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Introduction\ud Small sided games (SSGs) have had a great significance in football training by providing physiological and technical development for all levels of participation (Rampinini et al. 2007). Various researchers have studied the effect of SSGs on technical demands (see Panter et al., 2008, Katis and Kellis, 2009) with both Platt et al. (2001) and Katis and Kellis (2009) agreeing that manipulation of player numbers and pitch size has an impact upon the technical actions recorded within SSGs. Whilst there is an abundance of research in SSGs, research in small sided possession games (SSPGs) is lacking. SSPGs can be defined as the use of fewer participants, smaller pitch dimensions and no football goals where the aim is purely to retain possession. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of pitch size on technical demands during SSPGs in amateur footballers.\ud \ud Method\ud Introduction\ud Small sided games (SSGs) have had a great significance in football training by providing physiological and technical development for all levels of participation (Rampinini et al. 2007). Various researchers have studied the effect of SSGs on technical demands (see Panter et al., 2008, Katis and Kellis, 2009) with both Platt et al. (2001) and Katis and Kellis (2009) agreeing that manipulation of player numbers and pitch size has an impact upon the technical actions recorded within SSGs. Whilst there is an abundance of research in SSGs, research in small sided possession games (SSPGs) is lacking. SSPGs can be defined as the use of fewer participants, smaller pitch dimensions and no football goals where the aim is purely to retain possession. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of pitch size on technical demands during SSPGs in amateur footballers.\ud \ud Method\ud Players (n=8) participated in 3v3 and 4v4 small sided possession games over three different pitch dimensions (small; 20x25m, medium; 25x30m, large, 30x40m). Each SSPG was performed as three bouts of 4 minutes and one final bout of 2 minutes, separated by 2 minutes of rest. Each game lasted 20 minutes. Games were filmed and analysed post match with the following variables recorded; 1 touch possessions, 2 touch possessions, 3+ touch possessions, dribbles, pass, receive, interception, tackle, header and total number of actions. \ud \ud Results\ud ANOVA mixed factional test identified interception (P>0.05) and tackles (P>0.05) as a statistical significant difference for technical demands when the number of participants and pitch dimensions changes. Passes were the most frequent recorded event across all pitch sizes for both 3v3 and 4v4 SSPGs. Medium pitch size was found to provide the highest mean number of actions per player for both 3v3 and 4v4.\ud \ud Conclusion\ud Small sided possession games can be used to develop football player’s technical ability. Coaches should carefully consider the objective of the training session prior to manipulating pitch size and participant numbers in order to ensure the objective of the session remains central to the game.

Introduction\ud During recent years, the game of cricket has been revolutionised by the introduction of the shorter version of the game. Research into the shorter formats of the game by Petersen et al (2008a), who researched 50 over cricket matches, and Petersen et al (2008b) and Douglas and Tam (2009), studying the Twenty20 adaptation of the game, idenified different predictors of success. In 50 over cricket winning teams scored more runs through boundaries, maintained a higher run rate and had more 50+ partnerships whereas in Twenty20 cricket, wickets had the largest positive outcome in terms of winning result. This information can influence both team and individual strategies during games. No research has been conducted into the 40 over games which forms the domestic competition in the UK. This study aims to address this and identify the game variables which have the largest impact upon match outcome in 40 over cricket.\ud \ud A knowledge of the impact that differing match variables can have upon the outcome of the game can help to influence team and individual strategies during games. \ud \ud Method\ud For the purpose of the project, scores from 101 of 129 games during the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition were analysed and the analysis includedbowling and general match variables. The magnitudes of differences of game variables were compared between winning and losing teams and were calculated using Cohen’s Effect Size (ES). \ud \ud Results\ud The top three indicators for success within the tournament were losing less wickets (ES= -1.54), hitting a greater number of 4’s (ES= 0.81) and scoring at a higher overall run rate (ES= 0.76). \ud \ud Conclusion\ud Team selection in 40 over cricket should consider these performance indicators and look to exploit differing game variables to enhance a team’s chances of success. Game strategy should be revised in light of this research the data from all of the 21 participating teams. The game variables were broken down into three main headings of batting

Previous Rugby Union studies have identified a strong correlation between the number of tries scored and winning matches (Laird & Lorimer 2004; Lim et al. 2011). However, to date, the concept of try scoring has not been examined in the RFU Championship, where the majority of premiership academy players gain vital match experience. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the characteristics that lead to the scoring of a try. Twenty-eight competitive matches from the 2010/2011 RFU Championship were analysed using the SportsCode elite system (Sportstec). All tries were analysed utilising the following performance indicators; the possession starter and location, number of phases and placement location, all of which were recorded for one team when playing at home and away (Intra operator reliability – % error score 1.69%±0.01%). Due to the non-parametric nature of the data, a Mann Whitney U tests was utilised and identified no significant (p