How rule changes have influenced the develpoment of football

Rule Changes

Their have been many rule changes in recent times which have modernized the game of football to try and make the game more enjoyable to watch and to bring out the skill in players. There have been changes in the match rules but also for clubs regarding their transfers and wage budget to make the leagues more fair.

Their has been a drastic change in the way that strong tackles are dealt with by referees in the modern game. For example a strong two footed tackle twenty years ago on the ball they would be praised for a good tackle however with the rule changes the player would be sent off in the modern day as the tackle could be a risk to the player and also it takes away from players who want to showcase their skill and just get fouled. 

Also their has been a change in the way that clubs have to spend their money because of the financial fair play rules. These rules mean that a club can only spend a certain amount which is proportionate to the amount that they make from various sources. This allows the leagues to become fairer as teams who don't have a huge budget can compete with teams such as Man city who do have a huge budget. Also it means that teams do not spend more than they have such as portsmouth who spent lots of money to try and keep them in the premier league however when they got relegated they didn't have the money to keep these players and to pay for their tranfers so they went into administration and faced a points deduction. They are now playing in league 2 after they won the fa cup in 2008.

how internet has revolutionized how we watch and get our information on football

The internet

In recent times, the internet has played a vital role in the way we watch football and get information about things such as transfers, tickets and competitions. The internet also provides multiple platforms for football fans to watch their teams if they cannot make it to the game.

Their are many different platforms that football fans can use to watch their team play. One of these is Sky Go, which is a paid service that allows customers to watch live football games on their Phone or Tablet when they are out of their home. This allows supporters who cannot make it to their teams games for reasons such as work or other commitments to be able to watch their teams play.

There is also live streaming available on the internet which is gathered from foreign television channels who have the rights to the 3 o clock kick offs in the premier league. This is good as it is usually free to watch however it can be illegal for pubs and public places to show these streams and there have been cases such as when Karen Murphy,a publican, who was prosecuted for using a Greek satellite provider at a public house in Portsmouth.    

There are also apps that people can download to get the latest news about football. An example is the various Sky sports apps such as Sky Sports News which provides various information about transfers, players and clubs. Also the Sky Sports football center provides starting line ups and live scores during matchdays so that a person can keep up to date with their teams score if they cannot watch their team. 

The Influence of the national press

The Influence of the national press

The National press can have a large influence on football as they can be used by clubs regarding transfers and also they do their own investigations into some of the players and main figures in the sport.The Sun, The Daily Mirror and the Daily Mail are the most popular newspapers in the United Kingdom and all of these had a dedicated section for sports which always contains football stories.

One way that the national press influence football is that transfers can be affected by what is printed in newspapers. For example if a newspapers source says that a club will sell a player for a certain amount and they print it, another club may see this and make a bid for the player based on this information. Also, the newspapers tend to focus on the negatives in sport and can give a certain player or club a bad reputation. For example Luis Suarez, who is the premier leagues top goalscorer was accused on diving for a penalty in the recent game against Aston Villa. Many players try to con the referee like this but Luis Suarez was targeted in the Sunday newspapers because of his past actions. This could lead to him being targeted by supporters and other players.

Another way in which the national press influence football is because they run their own investigations into some of the issues in football to expose certain players. An example of this is when the Sun ran an investigation into match fixing which resulted in 6 arrests. Some of these such as Sam Sodje and DJ Campell are current professional football players so this has disrupted their teams training and progress. Another professional footballer arrested over this investigation, Cristian Montano was sacked by his club Oldham after the investigation. This shows how the national press can help football by identifying these sort of individuals. 

Sponsorship and advertising

Sponsorship and advertising

Every professional team in world football will have multiple sponsors who will give them investment to have their company advertised by the club in different ways. There are also many forms of advertising available for companies in football whether it is in the stadium or on television.

One of the most valuable forms of sponsorship available in football is the shirt sponsor which shows the companies logo on the front of the teams shirt which gives their brand name a huge audience. The most valuable shirt sponsorship deal right now in football is Barcelona's partnership with Qatar Foundation which is worth £125m over 5 years. This logo will be printed on all replica shirts also which will spread the brands name even more around the world.

However these can be controversial as was evident when Newcastle striker Papisse Cisse refused to play in the clubs pre season games as the shirt contains the logo of 'Wonga' who are a payday loan company as it was conflicting with his Muslim beliefs. This shows that although sponsors can provide valuable investment for clubs, they can be an interference in a clubs progress.

Another way in which both sponsorship and advertising can influence football is that stadiums can be renamed to a brands name in return for large investment. The most notable examples are the Emirates stadium which belongs to Arsenal which is worth around £150m with shirt sponsorships also. Another example is the Etihad stadium which is the home of Manchester City which is worth around £400 million with shirt sponsorship.

However this can also be controversial as was evident when Newcastle's St James park was renamed the 'Sports direct arena'. This caused supporters to become angry as St James park had been the stadiums name for many years. Eventually the club changed the name back because of the controversy. 

The influence of television in Football

As of the 2007/08 season, the television rights for the English premier league was valued at around £1 billion each season. This amount of money allows the television company's to have a strong influence over modern day football.

In 1992, the clubs in the 'first division' in England voted to quit the league and set up their own called 'The Premier League' and they agreed a deal with Sky Sports to broadcast the leagues games, the other options were BBC and ITV. One of the ways that television has influenced football is the kick off times of televised games. For example live games are broadcast on various channels regularly on Friday nights, 12:45 on a saturday, around 5pm on a saturday and also around 1pm and 4pm on Sundays. Football games before they were broadcast used to mostly all be on 3pm on a Saturday. These kick off times could lead to fans not being able to attend for various reasons.

