Paddy Power & Hawking Find England Formula
Professor Stephen Hawking has been commissioned by Paddy Power to lead a month long study into the science of England’s World Cup performances, pinpointing the ideal conditions for success and the best way to take a penalty.
The legendary theoretical physicist breaks down the statistics and reveals that the key to penalty-taking success is to give it some welly.
- Find out more at Sport Industry TV
Hawking details the ideal conditions for English footballers, which includes kick offs as close to 3pm as possible and European referees. He also revealed that he will be putting his money on Brazil to win this summer.
Paddy Power engaged the mathematical genius and theoretical physicist to analyse the key factors which have affected England’s World Cup performances in their 45 finals games since 1966. The resulting scientific model was then used to help predict the probability of England winning key matches in Brazil this summer.
Among the variables analysed by Professor Hawking and his team, those that had an effect on the probability of England winning a match were found to be the stadium temperature, the stadium altitude, the nationality of the referee, the colour of the team’s shirt and the team formation.
Professor Stephen Hawking commented: ‘Ever since the dawn of civilization, people have not been content to see events as unconnected and inexplicable. They have craved an understanding of the underlying order in the world. The World Cup is no different.’
‘Paddy Power recognise that as a theoretical physicist I’m marginally more qualified to make predictions than Paul the Octopus. Using data going back as far as the 1966 World Cup, I have endeavoured to answer two of the biggest questions in sport; what are the optimal conditions for England success? And, how do you score in a penalty shootout?’
‘It is hugely complicated. In fact, compared to football I think Quantum Physics is relatively straightforward.’
Paddy Power added: ‘The modern game is so full of statistical analysis that for us it was a no brainer to call on Professor Hawking to give England some help. Let’s hope that Roy Hodgson takes note of the findings to give England the best possible chance of getting all the way to the final. It’s not too late for Roy to add the professor to his backroom staff. Imagine the professor’s halftime speech in the dressing should England find themselves trailing Italy.’
