By John Considine
This time twenty years ago I was in York, England undertaking a Ph.D. in economics. During the year I tutored quantitative methods in a course delivered by Bill Gerrard. At the time I would have described Bill as a friendly, tall, long-haired Scot with an interest in Celtic, Leeds United and John Maynard Keynes. Today I would describe Bill as the "stats guy" with Saracens rugby football club - a club that this weekend will contest the Heineken Cup final - who has written widely on the economics of football.
Over the intervening two decades I have occasionally pestered Bill for advice on academic matters, sporting statistics matters, and a combination of the two. For example, when I was looking for a reading list on sports economics I banged off an email to Bill. The emails were always returned promptly and they were packed with helpful comments.
Ten years ago Bill visited Cork to give a seminar. During his visit he explained how he discovered Moneyball. He also provided an entertaining account of what seemed like excessive payments for some players in the Premier League!!!
Plenty has been written elsewhere about Bill's role in the Saracens project and his work on performance analysis (see here, here and here). Today he will be watching to see if that work has come to fruition at a European level. The following week they could also become champions of England. It would crown an already successful season for the club. I for one will be wishing Saracens and Bill are successful.
Ten years ago Bill visited Cork to give a seminar. During his visit he explained how he discovered Moneyball. He also provided an entertaining account of what seemed like excessive payments for some players in the Premier League!!!
Plenty has been written elsewhere about Bill's role in the Saracens project and his work on performance analysis (see here, here and here). Today he will be watching to see if that work has come to fruition at a European level. The following week they could also become champions of England. It would crown an already successful season for the club. I for one will be wishing Saracens and Bill are successful.
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