There are many factors that effect the attendance at football games such as price of tickets, teams involved, size of stadium and the importance of the game. However television can have an negative impact on attendance at football games. This is because some people may travel quite far to go and watch their team play but if a game is broadcast live on television, they may decide to stay at home and watch which will save them money and also time.

On the other hand, there are positives influences that television bring to football. One of these is that they promote participation in sport through various different projects such as Sky living for sport. Their aim is to "Use sports stars and sports skills to improve the lives of thousands of young people". They do this by having an ambassador for each sport who will help young people enjoy and take part in that sports. For example David Beckham is the ambassador for football and he will go to various places such as schools and youth clubs who have applied for the project and run events and practice sessions in which the children will hopefully enjoy playing football and maybe take it up as a regular hobby which will make them more active and improve their lifestyle.

Analysis in football

There is a lot of technology available to football clubs in the modern day which allows them to analyse their players in depth to see what they are doing well and what they need to do to improve. For example things such as Heat maps allow teams to see were each player spends their time on the pitch and how much of the pitch they cover, here is an example. 

Another way that technology can help clubs analyse their players is fitting their kits with gps devices. For example the gps vests that teams such as liverpool wear during training track the players movements and heart rates so they can create training sessions and fitness programmes specifically for them. You can also directly compare two players and ultimately decide who should play in the real game based on these stats.

Also the media use new technology in analysing the live games they show on television. For example on Sky Sports 'Monday night football' the pundits use the 'Skypad' to provide a more in depth analysis of football matches. This allows them to highlight players and move them on the virtual pitch and also draw arrows etc. to show where players are and where they should be. 

Cameras in football

The improvement of cameras in football

There are around 25 television cameras during a live football match which provide multiple angles for a live televised game. The first live televised game was in 1946 between Barnet and Wealdstone however it wasn't until 1955 and the introduction of floodlights into stadiums that football became regularly broadcast on television. In the modern day, there is usually live football broadcast on most days throughout the week on dedicated sporting channels such as Skysports. A football fan can also watch live football in 3D on their television if they have a 3D TV at home. 

Cameras can also help the authority's make retrospective decisions when a game is finished. As there are so many cameras watching the game most players can be seen the whole time therefore if a referee doesn't see for example a dive or an act of violence by a player then after a game a player can be punished even if the referee didn't see it. An example of this is when Fulham's Sascha Riether was banned for stamping on Manchester Uniteds Adnan Jaznuzaj after tv cameras picked up the footage after the referee didn't see it.

Recently, cameras have been implemented in the use of goal line technology. There have been many controversial moments in football due to the lack of goal line technology, the most famous probably being Frank Lampards 'goal' which was not counted at the 2010 world cup in south africa. The premier league now uses a form of goal line technology called Hawkeye which informs the referee via a watch if the ball has crossed the line or not. This is done after a specially fitted camera generates a still image of just the football and the goal line. 

Personal Equipment (Footballs)

How footballs have improved throughout football.

Footballs have drastically changed and improved throughout the years due to increases in technology. When football first became popular footballers would use very heavy leather balls tied together with bootlaces. These balls could double in weight if the weather was bad as they would absorb the water and therefore it was nearly impossible to play the attractive, free flowing football that we see in today's game.

The first synthetic footballs were used in the 1960s and these were a major improvement as they do not absorb water but kept the same qualities of a leather football. The synthetic balls retain their shape and are a lot lighter which allows team and players to manipulate the ball how they want to play more attractive and exciting football. The first world cup to use the updated synthetic football was Mexico 1986. Since then all the world cup footballs  have been made by Adidas. The 2010 world cup ball for South Africa was controversial as it was considered 'too light' by many players. This image shows how the footballs used in the world cup have changed over the years.

Modern footballs are now mostly manufactured by machines. This means that all the stitching, the size and the weight of the ball will be ideal for modern day football. The synthetic leather material used to cover the footballs is usually made up of polyurethane and poly vinyl chloride. The following video shows the process of manufacturing a modern day football.

Clothing (base layers)

How Base layers have advanced in modern day football

Base layers are worn by most football players in the modern game to help them keep warm or cool depending on the environment they are playing in. Base layers are worn underneath the players kit and can also aid blood circulation and provide muscle compression in the right areas.

Before around 10-15 years ago there were not any specific base layers worn by players, they usually wore loose fitting t shirts or vests underneath their kit which got covered in  sweat and became uncomfortable. 

Base layers are created by many of the leading brands in football such as Nike with the "Nike Pro" base layers, Adidas with the "techfit"range and Under armour "Cold" and "Heat" gear and many of the worlds best players wear them such as Wayne Rooney who wears Nike Pro and Xavi and Frank Lampard who wear Adidas Techfit.

These Base layers are very light and tight to the body as they are made from materials such as brushed polyester Dri-FIT technical fabric. This material allows for a thin layer of air to be kept between the base layer and the body to keep the player warm.

Base layers also have other uses other than keeping a players warm or cool. For example the Nike pro combat hyperwarm range provides lightweight protection in the form of "Deflex floating form technology" to cushion impact.

The following video explains the technolgy of base layers and reviews the main brands.

(Please turn captions on at the bottom of the video for English subtitles.)