There are good reasons for being wary about sports statistics. Like any decent tool when put in the wrong hands they can be a little dangerous. This week’s column for the Irish Times.

Reducing sporting achievement to a few digits, a grade, or a ranking, can seem unromantic. It’s a touchpaper for holy wars in the US over such things as MVP and Hall of Fame debates.

There’s danger in the rage to conclude; X over Y in a pure, black and white manner. Even for the most ardent of sporting numberphiles, the ‘magic number’ way of looking at sports is fraught with difficulty.

Dr Seamus Kelly said that when putting together the various modules of UCD’s MSc in coaching and exercise science they looked at gaps in coaching. While they cover general coaching theory as well as experience from specific sports (the university also offers an MSc in rugby management), Dr Kelly sees two key issues in the use of data by sports teams.

Read more: http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/other-sports/andy-mcgeady-warning-contains-data-use-carefully-1.2218549