial work.