Man United Interested in Aussie Rules' Player Monitoring Software

The Australian Football League’s Sydney Swans have been in talks with Man United about their revolutionary million-dollar sport science software.

The database system is used by the club to monitor the fitness, training, and medical information of the players. The data is then used to create suitable training programmes and injury treatment plans.

As many as six other English Premier League clubs have shown interest in the programme, along with half a dozen European teams.

However, AC Milan are ahead of the game and have been using their own computer system to analyse data on their players for years. It was the result of a visit to the Italian club that gave the Swans their idea.

Sport science plays a major role in the AFL, as the draft and salary cap system levels the financial playing field. Teams can’t spend big money on player transfers or wages, so training and fitness technologies such as GPS are used in order to get an edge over other teams.

The big Premier League and European teams have got the money and ‘pulling power’ to attract the most talented players, but smaller clubs do not have this advantage.

It may be more beneficial for them to spend less on player transfers and invest in Sport Science technology, such as the Swan’s software.

This way, they can get their best players on the field regularly rather than relying on one or two marquee signings that might spend as much time on the treatment table as they do on the pitch.

It’s no surprise that the big clubs are interested in this technology, but could football’s minnows be missing a trick?