How do they work out the stats on how much ground a player

[Icy Gull]

covers in a game.

I very occasionally watch Sky,so may have missed why, but amongst the many stats they bring out is the one when a player goes off and the stats show that he's run 8kms or whatever whilst on the pitch.

How the hell do they do that??

 

[Norman Potting]

They probably make it up and hope that nobody has the nous to actually question it. Does it really matter, a player could round around like a headless chicken all game and cover more ground than a player who makes intelligent runs and scores goals (ie Lineker).

 

[WhingForPresident]

I think they wear bands that are like, some kind of pedometer. Not sure though :/

 

[clapham_gull]

A third party company does it I understand.

 

[Everest]

They have an invisible

 

[Pondicherry]

Almost certainly they use Prozone to do it. Its quite expensive though I believe - several hundred thousand per year.

 

[Pondicherry]

Just had a quick look on their web site - they can track a player movements useing a video image of a player and their software. In other words they tell the software to track "Blob A" for the duration of the video - then the sofware can calculate how far they ran and other info such as patterns of play.

 

[Stoichkov]

It suprises me how little even the midfielders (who are supposed to cover most distances) actually run during a game.

The other week, Frank Lampard came off on 60mins and he'd covered 8km and he looked totally f***ed.

I know its the contact element that makes football tough but it irritates me when eyebrows are raised at the numbers of games played a year. For 'professional athletes' it shouldn't be beyond them to run 8km in 60 mins 365 days of the year.

 

[Stat Brother]

It suprises me how little even the midfielders (who are supposed to cover most distances) actually run during a game.

The other week, Frank Lampard came off on 60mins and he'd covered 8km and he looked totally f***ed.

I know its the contact element that makes football tough but it irritates me when eyebrows are raised at the numbers of games played a year. For 'professional athletes' it shouldn't be beyond them to run 8km in 60 mins 365 days of the year.

There's a fair degree of sprinting in that 8km, and 'quick twitch' response.
I guess your theory would have Ussan Bolt (sp), breaking the 100 metre record just after breakfast, then again before elevensies and shave another 0.001 off before tiffin.

 

[Stoichkov]

There's a fair degree of sprinting in that 8km, and 'quick twitch' response.
I guess your theory would have Ussan Bolt (sp), breaking the 100 metre record just after breakfast, then again before elevensies and shave another 0.001 off before tiffin.

There is some sprinting although 8km in 60mins is a very pedestrian 7:30 per KM.

To put that in perspective, I run 3 times a week for about 12-15km each time and my comfort zone pace is 4:50 per km.

Lampard also has the luxury of all those rests while Drogba has a lie down and gets to squeeze delicious lucozade into his mouth from a plastic bottle.

I accept with the injuries sustained through contact, loads of travelling, media commitments etc this all adds to the overall workload but it just irritates me when commentators & managers bang on about the amount of games they have to play.

 

[Stat Brother]

There is some sprinting although 8km in 60mins is a very pedestrian 7:30 per KM.

To put that in perspective, I run 3 times a week for about 12-15km each time and my comfort zone pace is 4:50 per km.

Lampard also has the luxury of all those rests while Drogba has a lie down and gets to squeeze delicious lucozade into his mouth from a plastic bottle.

I accept with the injuries sustained through contact, loads of travelling, media commitments etc this all adds to the overall workload but it just irritates me when commentators & managers bang on about the amount of games they have to play.

Totally agree, re games they play.
But the workload done, within the game, must be so different to 'just' running. I doubt us mere mortals could last like these, god-like, super-humans.