Hot hands,cold feet? Investigating effects of interacting constraints on place kicking performance at the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup

Place kicks in Rugby Union present valuable opportunities to score points outside the spatiotemporal dynamics of open play but are executed under varying performance constraints. We analysed effects of specific task constraints and relevant contextual factors on place kick performance in the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup. Data were collected from television broadcasts for each place kick. In addition to kick outcomes, contextual factors, including time of the kick in the match, score margin at the time of the kick, and outcome of the kicker’s previous kick, were recorded. Effects of spatial task constraints were analysed for each kick, using distance (m) and angle (°) of the kick to the goalposts. A binomial logistic regression model revealed that distance from, and angle to, the goalposts were significant predictors of place kick outcome. Furthermore, the success percentage of kickers who missed their previous kick was 7% lower than those who scored their previous kick. Place kick success percentage in the 10 minutes before half-time was 8% lower than the mean tournament success percentage, which was 75% (95% CI 71–78%). The highest kick success percentage was recorded when scores were level (83%; 95% CI 72–91%). Our data highlighted how subtle changes in task constraints and contextual factors can influence performance outcomes in elite performers in international competition. Fluctuations in place kick success suggested that individual constraints, such as thoughts, emotions and fatigue, induced during competition, could interact with perceptions to influence emergent performance behaviours.     

The Migration of African-Americans to the Canadian Football League During the 1950s: An Escape from Racism?

It is the argument of this paper that the literature on mid-century racial discrimination in sport is incomplete in that it ignores the experiences of a small, but relatively significant, group of African-American football players who actually chose to leave their own country – and correspondingly leave the racially-charged environment of mid-twentieth-century USA – to head north to play professional football in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Beginning in 1946, a steady flow of African-Americans began to migrate to the CFL which, at the time, was a legitimate competitor league to the NFL. This paper attempts to test a perception seemingly held by some that, by moving to Canada, African-American football players were able to escape the racial injustices they often suffered in the US. This view appears to have its roots in the notion that Canada is a ‘gentler’, more tolerant society, without the divisive socio-political history that characterizes much of the race relations in the US. This paper tests these notions using a variety of empirical approaches. The results indicate that, while African-Americans were better represented in the CFL relative to the NFL, African-Americans still faced some level of entry discrimination in the CFL. In particular, African-American players in the CFL outperformed their white counterparts on numerous performance dimensions, indicating the overall talent level in the CFL could have been further improved by employing an even greater number of African-Americans. Additionally, the paper finds that those CFL teams that employed the highest percentage of African-Americans were those teams that had the most on-field success. Finally, the paper analyses prices of player trading cards from that era, and finds that cards of African-Americans were undervalued, relative to white CFL players of equal talent.     

The Social effects of the Australian Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS)

Australia’s Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) is an income contingent loan scheme, in which university students pay back part of the costs of their tuition after their post-university income reaches a certain threshold, is an important policy innovation for the financing of higher education. However, its critics claim that HECS increases socioeconomic inequalities in higher education and the HECS debt reduces the ability of young people to make the transitions to adulthood. This paper investigates these claims. There is no evidence that socioeconomic inequalities in higher education in Australia increased after the implementation of HECS in 1989 or the 1997 reforms. The magnitude of the HECS debt was found to have a negative impact on the transition to parenthood, but had no negative impacts on other transitions to adulthood: leaving the parental home, marriage and home ownership. Its effects on parenthood were moderate compared to other influences, such as full-time work in the previous year, marriage and being in a de facto relationship. Furthermore, only a small proportion of young people who attended university have large enough HECS debts for it to affect their fertility decisions.