The Guardian - Before any Premier League is broadcast live, a statistician will compile a 25,000-word document detailing every eventuality
By Richard Foster for The Football Mine
You do not know his face or his name but you will have experienced his work many times while watching televised football. As a freelance broadcast journalist and assistant producer Dave works for, among others, BT Sport and Premier League Productions – the company responsible for broadcasting the Premier League around the world. He is one of an army of statisticians who provide a vast array of facts and figures for those working in front of or behind the camera. When Peter Drury or Martin Tyler seemingly plucks a choice statistic out of thin air to throw into the mix, there is a fair chance that he will have done so from his stat pack.
Dave describes it as the perfect job for a football geek, and Drury confirms that these statisticians are “of a certain kind”. Having started his career while in Spain, as part of his sports journalism degree, Dave worked for Real Madrid TV, before joining Sunset & Vine, the production company behind BT Sport, when it launched its football coverage in 2013. He has been working with them, as well as other broadcasters, ever since. His focus is primarily on assembling the stat pack for each match. Continue reading...