The search continues, to find timely meaning in soccer (football) and childbirth: “More Goals, Fewer Babies? On National Teams’ Performance and Birth Rates,” Luca Fumarco and Francesco Principe, IZA DP No. 14448, June 2021 The authors, at Tulane University, IZA, the Tinbergen Institute, and ECASE, explain: “Does national team performance boost birth rates? We compiled […]
Tag: soccer
Sports Celebration Injuries – update
If you thought that ‘Score Celebration Injuries’ (SCIs) were restricted to soccer players – think again. A 2017 report in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 57(3 ): 267-71, reviews the medical literature on the subject, reporting that of the 62 SCIs that they found, only 22 involved professional soccer players. “A total […]
A Cloud Computing Based Big-Bang Big-Crunch Fuzzy Logic Multi Classifier System for Soccer Video Scenes Classification
The title says it all, more or less, in this new study: “A Cloud Computing Based Big-Bang Big-Crunch Fuzzy Logic Multi Classifier System for Soccer Video Scenes Classification,” Song Wei, Hani Hagras, and Daniyal Alghazzawi [pictured here], Memetic Computing, August 5, 2016. The authors, at the University of Essex, UK, and King Abdulaziz University, Saudi […]
Belgian sporting earthquake measurements project
Scientists in Belgium are methodically measuring the effects of soccer games on the oscillation of the earth. Lieven Scheire alerted us, saying “our seismic institute is measuring small earthquakes every time our national soccer team scores at the european championships. The image you (probably) see below documents seismic activity from a recent match between Hungary and Belgium. (Belgium won […]
Possible Effect of the World Cup on Births
The World Cup brings more than passing excitement to the world. This newly published study suggests that the World Cup also brings, eventually, a change in the world population: “The sex ratio at birth in South Africa increased 9 months after the 2010 FIFAWorld Cup,” Gwinyai Masukume and Victor Grech, Early Human Development, epub 2015. […]
On Biting in Sport(s)
The clip above shows (amongst others) the now-famous 2014 FIFA World Cup biting-incident featuring Luis Suárez. One might ask, and indeed some have, what are the ethical and philosophical implications of such an act? Bearing in mind that : “A prohibition against biting an opponent is not included in the rules of most contact sports, […]
Prediction: Will the fly replace the octopus?
The fruit fly will replace the octopus as an unreliable predictor of soccer match outcomes, if a new experiment succeeds. If the experiment fails, then Paul the Octopus will remain the false-gold standard of such prediction methods. Roland Houben, the noted scientist/singer, alerts us to new research, of sorts, from the Martin Heisenberg group in the […]
The Effect of Swear Words on Referees
Do swear words have predictable effects on football referees? A team of Austrian scientists tackles that question in a study called May I Curse a Referee? Swear Words and Consequences. Stefan Stieger, of the University of Austria, together with Andrea Praschinger and Christine Pomikal, who describe themselves as “independent scientists”, published their report in the Journal of Sports […]
Germany v England Ig Nobel comparison
As Germany and England prepare to meet in the World Cup tournament, The Independent newspaper [in London] totes up their comparative history in other competitions: Three Miss Worlds and one (rugby) World Cup We’ve all heard the song. But there’s more to life than football and fighting. So how do England and Germany measure up […]
Viewing soccer, and heart attacks
“Viewing a stressful soccer match more than doubles the risk of an acute cardiovascular event.” This disturbing conclusion was published in a 2008 study based on data regarding 4,279 Bavarian medical emergency cases. The number, and character, of adverse cardiovascular events which occurred during the FIFA World Cup (held in Germany from June 9 to […]