Football Hack Day with Stats.com Premier League Match Data in Real-Time by Pusher

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We all have real-time data within our applications, but getting hold of quality pre-filtered real-time event streams of data to simply “play with” is notoriously hard. Especially when it comes to sports! Sure, you use the Twitter Streaming filter API, apply your own additional analysis and build a keyword tracker, but it’s really not the \[…\]

Introduction

We all have real-time data within our applications, but getting hold of quality pre-filtered real-time event streams of data to simply “play with” is notoriously hard. Especially when it comes to sports! Sure, you use the Twitter Streaming filter API, apply your own additional analysis and build a keyword tracker, but it’s really not the same as getting high quality data from a sports data provider.

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Access to quality sports data is up there with catching unicorns with nothing but a fishing rod. So, when we heard that Stats.com were offering up a weekend of data for the upcoming Football Hack Day we were delighted. Straight away we were planning on creating a simulated real-time data feed of Premier League match day data from that weekend’s fixtures so that hack day participants could put their minds together to build what might represent the next generation of real-time powered match day experiences.

What Will You Build?

From second screen apps that complement an ongoing game to true real-time match day centres, statistical visualisations of player performance for managers and coaches, fantasy football games representing the next generation of real data-driven management simulators, or apps built entirely for fun – the possibilities are endless.

Pre-Hack Meetup

If you’re already registered for Football Hack Day then make sure you head to the pre-hack meet up on Friday night at The Counting House near Bank Tube Station from 6pm to share and generate ideas with fellow hackers. An area has been reserved and idea-stimulating drinks will be provided.

Football Hack Day Data

On Saturday things will then kick-off at 9am at Google Campus, London with sponsor pitches and then an overview of some of the ways our friends at X8 (a sports digital agency) have made the Stats.com data even easier to query, consume and use.

This includes an app that all the hackers can fork/download/clone/hack that makes it super-easy to publish all the match events through Pusher in simulated real-time. The app lets you start and stop the real-time data feed so you can control the data being sent as you build your amazing real-time app.

A big thanks to Krzysztof, Michał and the rest of the X8 team on an amazing job.

As a taster, check out footballhackday.github.io/london/data.html which is a growing resources that will eventually provide all the information you need to get hold of the sample applications and data.

Best Use of Pusher = Prizes!

As you can tell, we’re really excited to see what you’re going to build with this amazing Premier League data from Stats.com! But we’re even more interested in the real-time apps that you’re going to build that inspire the next generation of match day experiences.

So, if you use Pusher on the day each member of your team will have a chance of winning £50 voucher for your favourite club’s shop (up to 4 people per team) and $300 of Pusher credit for each team member.

Jamie and Vivan will of course see you there an be on hand to help with anything that can – Pusher or not!

Not only are we giving away prizes – but there are some other amazing prizes to be won on the day. Including phones from HTC, replica retro football tops and 4 tickets to the Charity Shield. Carlo and Rod have done an absolutely amazing job in organising these prizes and a big thanks to the other sponsors for their generosity.

Share Your Ideas

If you’re going to Football Hack Day feel free to share your ideas in the comments below – we’d love to hear your thoughts. Even if you can’t make it, or are on the waiting list, please still share your ideas. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure the apps that are built on the day are shared (pending developer consent). So, this could be an opportunity to see your Real-Time Football Data Powered idea in action.

Let’s be honest, access to the unicorn of real-time data – quality Premier League match data in Real-Time – doesn’t come along all that often. So take your chance whilst you have it.