ABSTRACT
In 1951 came what is generally regarded as the first notational system in football. A serving officer in the Royal Air Force, Wing Commander Charles Reep, developed his system almost as a hobby. Early in 1950, Reep appeared on the scene as possibly the advanced party for the arrival of Billy Beane and other acolytes in more recent times. In reality, he was nothing of the sort; rather he was the first genuine data analyst to bother to turn his attention to the production of valuable data for use by football's domain specialists – the managers and coaches. An early milestone in cybernetics for sports occurred in 1965 with the inaugural USSR Conference on “Cybernetics and Sport” held at the Soviet Order of Lenin Institute of Physical Education in Moscow. Thematically, it was to focus on the application of mathematical analyses of the management of sports activities.
