The Influence of Television.

Over the last century or so, we have seen a massive increase of the design of the Television set and media production. Together, these 2 things provide us with a numerous list of sports and sporting events for entertainment, the media is the main provider of the sport we watch today.

Football is the worlds most popular sport with many leagues being set up and quality players being found year after year. Without the TV, football probably would not be as popular as it is today. The likes of Sky sports and BT sports bringing us some amazing premier league matches and also shows us games with some of the best teams in the world to provide us with entertainment. These channels are called exclusive channels as they are only featured to those who have a subscription to them to bring these games. Some teams for example: Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Leeds United also have dedicated channels for their teams to bring games, interviews and daily news to the viewers. These too are also exclusive channels but can be regarded as a great idea to the fans who can't manage to get to many games and want to watch their team in action.
In order to promote big games, channels like Sky sports will create promotional adverts for them that show what happened in the last game, images of the managers and the teams best players. This helps football become even more popular as the promotion creates more excitement among football fans and will make them want to watch the game.

Free view channels like BBC and ITV show many big events like: World cups, European championships and the FA Cup. These channels are part of the broadcasting act made in 1990 that means that all free channels must show these big events to all television sets so everyone has an equal chance to view these. Coverage of football has also influenced the amount of participation in the sport as many people participate in playing football whether it's just for fun or for serious competition and is still increasing, particularly in women's football as well.

This has helped football as it means everyone has the rights to see it so it is becoming more popular as a whole and makes the sport more popular as more people will be talking about it and will also encourage people to go to games if they see a game promotion.

The National Press

The press plays a big part in football. It gives us reviews and previews of all the weekends games as well as the statistics. It gives us the big stories behind the dressing room doors, the transfer rumours and the big stories dominating the news. Although, it does invade player's personal lives and also creates a big commotion over one little thing someone did wrong. 


Broadsheet papers are often more factual than others and don't rely as much on other people's opinions. It gives off a lot more details into what happened in the game by giving in-depth reports on how the game was played the formation used and how that influenced the game. Broadsheet papers pick out key moments of the game like a sending off or a controversial free kick that was given to create a vision in the reader's minds if they were unable to witness the game. More people tend to read these types of papers because they are more truthful and rely more on the facts than tabloids who often over exaggerate the truth.

Tabloid papers are the most popular one's within the UK. These papers have dedicated sports pages at the back that give the statistics, key moments and interviews with the higher league teams and give brief descriptions of the lower league teams. However, these papers over exaggerate what happened and always show the big football scandals like both of the John Terry scandals. The tabloid's like to sensationalise big scandals in order to bring in more money.

The press has influenced football in both a negative and positive way. The paper's enable us to read about the big games coming up and past games for analysis and reviews as well as keeping us up to date with the latest club news. However, the paper's pressure player's as they pick up all the wrong things they've done and over exaggerate it like it's a life or death situation and also invade their personal lives for the public to see, which can make many people turn on them.
 

The Internet

Over the last decade, one of the biggest and most important creations to have been made has been a big impact on everybody's lives. The internet. The internet has changed so much since it was first made as it is now everywhere you can think of and always around for usage. We can also watch live games and get live commentary's and statistics as the game is being played.

Normally, we need exclusive TV packages to be able to watch live football but now thanks to the internet, we can watch these games for free with specialist websites. These websites have the big games of the day on as well as game from other leagues in England and also from other countries around the world that we wouldn't normally get. This has helped us in the way we watch football as it shows how wide the sport is and means that a broader audience is being attracted to these different leagues.

Online, we can also get live commentary of games if we aren't watching them. Many newspapers and channels that have websites have sports pages that give us these commentary's. These sites allow us to pick the games we want commentary of that give us a good depth into the game as well as showing how the game is going e.g. amount of possession, bookings, corners etc. We can also get the latest news on any club or player by typing it into search engines and it will be there right before us. 
This has helped how we get information as now we can get it instantly wherever we are at any time and also allows us to research into what is going on in  the sport. 
 

Nike Tiempo

Nike Tiempo Football boots

With Nike being due to release their latest installment of Tiempo football boots, Tiempo Genio leather, I decided to write this blog to revisit the predecessor, the Tiempo Legend IV.

In the olden days, football boots were just layers upon layers of leather with nail in studs that would often become extremely loose during a game and pierce the skin of the footballer. Now, with all this science behind football, boots are made from many different materials and contribute to improvements of different abilities and skills. 

The Tiempo boot is made from kangaroo leather which wraps neatly around the foot providing a comfortable fit as well as all the extra materials which make the boot water resistant and suitable for most pitches and most weather conditions. The boot has different types of studs or blades to suit whatever is best for your ground of play is, these studs are for a firm ground pitch and give the wearer a light, bouncy feel to stay on their feet. 

This has influenced football as the new materials allow the players to have different abilities with what the boots can provide them with e.g. side laces meant more accurate passing. 

Adidas Jabulani Football - Equipment in Football

The Adidas Jabulani ball was one of the stars of the 2010 FIFA World Cup and yet, also managed to cause a lot of controversy throughout the competition. The ball was described as the roundest ball ever made. This ball has had more criticism than any other for a long while.

The ball is made up of 8 spherical mould panels made from 2 seperate materials that are thermally stuck together to create one big piece of leather. The ball included the World Cup logo as well as colours from the South African Flag. When FIFA announced this as the official match ball for the World Cup and it immediately created a media frenzy. The roundness of the ball, which was created this way to improve the aerodynamics,  was criticized as the players complained it's travel was too unpredictable when flying through the air after a kick. It was slated by many managers and players as the said it was a "nightmare" ball to be playing with at such a big tournament. The material of the ball made it lighter, this is part of what created it's unpredictability. 

