The new “Magistra Obra” boots from Nike have just hit the UK market for the modest price of £240. The focus of the football boots’ design is performance: enhanced grip and low weight. The stud shapes have deviated from the classical conical shape into triangles, blades or combinations of different forms. Whilst these shapes presumably aim […]
Football and skill: why you’re not as individual as you think you are
As much as I hate football (for explanation – I’m a Blackburn Rovers fan; enough said) I’m enjoying my holiday read. It’s The Numbers Game by Chris Anderson and David Sally and is subtitled “Why everything you know about football is wrong”. It’s not actually the best thing to relax to as I keep jumping […]
Goal line technology: is GLT the new LHC?
I know something is up when I get consecutive phone calls from the press to comment on the same subject. Most recently this was about goal-line technology and I wondered what I could say that hadn’t already been said. And then I realised what the story was: that goal-line technology is a non-story very much […]
How Are Footballs Made?
Football is the most popular sport on the planet. In 2006 FIFA reported that there were 265 million players registered to one of its member associations, and this doesn’t include the countless players who have the occasional kick around at the park. Around 40 million footballs are sold each year around the world, making the […]
Why are the South Americans so good at football?
This is a question often posed by football fans as it seems to be a regular trend that the most impressive footballers in the world are from Southern America. You can strike up a debate with anyone about who the greatest ever football player is and you can almost guarantee the following three names will […]
Sensor, sensor in a ball? Which is the best goal-line technology of them all?
As many of you will already be aware, FIFA and particularly Sepp Blatter have recently indicated that goal line technology does have a role in football (something we’ve argued for some time). Frank Lampard’s non-goal against Germany in the last world cup has been cited as the turning point, a mistake which must not be repeated. For […]
Extreme temperature could influence ball properties at the 2022 World Cup
The host nation for the 2022 World Cup will be Qatar, a desert country where temperatures in June and July can reach 50 °C. I find it hard to even imagine that level of heat, let alone play football in it! The extreme temperatures are of obvious concern. So, alternative measures are being considered to […]
