Technology has marked every part of our lives and it’s now difficult to remember what we did without it. It’s reached so far away that it has now overtaken all sports as well. Without a doubt, there is a huge impact on football today scores and fixtures.
Being one of the most popular pastimes on our planet, football has undergone a series of modifications and improvements over the last decades. Some of them have rendered the game more successful than it was before, while others add an extra burden to the industry. Check out the positive and negative effects technology has on the sport in question.
Positive Impacts of Technology on Football
Let’s start with what’s making football fixtures today so exciting, accessible, and accurate.
Football today scores are easier to scoop up than ever
People used to get the most recent football TV schedule and football livescore with their morning coffee and the local newspaper in hand. They would turn to various sports channels like SkySports and BBC for news and updates. Now everything has gone mobile. At the press of a button, you can get all the stats that you want. What you need is a smartphone that supports Wi-Fi or mobile internet and your fingers. Then, you have to get your hands on one of the livescore and sports apps like Telefootball.net that cover a wide range of competitions.
With a bunch of websites and mobile platforms made available to the wide public, football live scores are no longer just gaining popularity – they have become the norm. People don’t have to travel to the ends of the world to watch a quality football match and pages like this https://www.telefootball.net/US/tvs eliminate the need to constantly switch between channels to find which game is played where – you instantly know chich channel the match is being aired on.
While it is true that spectating a game on the phone does not compare to the excitement that going live in a stadium brings, it’s more accessible and affordable. There are no travel and accommodation costs, you don’t waste time waiting in line, and you reduce the risk of getting injured in a cross fight between overexcited aficionados.
Most of all, you don’t have to buy a ticket to get access to the game. There are plenty of applications that cost nada that will give you the data you are searching for. They offer goal stats, red and yellow cards, and an accurate picture of the field with all the players on it, etc. Some have news and history sections. They could even notify you of the highlights of a meeting so that you miss out nothing.
Football pitches have seen an upgrade in the last decades
Thanks to technology, even the football pitch has become more consistent and reliable. As you know, it comes with pre-determined dimensions and has to follow certain minimum and maximum regulations. For example, the penalty area and the goal area must mark several metres from point A to point B.
With modern sports field marking kits, all the work associated with this process is more accurate than ever. Paint lines are precise, keeping flaws to the minimum. The quality of the grass and its consistency throughout the field are also at play. They improve the ball bounce and speed. This gives players the peace of mind that when they kick the ball from the desired angle, it will go where it was meant to as long as they are good at what they are doing.
Playing the most popular sport is now a relative breeze
Everything from the pitches to the clothing items has turned to be more effective, comfortable, and lightweight with the sole purpose of boosting the game experience. Here are some of the upgrades worth mentioning:
- The playing surfaces can be used in more conditions
- Kits are more elastic and flexible
- The impact of the ball is cushioned by the boots, causing less damage to the feet
- There is increased friction between the ball and the boots which gives the player more control over where the ball goes
Officiating is more precise
One of the most disputable aspects of every football game is the refereeing part. A lot of times viewers and even players question the so-called fair play. This is in part due to the refereeing decisions that often leave sports fans puzzled or enraged. Luckily, due to the introduction of goal-line technology and video refereeing, most of the mistakes have been kept to a minimum ever since.
What ensues on the football pitch after the whistle marks the onset of the game is a complex mixture of movements and colours. There are eleven players in each team, dispersed across the field, each one standing at a different section. Blockage and positioning make it difficult for the human eye to capture all that is happening. But video records obtained from different angles are accurate and unbiased. They can be played back- and forward anytime.
Back in 2010, a new goal-line technology was suggested but heavily argued. According to it, each player would carry a microchip which would allow football matches to be more accurately observed and tracked down. The same rule would apply to the ball. This would let referees arrive at objective decisions based on the evidence they collect from the chips. It would also substitute the annoyance of watching replays on and on to see who did what and if there was a foul or a goal.
There were a slew of critics to this proposition, claiming that the technology would be too expensive, not to mention it would take the human element out of the picture. It appears that debating mistakes is part of the fun and people don’t want to part with it.
Negative Impacts of Technology on Football
Even though technology has made so many great things possible, it has disadvantages too. Let’s touch on some of them.
Training can get exorbitant
Technology is costly and as part of the football world, it now makes every aspect of the game swanky, training included. Modern equipment and facilities are difficult to afford. While wealthy nations do not seem to have such a problem, poorer countries are struggling with it, which hinders players’ progress. Training is the best way one can acquire more skills and knowledge in football. Regular sessions are a key element to becoming better and winning prizes. Without them, a team can seriously fall behind competition.
Buying equipment is daylight robbery
Another part of the success in football is the training equipment which doesn’t come cheap either. These days, companies like Nike and Adidas come up with a variety of clothing items, balls, kits, and boots on a yearly basis. The reason so much money goes into the manufacturing and production processes is not only because of the brands’ names. Truth is, it takes loads of time to test, experiment, and research the things that will boost the equipment and up one’s performance as a result.
For instance, when it comes to the shoewear, they have to figure out which material is perfect for all weather conditions, how soft the soles should be so that it gives the player more control over the ball. The boots should be super comfy and lightweight so they don’t interfere with one’s performance, but at the same time they have to offer support, mobility, and stability. Also, a player usually owns more than one pair of sports shoes, as they come suitable for different types of pitches, and for other obvious reasons. This adds to the cost.
Cost of transport might be a problem for some
There may be hundreds of places to train and stay in good shape but, again, it all boils down to price. Wealthier players have no problem utilising all the facilities they want whereas the middle classes might be unable to get to far-away areas with better resources and establishments.