Personal equipment in football

In the 19th century when football became more popular due to spectatorism increasing footballers who played professionally needed more personal equipment to help them play more efficiently in football such as shin pads, metal studs, and gloves for the goalkeeper.

The shin pads were created and used so as to reduce the amount of injuries that would occur in the sport. In mob football there were multiple injuries every time a game was played due to the lack of rules and equipment to prevent injury. The shin pads were first created from leather and other tough fabrics so as to provide a layer of protection for the shins. They were first introduced into football in 1874 by Sam Weller Widdowson who took the idea from his cricket experience. He realized that that if he cut down the size of the original cricket shin guards then they would be effective as protection when getting tackled. They were made mostly of leather and were hand stitched together, they were also very light and didn't constrict the range of movement. Modern day shin pads are made from more effective materials such as fiber glass, foam rubber, polyurethane etc. These materials are used because they are more sturdy and can take on most impacts that occur on the football pitch.


Metals studs are used fulltime by modern day professional footballers so as to help them increase grip on the football pitch. In the 19th century football boots designs were upgraded when studs were introduced. These studs were not very comfortable and were nailed into the sole of the football boots they would then be filed down to a specific size so then the footballer would be able to move about comfortably. As a result of them being nailed in to the sole of the football boot the players were known to finish playing with bloody feet. Modern day studs are designed so then they can be removed and refastened when playing. Instead of nailing the stud straight into the sole they can be fastened on to specific places on the sole by using a specific sort of spanner.


Goalkeeper gloves are worn to protect goalkeepers hands when saving the ball. Prior to 1970s goalkeeper gloves were not commonly worn hence the high amount of injuries in the matches that occurred in those times. An example of a goalkeeper removing his gloves was in the Portugal vs. England euro match in 2004. The Portuguese keeper Ricardo removed his gloves during the penalty shootout which would determine the winner of the game. Since the goalkeeping glove designs have been improved to make it easier for goalkeepers to save without injuring themselves. Some of these designs stop the fingers from bending back, some specialize
in enhancement of the players ability of grip and also the flexibility of the goalkeeper gloves.

Clothing in football

The sport of football began back in the 18th century where sport was seen as a traditional activity to be played on religious festivals such as shrove Tuesday  and ash Wednesday. It was not until the 20th century that the sport of football became more professionally popular and became a spectator sport. This meant that teams of players that would represent their schools would play each other. The teams would wear specific clothing or kits to represent their schools.  
                                                                  

                                                                                

The football kits that were made for the football players were all hand made and stitched together by working class people who work in clothing factories. The kits were cross stitched together using sewing machines.  Although earlier kits were hand stitched together using needle and thread these kits would not last long due to them being poorly made and being worn out by the weather.

Back in the 19th century football players would wear their steel toe capped work boots to play football. These were ineffective due to them being too heavy and uncomfortable. The football boots that were created were made of leather which ran along the side of the foot all the way to the ankle for protection. These boots had studs which were nailed into the bottom of the boot these were poorly made and often resulted with the players coming of the pitch with bloody feet.

Modern day football boots are made by using high tech machinery and technology so as to get accurate measurements of the football players feet they are then analyzed and the results are used to create the perfect football boot for that player for e.g. Wayne Rooney has to be fitted with motion sensors so then they can figure out how his feet work when on the football pitch.

Influence of television in sport.

Sport is very much influenced by t.v. because television companies such as sky sports, bbc sports etc. the reason for this is because these television companies pay football companies such as the UEFA and FIFA to televise and broadcast the football matches live. In order to do this they have to pay the main football companies millions of pounds so as to gain permission to show the football match on t.v. to the public this is because the football clubs belong to their owners and the FA and if they were to broadcast the matches without paying the club owners and the FA they could get sued.

 Also the television influences sport because by broadcasting the football matches all over the world they are spreading our culture and the ways that we play football. Also they broadcast the scores of all the British teams from the matches to supporters and fans who are all around the world. As a result of this they are able to encourage players who play abroad to come to Britain and try to find opportunities to play for some of the British teams. This in my opinion is good for our countries football because we are making our country more multi cultural and it is because of this that we are allowing ourselves to learn more about other people and their cultures.


The influence that television also has is that it is able to promote and enhance how big a specific sport can be because for example if their was an upcoming cup match between two teams they would not simply broadcast the match and show it to the world they would instead build up the tension as high as it could go. They would do this by showing clips and flashes of the two teams previous matches, victories and losses so as to bring the question of who stands a better chance at winning to the minds of spectators. They do this because they make the spectators even more determined to watch the match and find out who wins and who loses and also to see the highlights of the football match. Also for those people who don't have the right television channels to watch the game it may influence them to buy the more expensive T.V. boxes such as sky sports, sky box office this is because if the television industry  shows that the game is going to be fantastic and that it will be a must see once in a lifetime opportunity then the spectators are going to want to do every thing in their power to watch this game.
Overall in my opinion this influence that the television industry has over the spectators and the sports competitors themselves  shows me that they are able to easily manipulate the people  into buying their television subscriptions and making them more money. In a way this is good because the people are then able to watch what they want legally and without having to go on illegal online streams of the football matches.

