Why in rugby union does “Toulouse” mean “to win”? Estimation of a production function of sports results (2011–2016) |
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| Authors: | Eric Dubois |
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| Affiliation: | Université de Paris 1—Panthéon‐Sorbonne, Paris, FranceWhen first writing this article, we benefited from informal discussions with Martial Foucault. We thank OPTA Sports for the provision of statistics on the content of games and in particular Florent Chassagne and Thibault Richetta. We also thank Jérémy Fadat and Ludovic Favre from the newspaper Midi Olympique for their help. The first version of the article was substantially improved following the comments and suggestions of an anonymous referee of the journal. For terms specific to rugby not defined in this article, one may refer to the glossary available on the following site: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_rugby_union_terms |
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| Abstract: | The objective of this article is to understand more fully the determinants of sports performance. To do this, we estimate a production function of sports results that explains the results of the Toulouse rugby union team's matches expressed as the gap in points between it and its opponents. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a production function has been estimated in rugby union. In addition, it is one of the few production functions specified at the match level. The study confirms the relevance of some variables already identified in the literature, such as home advantage, ranking, the role of the referee, and in‐match statistics. It also shows the influence of new variables, such as weather conditions and the relative strength of fielded teams measured by comparing the teams selected on match day to the ideal teams defined at the beginning of the season. |
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