On the eve of the World Cup I’ve
succumbed to a massive piece of self-indulgence. To celebrate the World Cup I’m writing a
topical blog on two of my passions – innovation and soccer. At first blush it would appear I have set
myself a bit of a herculean task. On
the face of it soccer hasn’t changed much since it was first codified in 1863,
in fact it hasn’t changed all that much since it was first mentioned on crinkly
old pieces of parchment in the 12th and 13th
centuries. Today, it’s still ostensibly
two teams kicking an inflated bladder around a pitch trying to embed it into a
goal – all very jumpers for goalposts. However,
the more I thought about it, the more innovation I could see in the world of
soccer – especially at the highest levels. Given the amount of money that is generated
from the world of soccer it is unsurprising that there is innovation in all
aspects of the game. After all, keeping
the product fresh is key to growing and maintaining the global audiences and
consumers. What is surprising is that
there isn’t more – particularly given the success of sports like cycling in
applying innovation to improve performance.
It seems to me that soccer is lagging behind other sports and could do
better.
So let’s
have a look at the innovations of today before I get excited at the end of the
blog about what we can expect to see in the near future. Here’s 10 areas of soccer innovation areas
for you to muse on. I’ve handily given
them an Innovation Rating out of 5 to indicate how much innovation has taken
place in the area. Please feel free to
disagree or use the ratings as a means to start a cracking debate in your local
pub or bar.
1. Stadium Design – At first
glance stadia haven’t changed much since roman times, but look closely and
you’ll see the masses of innovations now being built into our modern
stadia. From the towering innovative architecture
that is capable of supporting a retractable roof, giving unrestricted views and
drawing tourists to admire its curves and lines, our modern stadia are rippling
with innovations. Since the horrors of
Hillsborough, Heysel and Bradford safety led innovation has rightly transformed
the experience of football for the fans in the stadium. Don’t say it too loudly as the die-hard fans
will keel over at the thought, but its almost starting to feel as if, when it
comes to stadium design, fans are being treated as valuable customers that
clubs would like to have return again and again. However, even at the best stadia, (Wembley,
The Allianz Arena, The Camp Nou etc) it
still feels as though there is more to do to ensure that everyone who attends
has the experience they are looking for – too often stadia are designed with
seemingly only the needs of a physically mobile 20-30 year old, beer drinking,
pie eating, male in mind. Important
though that demographic is, its time for stadia designers to do better. Compared to other arenas of mass public
gatherings e.g. airports, museums, theme parks etc the amount of innovation is
still average and certainly not as “digital”.
Innovation Rating – 3/5 not bad innovation but more
to do to get on the cutting edge
2. Pitch Design – Soccer
in the 1970’s was too often played out between two teams fighting their way
through boggy quagmires where silky skills were easily overpowered by sheer
strength and endeavour. During the
1980’s football dabbled with using astro turf pitches as an all weather
solution before giving them up as a bad idea (I still have the carpet burns). Instead massive work has been undertaken to
engineer and maintain better hardy grass surfaces. Whether it is the use of industrial scale
lighting rigs to encourage the grass to “grow” or the introduction of more
“hardy” grass mixes, drainage technology, watering regimes, under-soil heating
etc the focus has been very much on making the best possible grass
surface. Today the number of lumpy,
bumpy, muddy pitches is much reduced.
Interestingly rugby union is now happilly experimenting with hybrid
pitches and it may now be time for the soccer authorities to look again at the
development of artifical pitches in order to be able to literally create a
truly “level playing field”.
Innovation Rating – 3/5 good efforts in a narrow
focus, need to look more broadly for non-grass solutions
3. Kit Design – Teams are still wearing shirts, shorts, socks and boots,so on the
face of it not much has changed here since the dawn of the game. However, we are all well aware of the
plethora of lightweight, breathable fabrics that are available on the market
that are slowly making their way into the design of football kits – it just
seems to be a lot slower than other sports, cycling, rugby, swimming etc where
clothing design and innovation seems to have continued at a pace. Much more effort appears to have gone into
changing the colour of the kits than changing the capability of it. When we look at the specifics of boot
design, yes some good work has been done to make boots more comfortable, wearable
and slightly less likely to cause a miss kick.
However, there are still big questions about the protection afforded by
modern boots and there are seemingly a higher number of broken metatarsals and
ligament injuries than ever before.
Innovation Rating – 1/5 much more to do –
especially on player safety
4. Ball Design – Whilst
it’s hard to argue that the ball itself hasn’t changed since it was a heavy
leather bag, I still can’t help thinking that a lot of the more recently
heralded innovations are more about marketing and ball sales than they are
about the actual capabilities of the ball.
Clearly the modern ball is a much more safe and reliable ball than those
of the past so we have to give some credit.
There is also the question of whether there is actually more you can do
with the ball that wouldn’t fundamentally alter the character of the game.