Analysis in football

In the sport of football mistakes have often been made when taking decisions on crucial points in the game such as mistaken goals and when telling the difference between a foul and taking a dive. Back in 19th and 20th century less advanced technology meant that decisions like these were left to be made by the referee this is because there was no source of technology to back the referee as a result of this incorrect decisions have been made by referees which have changed the outcome of many crucial games that have been played . An example of this is in 1966 when Diego Mara Dona punched the ball past English goalkeeper Peter Shilton scoring the winning goal which secured the Spanish the world cup.

Due to lack of technology this goal which was clearly a hand ball was given by the referee. Its reasons like this that more football clubs are investing in Hawkeye technology to be added to their stadiums so as to ensure that these kinds of mistakes don't occur again. With Hawkeye technology analysis of football games can be done more clearly and more accurate because the chip that has been planted within the football will automatically be activated by lasers that are placed behind the line of the net
Hawkeye technology is able to slow down the action of what occurs within the match and also is able to track the ball using lasers and a chip that is built and placed within the ball. This is done so then the  ball can be tracked to see if it really goes into the net and it also provides a more accurate decision  for the referee should he/she not be able to keep up with the game.

The chip in the ball sends out a signal when it interacts with the lasers which are behind the line of the goal. as shown in the picture. Goal line technology is also used and is also very similar to Hawkeye and is made by the company of Hawkeye. Goal line technology is able to signal to the referee when a goal has been scored due to the chip in the ball  that activates when hit by the lasers. When it activates it sends a signal to the watch that the referee is wearing which vibrates alerting him/her of the goal.

 



 Goal line and Hawkeye technology has been tested and allowed by fifa to be used now in premier league football after the disallowed goal which was scored by Frank Lampard in the England versus Germany match. The goal which was scored by rebounding of the crossbar and then into the net was not allowed by the referee and was continued by a goal kick even though the cameras show tha the ball was clearly behind the line.

Sponsorship and advertising including the influence of time outs (half time)

Sponsorship is essential in football due to the fact that in order for extra funds to increase they need other external labels and products to sponsor them so then they are getting a steady supply of money coming into the club so as to make the club better without this money the club would fall because without money facilities, resources and new players/coaches/ talent scouts cannot be brought into the club.
Sponsorship works when a football club decides to sign a deal with a an successful company e.g. Nike, Red bull etc. The football clubs football players wear the sponsors company label on their football kits there by advertising their company or product to the world and increasing the amount of people who are aware of their product also when the spectators/fans see the sponsor companies logo on the footballers kits they will want to buy the product from that business there by increasing and helping business.

On Manchester United's Football kit you can see that the company logo of  successful sports wear business Nike on the top right of the shirt and also the AIG logo right in the middle of the shirt. Also in 2012 Manchester United also signed a deal of sponsorship for new football shirts with Chevrolet.

Along with many successful companies becoming sponsors many airliners also become sponsors so then they can become high financial backers to their club.

The sponsors who contribute to the football clubs have a strong influence over the club and over the supporters of that club this  is because when the supporting fans see that their club is being supported  and sponsored by a specific company they tend to buy more of their products and in doing so they are helping both the football club and the sponsoring company. Most sponsors who financially back a football team will also have some sort of connection to the club. This will most likely be when their son or daughter is playing at the club or for that team.

Advertising in football links in with sponsors this is because that along with wearing the companies brand logo on their shirt they are helping advertise their sponsor. They do this by adding their logo to the football kits to raise awareness to the people who spectate. Also  when football games are broadcast live on t.v. they take advantage of the games halftime breaks and other stops in the games
by adding an advertisement of their brands product.
Also large scale company brands are known to use actual footballers in their advertisements to increase popularity with in the people. They do this because by using the football players this increases the motivation for the spectators to buy the product because the football players pass as role models to the people. Also these players that are used in the advertisements are payed extra by the sponsor company.

Along with video advertisements companies also advertise within stadiums this is done by adding banners t the dugouts in the football stadiums where the team substitute wait. Also the banners are hung along the front of the front row seats all the way around the stadium so then they can be viewed at any angle by the broadcasting cameras.

 

Along the outside of the football pitch there are multiple banners labeling and showing of multiple sponsors advertisements of their products. They range from car labels to different makes of alcohol.

