A Comparison of In-person Versus Video-recorded Player Assessment by English Category One Football Academy Scouts

Owen, Robin and Harvey, Seamus and Smith, Ben and Jones, Ben (2024) A Comparison of In-person Versus Video-recorded Player Assessment by English Category One Football Academy Scouts. Journal of Expertise, 7 (2). ISSN 2573-2773

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Abstract

Talent identification is undertaken by football academies via scouts who traditionally attend football matches in-person. However, no previous study has compared in-person against video-recorded modalities for scouting. In the present study, a total of 30 scouts working for an English category one football academy observed the same U14 and U15 inter-academy matches either in-person (n = 13) or video-recorded (n = 17). Non-parametric analyses compared modalities (in-person vs video-recorded) in relation to the following: player performance ratings; subjective perception of modality accuracy; observation report submission time; and attentional/affectual factors including scout fatigue, joyality, attentiveness, self-control, and mental effort during observations. Results revealed no significant difference in player performance ratings when comparing in-person and video-recorded observation modalities (p > .05), despite scouts subjectively rating in-person as being the more accurate modality (p < .001). Scouts also reported that the video-recorded modality resulted in significantly quicker observation report submission (p < .001). However, video-recorded observations produced significantly greater fatigue during whole-team observations (p < .05) but not during individual-player observations (p > .05). No significant differences emerged between the modalities for joyality (p > .05), attentiveness (p > .05), self-control (p > .05), nor mental effort (p > .05). The present findings suggest that using video-recordings for the scouting of academy-level football players offers an adequately accurate and possibly more efficient alternative to in-person scouting.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	Psychology
Research Centres:	Netwell/CASALA
Depositing User:	Séamus Harvey
Date Deposited:	20 Feb 2026 09:30
Last Modified:	20 Feb 2026 09:30
License:	Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0
URI:	https://eprints.dkit.ie/id/eprint/1016

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