By John Considine
Words are important. Economists have always listened to the statements of policy makers. In particular, the statements of monetary and fiscal policy makers. Economists working in finance listen to the press conferences of the Federal Reserve or European Central Bank in the hope of picking up information they can use. In recent decades, academic economists, aided by advances in technology, have examined the same words as data for their quantitative models. Last year, an overview of the area was published in the Journal of Economic Literature under the title "Test as Data".
Software based analysis of sports features very occasionally in sports economics, e.g. a Journal of Sports Economics article from 2003 or a blog post from 2014 (here). It will probably become more widespread given the ease with which it can be used. Some of the basics available in most word processing packages are produced below. It is three paragraphs from a recent statement by the Junior Minister for Sport.
Software based analysis of sports features very occasionally in sports economics, e.g. a Journal of Sports Economics article from 2003 or a blog post from 2014 (here). It will probably become more widespread given the ease with which it can be used. Some of the basics available in most word processing packages are produced below. It is three paragraphs from a recent statement by the Junior Minister for Sport.
A decade ago, economists started to examine the "Readability" statistics associated with speeches of Central Bankers. Not surprisingly, they noticed that the Central Bankers were not as clear (readable) when delivering bad news. The above speech has a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of 12.7. This means that somebody with 12.7 years of US schooling should be able to understand it. When sport resumes, the statement announcing it will probably have a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of less than 10.
Under normal circumstances, policy statements are not an area of huge interest to sports economists. But these are not normal times. Economists and sports people are paying attention to the latest press conferences to hear news about when sport might return and in what form. Readability statistics are not as useful in these circumstances. There is a certain amount of "reading the tea leaves". In this context, I was surprised by the lack of coverage given to the words uttered by John Treacy last Friday.
Under normal circumstances, policy statements are not an area of huge interest to sports economists. But these are not normal times. Economists and sports people are paying attention to the latest press conferences to hear news about when sport might return and in what form. Readability statistics are not as useful in these circumstances. There is a certain amount of "reading the tea leaves". In this context, I was surprised by the lack of coverage given to the words uttered by John Treacy last Friday.
Speaking at the launch of the #InThisTogether campaign, the Head of Sport Ireland said contact sports would be slower to resume. It seems obvious. His words attracted some immediate attention but then seemed to be forgotten rather easily. It did not make it to RTE's teletext! [To anybody under the age of 30, teletext is a sort of early website that remains on the RTE News Now channel. That channel is a sort of dark web for older people.] Yet, at the rime of posting, there are stories on that platform about the return of sport that are 8-10 days old.
Nor do the words appear as a Press Release on the Sport Ireland website.
My initial thoughts were that John Treacy had left the cat out of the bag. Then yesterday, on a variety of RTE's platforms a story appeared saying the Department of Sport was considering a plan to allow GAA inter-county training return later in the summer. It was as if some hope needed to be returned to the GAA community. Hope was the last item left in Pandora's box (and some think it is better translated as "deceptive expectations").
My guess is that Treacy has a better idea than most as to what should happen in Irish sport. I remember our school coach holding him up as an example of never giving up. Treacy collapsed before the finish line in a 10,000 race in the 1980 Olympics. It seemed like his Olympics were over. Days later he finished 7th in the 5,000m final. A silver medal in the marathon followed four years later. He seemed to excel where he was pushed to his limit. The image of him retaining the World Cross-Country Championship in the Limerick mud is burnt into the memory of Irish people over the age of 50. A touch of that resilience will serve all sports people well during the coming months.
Nor do the words appear as a Press Release on the Sport Ireland website.
My initial thoughts were that John Treacy had left the cat out of the bag. Then yesterday, on a variety of RTE's platforms a story appeared saying the Department of Sport was considering a plan to allow GAA inter-county training return later in the summer. It was as if some hope needed to be returned to the GAA community. Hope was the last item left in Pandora's box (and some think it is better translated as "deceptive expectations").
My guess is that Treacy has a better idea than most as to what should happen in Irish sport. I remember our school coach holding him up as an example of never giving up. Treacy collapsed before the finish line in a 10,000 race in the 1980 Olympics. It seemed like his Olympics were over. Days later he finished 7th in the 5,000m final. A silver medal in the marathon followed four years later. He seemed to excel where he was pushed to his limit. The image of him retaining the World Cross-Country Championship in the Limerick mud is burnt into the memory of Irish people over the age of 50. A touch of that resilience will serve all sports people well during the coming months.
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