 

Overall I think that broadcasting and sponsoring are essential for any football club this is because in order for a club to be successful they need money so as to acquire new resources for the club thereby making them better. 

The influence of the national press e.g. the sun

The national press has a massive influence over the world of football this is because their main motive to every story that they track is to acquire readers to read their magazine/ newspapers etc. They do this by taking a story that they find on  something major such as a celebrity being caught doing something illegal or a politician or sports star being caught in some sort of scandal that will degrade their public figure. They take this story and they take it out of context and make it bigger then it actually is. They do this by doing adding an eye-catching heading and slogan which would be followed by a massive picture of whoever or whatever was the source of that particular days story.

The influence of the national press is able to go in two different directions they can be used to credit someone for an achievement of some thing that they have done or they can be used degrade someone for an error that they have occurred this is because when the national press pick up a new story they are always looking to find a way to make the story seem more important then t is so then they get more readers. For e.g. when Wayne Rooney scored the winning goal that ensured England would go through to world cup final. He was praised by The Sun and called hero by the Daily Express for being the key component to England's victory.

Also when there is a sports scandal the national press always label it in a way where the person labeled is shown in a negative view because they can then take the details of the story and take them out of context. This story is then made to look bigger then all the other stories so as to show and increase it s popularity to the people there by they get more readers who are looking to find the 'truth' about what exactly happened in this scandal. This results in them influencing the readers and selling more of their papers and increasing their business therefore making them more successful.

The media in my opinion has a negative influence on football players because when a footballer or any other sports performer causes an error during play or in their personal life they receive heavy  intervention from the national press which may cause pressure to the football player and may cause them not to play at the best of their ability.

Also the national press is one of the reasons that a lot of homosexual football players don't come out in to the open about their sexuality this is because they have a  fear of being shunned and degraded by the national press because not only will the footballers friends, family and fans be alerted but the entire world will be  aware of this one footballers true sexuality and they might not like that this footballer is gay or bisexual and that football player will then come under attack from negative feedback and hate from people around the world which will make him/her feel bad about themselves and sometimes if they cant handle it then they might even commit suicide. True examples of this occurring are Justin fashanu who was the first ever black footballer to come out  and admit he was gay because of the press making a really big deal about it he could not handle all the negative hate and hung himself in a garage he broke into.

The way in which the internet has revoloutionised how we watch and get our information on football.

In the 1900s football had already began to revolutionize as a professional sport because of inclusion of rules on teams numbers, fouling etc. and had already begun to be broadcasted live on the radio. But when the t.v. was created and the football matches were broadcasted this enabled people to watch the football matches from the comfort of their home instead of actually going to the matches this helped because most people couldn't afford to follow the matches to every stadium.

The radio was also one of the main ways of getting the highlights and the results of many football games and was used by many people before the creation of the television. In the modern day it has become very easy for the people to find information about football this is because of the production of the internet on the computer. Because of the internet we are able to find out information of any football team or the football association at the click of a button because we are able to access a vast branch of information about the many football teams and their players.

When the mobile was created they opened up a brand new pathway of communicating but also introduced a new pathway of finding out information this is because as the designs of mobile phones are updated with more and more advanced technology they became more able to find out information. In our modern era  we have a large variety of mobile phones ranging from the older more classic models to the more popular smartphones which are equipped with more advanced technology and enable us to do much more then we could using a mobile.

 

On all smartphones there are many apps that enable the user to connect to their sky sports t.v box at their house so then they can find out whatever match score that they want to know whilst they are on the go at work or at school. Also most modern day mobile phones can access the internet via Wi-Fi signal and can also access various types of information about football this shows the advanced technology of the internet because we were not able to access all the different kinds of information due to the lack of knowledge in technology.

 

The internet has also revolutionized the online ability to find information about not only football matches but also specific football players this is because of new and more advanced websites such as twitter and Facebook. On these sites supporters can see what footballers are up to in their modern life's and can also lay down statuses and 'tweets' for other people and the footballers themselves to read.

 

Internet streaming is one of the ways that the internet has revolutionized how we watch football this is because some people who cannot subscribe to the right t.v boxes due to the prices are able to go online to live streams on the internet and then they will able to watch the football matches for free .

This would count as an advantage  for people who cannot afford to watch the match by paying and subscribing for the box.

The disadvantages of watching this way Is that live streaming football matches is also illegal and if you are caught live streaming illegally and or watching  a live streaming you could be charged and arrested for breaking the law.   

 

Overall I think that illegal streaming of football matches shouldn't be done but I can understand why people do it and watch online. Also I think that the prices for the subscription boxes are too high for the average person to pay for so that is why they turn to online streaming.