New moves by the Premier League to remove betting firms as front of shirt sponsors have gained significant headlines in recent days.

Since the announcement, sports business experts have speculated about the consequences of this decision. Limiting the sponsorship options for one of the industry’s major partnership categories is likely to have a significant impact.

Preparations for France’s World Cup final appearance vs Argentina have been seemingly hit by an outbreak of illness amongst the squad. Prior to their semi-final, reports started to emerge that players were unwell. Dayot Upamecano and Adrien Rabiot missed the 2-0 victory over Morocco with the France Football Federation (FFF) confirming the reason both players were absent was due to illness. 

Concussion and brain trauma are emotive subjects in sport. As research continues to uncover the impact that traumatic head injuries have, discussions about safety and the long term health of players will only get louder. In the USA, as early as 1906 doctors were publishing papers highlighting the dangers of concussion linked to playing American Football. In the UK, ongoing research that identifies a link between heading and dementia in football has drawn major attention.

It’s been a turbulent few weeks in the UK. U-turns and diversions have been front and centre of the news agenda. It seems U-turns come at considerable cost in many walks of life. In a sporting context, turning, particularly at high speed and repeatedly come at a significant physiological cost. Fortunately, a new paper evaluating the turning demands of a Premier League team has recently been published and could help create a new understanding of this vital performance metric.

A few weeks ago we wrote a blog that highlighted the danger of pseudoscience. That article focused on how products and activities that don't stand up to scientific rigour can harm the industry and individuals. The issue put simply, is that by offering quick fixes and false hope, people don’t engage in proven strategies to support health or performance gains and therefore miss out on benefits in either health or performance.

The Premier League has announced that it will once again allow players to take a drinks break during this weekend’s fixtures. Temperatures in the UK are set to exceed 30OC during the majority of the games, meaning the policy to allow for a break midway through each half is activated.