There has been much talk over the last few weeks about the one-sided nature of some of the games we have seen this year. Rather than just accept this as a common view – lets look at some real data. (Data from 1/5/11 – 26/6/11 — 1/5/12 – 26/6/12)
Total Points Scored
This first graph shows the Total Points scored (on average) for the 2011 and 2012 season. It’s broken down by province.
The only province seeing less points per game is Munster – which could be explained by Kerry & Cork meeting earlier this year than last year. But Munster aside all other provinces are seeing an increase in total points scored. Despite the perception of blanket defenses ruining the game we are in fact seeing an increase in points scored!!
Competitiveness
Perhaps more important than the total scores in a game is how competitive the games have been. The simplest way to measure this is to look at the points difference between winning and losing teams. The graph below shows the picture of this based on the same data as above.
An increase in these figures means the games are less competitive. All but Connacht are showing signs of more competitive football. So despite the perception, caused by some very one sided games, when we look at the overall picture football is as competitive as last year.
This figures might change over the course of the season but comparing this year with the same period last year we can see that total points per game are up and game competitiveness is improving.