Snooker: Celebrating 40 years at the Crucible
In 2017, Snooker celebrated 40 years at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. It moved to this venue in 1997, which is now recognised at the start of the modern era of the same. In this article, we look at some of snooker’s history, along with some of its major characters and a few of its […]
The unintended conseuqences of sports rules: Olympic examples sought
Liam Lenten and I recently published an article in the European Journal of Operational Research entitled “When Sports Rules Go Awry“. The essence of the article is to look at examples when sports rules had unintended consequences. For example, there are cases when it is beneficial for a team to score an own goal in […]
When Sports Rules Go Awry: How TheConversation led to a collaborative paper
Whilst looking through Conversation articles I came across an article entitled “When scoring an own-goal is the only way to win” by Liam Lenten. By coincidence, I had just read another article about an analysis of sporting rules from the perspecive of Operations Research, written by a good friend of mine – Mike Wright from […]
Time to switch to Java for a football prediction project
I have decided that it was time to switch to Java for a football prediction project that I have been planning for some time. I want to do the project justice so I thought I would start from the most basic decision. What programming language should I use? The Problem with C++ For the past […]
Using ELO ratings for match result prediction in association football
I occasionally comment on a scientific paper that is of interest to me. This time, it was: Lars Magnus Hvattuma and Halvard Arntzenb (20010) Using ELO ratings for match result prediction in association football, International Journal of Forecasting, 26(3), 460-470 (doi). This paper falls into the broader categories of Football, Forecasting and Sport, which I have […]
Odds-setters as forecasters: The case of English Football
I sometimes comment on a scientific paper that has caught my eye. This time, it was (comments on other papers are also available): David Forrest, John Goddard and Robert Simmons (2005) Odds-setters as forecasters: The case of English football, International Journal of Forecasting, 21(3), 551-564 (doi). This paper falls into the broader categories of Football, […]
A compound framework for sports results prediction: A football case study
The latest paper that caught my attention, that I thought I would comment on is (other publications I have commented are can be seen here). Byungho Min, Jinhyuck Kim, Chongyoun Choe, Hyeonsang Eom and R.I. (Bob) McKay (2008) A compound framework for sports results prediction: A football case study, Knowledge Based Systems, 21(7), 551-562 (doi). […]
Sports Forecasting: A Comparison of the Forecast Accuracy of Prediction Markets, Betting Odds and Tipsters
In some of my posts I comment on a scientific paper that has caught my eye. There is no particular reason for the papers that I choose, they are just of interest to me. In this post, the paper that caught my eye was (comments on other papers can be seen here). Martin Spann and […]
Can Forecasters Forecast Successfully?: Evidence from UK Betting Markets
I am occasionally blog on a paper that is of interest. Well, of interest to me. The latest paper to catch my eye is (other papers I have commented on can be seen here). Leighton Vaughan Williams (2000) Can Forecasters Forecast Successfully?: Evidence from UK Betting Markets, Journal of Forecasting, 19(6), 505-513 (doi). The reason […]
Prediction of sporting events: A Scientific Approach
My final year undergraduate dissertation project (many years ago) attempted to predict the outcome of horse races using Neural Networks. I briefly blogged about it in June 2009 (https://graham-kendall.com/blog/?p=8/). The result of the project was (in my view) encouraging but was lacking in a couple of areas. The data was incomplete (the starting prices were […]