An Irish sport technology company is in talks with the Premier League to help shape contact training sessions ahead of the league's return.
STATSport’s technology can show the movement of players, and how often they come in contact with one another, allowing clubs to monitor and assess the risks that contact training will bring.
Players have already returned for non-contact training in small groups, but plans are in place to increase numbers and introduce contact into the sessions.
Clubs are set to vote today on the safety protocols for entering phase two of training as they build towards the restart of the league, under the Project Restart plan.
Co-founder of STATSports, Sean O’Connor, told the Daily Mail: “We looked at pre-Covid sessions and imagined a two-metre circle around someone’s feet.
“You can then evaluate how many times players incurred on other players. So, looking at pre-Covid, we had an average of just over three seconds.
“People did not realise it was that low. We published a white paper and let the Premier League know what we were doing and they were really excited as it gave them the black and-white data to come up with a phased protocol for training.
“So they can understand the effects of the session and how they can have a positive training session that is influencing tactically, physically and also safe.
“What we were able to do was work with the Premier League and looked at specific drills pre-Covid and worked out which types of drills will have higher incursions.
“It is things like water breaks when players stand chatting next to each other. The average time was three seconds pre-Covid including water breaks and tactical drills, including small-sided games.
“We took the approach of taking out factors that increase the chances so we will see an even lower number of incursions.”
