Let’s face it, the world of sport moves so quickly that it can be difficult to keep up with the pace.
The internet, and social media in particular, are so full of ‘noise’ that it can be easy to miss the content that really aids your enjoyment and understanding of your favourite sports and teams.
So, let’s separate the wheat from the chaff by identifying the most important and useful apps/sites available to sports fans today.
The best sports apps for: analysing your team’s performances
We can look at league tables for football, cricket, rugby and the like, or study the finishing positions of racehorses and golfers, and get an idea of how they are performing.
However, to really get down to the nitty-gritty, we can deepen our search to incorporate stats and the opinions of others. There are plenty who believe that sports betting in the UK, and specifically the odds that bookmakers offer, are a fantastic way to really measure the success of a team or player.
After all, these odds move up and down as more bets flow into the market – so, we can ascertain the ‘wisdom of the crowd’ by looking at these prices on game day or race day.
Statistics are also part and parcel of sports broadcasting these days, and these number-crunchers are going deeper in their analysis. So, instead of shots on goal in football, we can look at expected goals – the quality of chances created/yielded. In horse racing, rather than simply relying on finishing position, we can check out speed ratings and run patterns – again, getting a deeper understanding of a sport.
The majority now have these deeper stats – in darts, you can even look up three-dart average and checkout success rate, and so advanced analysis is at your fingertips these days.
‘Trust the process, don’t obsess over results’ is one mantra used in sports all over the world. With stats-based apps and sites, you can see if a team/player’s process truly works!
The best sports apps for: video streaming
We’re not talking about those dodgy streams shared on random sites where you spend most of your time closing pop-up ads.
You can enjoy legitimate sports streaming via a number of sources, and for UK fans, Amazon Prime is becoming an increasingly interesting option. There’s live Premier League football, Grand Slam tennis, international rugby, and more. There is also sports-based programming – the All or Nothing series is given all-areas access to the likes of Manchester City, New Zealand’s rugby team, the Los Angeles Rams, and more.
For those with a Sky Sports TV package, the Sky Go app is an essential download – taking your live sports access on the road – while apps such as DAZN are becoming increasingly more prevalent in producing quality live sports broadcasts.
Even the bookies let you live stream sports on your smartphone and tablets these days, so there’s no shortage of ways to stay connected with your favourite teams and players from around the globe.