This was developed from the idea of other footballs being tested of the materials used which means in the future. The design could be seen as a foundation for other balls so the design can begin to be improved and eventually improve the standards of the ball and game.  

The development of footballs means that the game has been influenced as the ball can create a different game with how the shaping and material is, if the ball is heavy then players will not need to apply as much pressure to it although it means that it will go slower so it's easier to intercept. If a ball is light like the Jabulani, players will need to learn to control it proper to get a maximum performance. 

Rule Changes in Football

In football, there have been many changes throughout the years. Back when the FA was first formed, the rules of been of football were changed countless time to make it the sport we know it as today, it used to be played with your hands but now it is obviously used with feet. 

Diving is one of the biggest controversies in football today. It is the biggest talking point of games and causes  a lot of anger to everyone because it is a cheating way out in order to gain a free kick or even a penalty. The media always pick up on these a blasts the player that was responsible for diving and makes into a much bigger deal than it actually is. The media also gives players many reputations in the sport e.g. it has given Luis Suarez a very bad reputation as they always pick up on his diving and dirty tactics instead of the good things he does. This now means that rules on diving are being made like giving a booking straight away if a player is caught. This has changed the structure of football and also means that now they are trying to crack down a lot more on cheating.




The 2022 World Cup in Qatar has also caused a lot of talk over the last 3 years since it was given the honour. The World cup is a summer tournament but summer in Qatar means 40/50 degree heats everyday which is considered inhumane for the players to play as they will become de-hydrated very quickly. Over the past year, there has been talk of moving it to the winter seasons when it will be much cooler to play in but this means that all the leagues will be affected in every country. There has been speculation that Qatar bribed the voting committee with large sums of money to give them the right for the world cup. Now, there is talks of having a re-vote to find new hosts in order to make the tournament fairer and not having to change everything.

This has changed the structure of football as new rules keep being introduced to make the game better and also shows the federations have weaknesses for money which is showing the unfariness and politics behind the sport. 

Sponsorship and advertising

Sponsorship
One of the reasons football is as popular and as massive as it is, is due to the funding it receives off sponsorship and advertising. 

Each league team in England and in many other countries is sponsored by a company on their kits, the stadiums and even behind the scenes so the club is given more money to make it a bigger, more successful club. National teams will have one major partner or sponsor and a few smaller sponsors in order to help promotion of the companies for example: England are sponsored by Vauxhall as a major sponsor and have Mars and Mcdonalds as smaller sponsors. However, to a certain degree it can be deemed unfair as the big companies don't pay attention to the smaller teams and give them a chance to earn extra money for the club as they think that they wont bring in the amount of money they want to have when compared to teams like Manchester United or Barcelona. 
Players can also be sponsored by big companies to endorse their products such as Messi being sponsored by Adidas to promote their latest training gear or football boots or Ronaldo being sponsored by Nike to promote his football boot range he has with them. These big companies pay the big name players to wear the logo as it will bring in more money because they're so popular.

Advertising
Advertising is seen all around in football. They're seen during half time on the TV or at the ground on a screen, they're all around the pitch and even some stadiums is all advertising a specific brand or company. Whenever you see someone wearing a football shirt, they're advertising the club. Whenever you see the latest football or personal equipment being used by players it is being advertised. The backboards during after match interviews also advertising themselves to make an increase in profit and popularity, like Leeds United having Macron and Flamingo land on there board has increased the popularity of those companies. 
However, there can be negative advertising. Budweiser is a big partner of many events like The world cup. Although it may not be thought of, the adverts are advertising drinking which leads to many health problems. The same goes for McDonald's and other fast food restaurants, what seem like harmless adverts are actually advertising a way for an unhealthy lifestyle and the one of the biggest customers of Mcdonalds are children so really childhood obesity is being secretly shown. On TV, before a game and during half time a gambling advert comes on with the well known Ray Winstone showing the latest odds on the next scorer for the bookies Bet365. In some stadiums there is a gambling station for people to put their bets on the game which is again promoting a dangerous addiction without highlighting it. 


This has influenced football as the money means it becomes a bigger sport with all the big name players being shown and also gives teams the chance to become bigger clubs. 

Skycam - Camera's in Football

Sky cam is a widely used camera that promotes different camera angles of a sporting event from high above.
It's first use was in the 1980's in a American football game but now thanks to all the funding and transport that is now available to us, it is beginning to be used during our FA cup final games as well as some champion's league games.

The camera is programmed by 5 different cables located at different sections of the stadium and controlled in a specific area. The cables that suspend the camera a 4 inches wide and can cause the camera to travel up to 30 miles an hour. In a game, these angles help create a better picture for the viewers as it is clearer and allows us a birds eye view of the game.

Having different camera angles has helped football as it means different angles mean different perspectives of the game and can also mean we can see tackles, goals and more talking points of the game in a better angle and can be replayed in the different angle to get a better picture.

Dartfish - Analysis in Football

One of the biggest programmes in sports analysis is Dartfish. Dartfish is a computer analysis programme that can be changed to suit a specific need for the user. It has a range of analysis setting from individual training session to a team training session and even allows the user to review games.




The user will record either a game or training session and will then watch it back to pick up any little mistakes or areas they need to improve on. As shown above, Dartfish highlights what a performer should look like and be doing and shows they shouldn't look like or do. It also allows a trainer to develop, plan and improve a training session for the client. In a team situation, the programme will show a group weakness which can then help them to develop their strategies. The software can also record a season for the performer or team and can feedback their statistics, annotate game strategies and show records for the season which can enable the performer/team develop their techniques.

Analysis has helped the football progression as programmes like these allow the players to see what they're doing wrong and let them work on how to improve their performance to make them better. There are other programmes like Dartfish which show if a player is offside as well as enabling other camera dimensions to check the position of a tackle or free kick.