Jackson & Comber 2020 Accepted VoR.pdf (290.96 kB)
Hill on a mountaintop: A longitudinal and cross-sectional analysis of the relative age effect in competitive youth football
journal contribution
posted on 2020-01-15, 13:54 authored by Robin JacksonRobin Jackson, Gavin ComberThe aim of this study was to examine the origin and persistence of the relative age effect
(RAE) in competitive youth football. To examine its origin, birthdates of 121 category one
Premier League academy players recruited over six years were compared with 691 Under 8
(U8) players in one of the regional grassroots leagues from which academy players are
selected. To examine persistence of the RAE we conducted a longitudinal comparison of
retention rates in early-birth and late-birth academy players from U9 to U15, and made a
cross-sectional comparison of birthdate distributions from U7 to U18 in 10,857 regional
league players. The results revealed birthdate asymmetry in both the academy and
grassroots players but a much larger RAE in the academy. Longitudinal analysis revealed that
the cumulative probability of retention at the academy was higher for early-birth than latebirth players. A small to medium RAE persisted across grassroots football age groups though
it declined somewhat from U15 to U18. The implication of these results for academy player
recruitment is discussed.
History
School
- Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
Journal of Sports SciencesVolume
38Issue
11-12Pages
1352 - 1358Publisher
Taylor and FrancisVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Rights holder
© Taylor and FrancisPublisher statement
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Sports Sciences on 09 Jan 2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2019.1706830Acceptance date
2019-12-13Publication date
2020-01-09Copyright date
2020ISSN
0264-0414eISSN
1466-447XPublisher version
Language
- en
Depositor
Dr Robin Jackson Deposit date: 14 January 2020Usage metrics
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