Innovation Rating – 2/5 but that’s probably enough
5. Player Conditioning – Well if there is an area of the game that has
transformed itself it’s this one. From
happy amateurs to overpaid prima donnas in just a few decades. In a post Bosman world of massive contracts,
agent’s fees and advertising revenues players are transformed from the willing,
gritty amateurs that downed a couple of pints before the match to cosseted
professional athletes. There is a
massive amount of data driven technology and infrastructure available within
the top clubs to help a player get to and maintain peak performance. However, whilst the benefits for the players
are clearly high so are the strictures.
Many players are constantly on rigorous exercise, physio and diet
regimes whilst also being constantly watched by the press. Whilst my heart is not bleeding this does
limit their opportunities to party like their peers from school. On the plus side they now have access to
psychologists and coaches to help them with their angst.
Innovation Rating - 4/5 major innovation in this backroom area,
very data driven
6. Team Management – As an outsider this is a more difficult one to
judge. Certainly there’s a lot of airtime
given to discussing this area but I’m not sure I see any great
innovations. Now whilst systems evolve,
from Sir Alf Ramsey’s wingless wonders, through the joys of the Xmas tree
formations and on they all seem like different tunes on the same piano to me,
therefore qualifying as relatively minor innovations. Of further minor
innovative note is the introduction of Directors of Football, new training
methods and regimes and the array of extra backroom staff (physios, dieticians,
psychologists, interpreters etc), but when all is said and done I can’t see
much innovation in this area and man management is still, in my opinion, well,
man management.
Innovation Rating 1/5 – I may be wrong but I can’t
see much
7. Media Coverage – Here’s an area that is seeing more and more innovation. Whilst the coverage of a game in the printed
media has not seen much change the live coverage of the game via TV and online
media has undergone an array of innovations.
From being able to watch games on your mobile phone to being able to
choose specific player cams the coverage of the game continues to expand. There is a lot more to be talked about here
but the innovations being delivered in this area are really being driven by the
media and broadcast companies rather than by the soccer industry itself.
Innovation Rating 3/5 – good so far and more to
come
8. Game Control – Given what is now at stake in the professional game the role of the
match officials and stewards has become increasingly important. We now have professional referees, 4th
officials, 5th officials and occassionally even 6th
officials. The game is slowly (too
slowly) introducing technology to support the match officials – although it
should be noted that soccer has been much slower to act than other sports and
it feels as if it is constantly playing catch up with fan’s expectations in
this area. It’s also worth flagging that
the whole area of stewarding and crowd control has seen a much greater level of
development with the introduction of new stewarding techniques and technology
to help identify and bar persistent trouble makers. As a result football is a safer and better
experience for all.
Innovation Rating 2/5 – slow so
far and plenty more to do
9. Soccer Marketing & Sales – perhaps surprisingly this is one of the areas, that
I contend, has seen the most innovation.
Clubs have left no stone unturned in the bid to extend their brands
across the globe and even outside of soccer.
Whether it has been launching a vast array of branded products –
everything from credit cards to branded cutlery sets the big clubs have tried
it – although, to be fair, not everything has worked. Promotional tours to far flung corners of the
globe to drive up the fan base have become a staple part of the pre-season
schedule. Now the challenge is for the
big clubs to extend their reach beyond soccer.
Many (especially the Spanish) have a history of this but with the advent
of more and more interest from the US in soccer the concept of the globl sports
club and brand is becoming a reality.
Innovation Rating 3/5 – Lots tried
and some has worked – expecting to see more
10. Soccer Finance & Soccer Governance – Only in the last couple of years have we seen
the first signs of the game getting its act together in this area with the
introduction of financial fair play rules and fit and proper person’s reviews
for owners. However, mention illegal betting
scandals, Blatter, ongoing racism, sexism, homophobia and vote rigging and we
all know there is a massive amount more that could and should have been done in
this area.
Innovation Rating 0.5/5 – too little, too late
So there
you have it a whistle stop tour of the state of Innovation in the game of
soccer today. Some pretty good, some
pretty bad. So what about the
future. This is where I can get really
excited as I can see a whole new set of innovation occuring that relate to the
real-time performance of the players.
We already know that due to the sensors fitted in F1 cars that their
management teams are able to extract and analyse vast amounts of data that they
can use to improve the performance of their cars in real time – the future of
soccer will be similar.
With the
advent of wearable sensors, ingestible sensors and embedded sensors it will
make it possible to extract massive amounts of data on each players performance
in real time. Imagine being able to
monitor acurately a players gait after a heavy tackle – no more guessing about
whether they are limping – it wil be clear in the data. Imagine being able to tell whether a players
energy or hydration levels are reaching a critical low point that could cause a
possible lapse in concentration.
Imagine being able to tell whether a player is performing at their
normal levels of performance or is perhaps suffering from a virus. We already have the ability to track the
distance run by a player, the passes made by a player and many more data packed
stats. I will be amazed if, that in the
not too distant future, managers will be faced with an array of real time data
on which they can make better real time decisions. It should be fun – here’s to a fun and
innovative future.
