Risk evaluation in professional football

Risk management is composed of three major elements viz., hazard identification, riskestimation and risk evaluation. The aim of hazard identification and risk estimation is toidentify the outcomes from risk, the magnitude of the associated con&quences from risk, andthe estimation of the probabilities of these outcomes. Previous work focused on hazardidentification and risk estimation and identified the relatively high risks associated withplaying professional football. By adhering to the risk management process, the aim of thisthesis was to determine the significance of these high risks to football clubs and their players.A theoretical framework was designed to evaluate the influence of player injury on thefinancial and playing performance of professional football clubs. This framework was alsoused to assess, through use of cost benefit analysis, the practicalities of investing in suitableinjury prevention strategies, to reduce the risks to football clubs and their players. Formerprofessional footballers were surveyed to investigate the long-term medical and socioeconomicconsequences associated with the high risks of playing professional football.The results identified the high financial costs associated with player injury on professionalfootball clubs. Although the high risks of player injury have a relatively minor effect on teamperformanceof the Premier League clubs, this effect still has a relatively major influence onthe financial performance of the club. In contrast, the influence of player injury to teamperformancewas relatively major for Division I and Division 2 clubs, but this had a relativelyminor effect on financial performance. The application of cost benefit analysis to theinvestment of specialist personnel to reduce the risks of injury demonstrated that theproposals were practicable for Premier League and Division I clubs only. In addition, it wasalso demonstrated that the high risks associated with playing professional football have asignificant influence on the long-term well-being of foriner players. One-third of formerplayers had been medically diagnosed osteoarthritic in a lower limb joint. The majority ofplayers also perceived that injury had a negative influence on their present and future welfare.The results demonstrate that the consequences associated with the relatively high acute injuryrisk also have a significant effect on the financial and playing performance of football clubsand the future welfare of their players.