TY - JOUR

T1 - The influence of date and place of birth on youth player selection to a National Football Association elite development programme

AU - Finnegan, L

AU - Richardson, DJ

AU - Littlewood, MA

AU - McArdle, J

N1 - ?This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor Francis in Science and Medicine in Football on 14th November 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/02640414.2016.1254807

PY - 2017/1/1

Y1 - 2017/1/1

N2 - Aim: This study sought to examine whether the place and date of birth of elite youth Irish footballers influences their selection onto the Football Association of Ireland's primary development pathway; 12 regional centres of excellences called the ?Emerging Talent Programme? (ETP). The proposed hypothesis was that players born earlier in the year would be over-represented compared to those born later in their age band. A secondary hypothesis was that access to the ETP would be independent of place of birth. Methods: The dates and place of birth of all elite youth footballers (n = 1936) selected onto the ETP since its inception were examined. chi2 tests were used to establish if the dates of birth differed from the expected population distribution. Odds ratios were used to identify spatial variation in relation to place of birth and talent production. Results: The results showed that admission to the ETP is not independent of quarter of birth (P .05, chi2 = 256.817, w = .388). Place of birth analysis showed an unequal geographical distribution of players gaining selection onto the ETP. Selection onto the ETP was not independent of place of birth (P < .05, chi2 = 149.457, w = .278). Footballers developed in counties that had an ETP centre were almost 50OR 1.455, 95.314 -1.612). Conclusion: The current programme demonstrates inequitable distribution of opportunities to access elite development pathways due to biases related to date and place of birth.

AB - Aim: This study sought to examine whether the place and date of birth of elite youth Irish footballers influences their selection onto the Football Association of Ireland's primary development pathway; 12 regional centres of excellences called the ?Emerging Talent Programme? (ETP). The proposed hypothesis was that players born earlier in the year would be over-represented compared to those born later in their age band. A secondary hypothesis was that access to the ETP would be independent of place of birth. Methods: The dates and place of birth of all elite youth footballers (n = 1936) selected onto the ETP since its inception were examined. chi2 tests were used to establish if the dates of birth differed from the expected population distribution. Odds ratios were used to identify spatial variation in relation to place of birth and talent production. Results: The results showed that admission to the ETP is not independent of quarter of birth (P .05, chi2 = 256.817, w = .388). Place of birth analysis showed an unequal geographical distribution of players gaining selection onto the ETP. Selection onto the ETP was not independent of place of birth (P < .05, chi2 = 149.457, w = .278). Footballers developed in counties that had an ETP centre were almost 50OR 1.455, 95.314 -1.612). Conclusion: The current programme demonstrates inequitable distribution of opportunities to access elite development pathways due to biases related to date and place of birth.

U2 - 10.1080/02640414.2016.1254807

DO - 10.1080/02640414.2016.1254807

M3 - Article

VL - 1

SP - 30

EP - 39

JO - Science and Medicine in Football

JF - Science and Medicine in Football

SN - 2473-3938

IS - 1

ER -