ABSTRACT
Early research utilising notation analysis concentrated on either movement and work rates (Reilly and Thomas, 1976; withers et al., 1982) or simple analysis of event outcomes, such as the number of passes preceding a goal or the number of shots compared to the number of goals scored (Reep and Benjamin, 1968; Hughes, 1973). As the degree of sophistication of notation systems increased in the mideighties, the depth of analyses also increased, so much so that playing patterns and tactics in a number of sports have been traced and analysed (Hughes, 1988; Partridge and Franks, 1989a,b). The rapid technological advances in microcomputers have enhanced these computerised systems so that learning time for data entry has been minimised, and the inherent data handling ability of computers has enabled greater quantities of data to be processed.
