Will Squawka Change The Way We Talk About Football?
Posted: Wednesday 29 August, 2012
Tyler Sox
After a fantastic summer of sport, the second weekend of the football season took place over the weekend. As kick-off approached, stadiums and armchairs alike were filled with fans eager to get another glimpse of their team. More importantly, this was the chance to see any new signings in action, to gain bragging rights over the opposition.
Any self-confessed sports fan will have spent countless hours in debates over player performance with their peers, and in huge numbers ever since the introduction of online communities, football fans have gathered online to discuss their opinions. This initially startedwith forums, some of which still run today such as www.thefootballforum.net, where fans gathered for countless hours to exchange opinions. These evolved with the growing accessibility of websites and blogs to everyday fans, until the introduction of social platforms such as Twitter offered the opportunity to connect easily to others in a single location and in real time. In fact during the Champions League final in 2012, football became the most tweeted about topic to date with 13,684 tweets posted every second of the match.
Many opinions expressed are subjective and often have little evidence to back them up. But the launch of a new web application called Squawka this summer aims to change the way we talk about football.
Squawka is a web-based application that offers match statistics in real time. The application supplies statistics from five of the most popular European leagues, not only lendingstats on team performance but also individual ratings, taking into account a player’s every action on the pitch, from tackles to positioning.
As a huge football fan, I am really looking forward to the season ahead, and using this tool to add depth to my football arguments… or get proven wrong, just as quickly!
