2026 will be the fifth year of Plot the Ball’s existence.
What have I learned over the last four? Above the many little things that I’ve shared with subscribers to this newsletter — about Jasprit Bumrah’s genius, for instance, or Spain’s passing skill — stands one basic principle I keep returning to. There is so much value in using simple but rigorous methods to try and accurately describe the world around us.
Many sporting debates are still conducted untethered from facts that are often straightforwardly revealed by the statistical record, but I hope that the work I’ve published here since 2022 has helped readers conduct better conversations about the teams and athletes they enjoy watching compete.
Here’s an introduction to what you can expect from the newsletter this year:
About me
I’m Ben — a data journalist based in London.
Outside of my day job at Insurance Insider — a financial trade publication — I spend a lot of time watching, reading about and thinking about sport.
For a while, I wrote exclusively about rugby: on my blog, on a previous Substack and as a freelance contributor to RugbyPass+.
At the start of 2022, however, I decided to branch out — and launched Plot the Ball.
Since then, I’ve published data-led analysis about a wide range of teams and athletes — and been shortlisted in the ‘Data Journalist’ category at the 2024 British Sports Journalism Awards.
