Analysis: what happens and is said in the dressing room at half-time often takes on legendary and mythological status in sport
By Ian Sherwin and Barry Smith, University of Limerick
Half-time is a crucial period in a sporting competition when coaches interact with athletes and multiple staff members. This break represents a complex, unique and pivotal time to review and plan for the next phase of the game.
Generally, this period has been sensitively guarded from external observation, remaining almost exclusively within the ambit of those intimately involved with the inner team workings. Half-time in elite sport has been shrouded in mystery with only anecdotal evidence or intermittent "fly on the wall" documentaries providing the public and the coaching community with a hint of what takes place. Such representations within the popular media have contributed to the legendary status and mythological influence that half-times hold within sports culture.
The "inner sanctum" of the team sports environment has spawned one of sports most enduring clichés – "it's a game of two halves". As an example of this phenomenon, Leinster were 22-6 down to Northampton at half-time in the 2011 Heineken Cup final. They went on to win Europe's premier club rugby competition 33-22 with an epic performance from their then inexperienced playmaker, Jonathan Sexton.
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From RTÉ Archives, rising 20 year old rugby player Jonathan Sexton meets Dustin's Daily News in 2006
Not only did he produce a clinical second half performance on the field, but legend has it that Sexton was also responsible for leading the half-time team talk that galvanised Leinster to victory. Sexton’s words were inspired by another notable post interval performance, when Liverpool overturned a supposedly insurmountable 0-3 half-time score against AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final.
Last summer, the Limerick hurlers trailed Tipperary at half-time in the Munster hurling final by 0-12 to 2-16 only to run out winners 2-29 to 3-21 with a devasting second half display. More shockingly for Tipperary fans, this wasn’t the first time Limerick had achieved such a feat: they turned in a similar performance against the then All Ireland champions in a 2020 league game after trailing by nine points at half-time.
What happens at half-time to optimise player motivational states, behaviours and performances - and what was said by whom - has become an emerging area of research in performance sport. A team of researchers in the Physical Education and Sport Sciences department at the University of Limerick carried out an investigation in this area that aimed to explore coaches and players perceptions of half-time during elite rugby games. The qualitative study interviewed eight current professional coaches and eight current or recently (3 years) retired professional players to try to establish what happens during the break and what makes for an effective half-time period.
From Matchday: Inside FC Barcelona, scenes from inside the dressing room at half-time when Barcelona faced Liverpool at Anfield in the Champions League semi-final in 2019
Despite the artistic licence used in the movies, half-time is not a period for opportunistic Churchilian-esque speeches with both players and coaches favouring a calm and controlled environment, with clear messages to put a specific plan in place for the second half. Players believe that a coach's role is to absorb pressure from players, not add pressure to them. Coaches bringing a sense of panic to half-time through their desperation to make something happen can mean players walk out more confused than when they went in. Elite coaches believe that a coach's ego should not be the primary driver of the half-time period. Whatever they say has to be best for the players, not just to make themselves, as coaches, feel better.
The standard half-time period in most elite sports is 15 minutes. This is frequently dictated by television scheduling and provides ample time for ads and panel discussions, while the coaches and players prepare for the second half. As you can see from the graphic below, every minute of this time is used by the teams with the aim of aiding rest and recovery for players and developing a strategy for the second half.
The colour-coded outer ring depicts the decrease in temperature from the red-heat of battle, through the cooling down phase and into the green, "ready-to-go" phase just in time for the second half. Each segment is facilitated by the coach with various players, coaches and support staff taking the lead.
Half-time can be used in all sports to diffuse the intensity of the first half providing players with an opportunity to calm down. Players are known to describe themselves as "tired and on edge" and conscious of being "full of emotion from the first half" and the last thing they want is a coach unloading emotion onto them.
Encouraging players to come up with the answers empowers them to develop their own strategy, one which they are more likely to buy into
Even the most experienced coaches have to work hard to resist the temptation to step in and "tell" the players what they saw in the first half. Elite coaches understand that what they see may differ from what the players feel out on the field. Finding the commonality in these perspectives is crucial for future performance. By seeking the player perspective through astute questioning, coaches will invariably draw out answers from the players that match their own perception of the status quo.
What is particularly important is that encouraging players to come up with the answers empowers them to develop their own strategy, one which they are more likely to buy into. Creating a calm environment enables favourable conditions for clear communication so that collectively they have a clarity of purpose for the second half.
The collaborative half-time strategy should focus on future performance as opposed to what's already happened. The half-time period often relies on immediate contextual factors such as reading and reacting to the field, When done well, however, half-time offers a brief but important window in which to positively impact performance.
Dr Ian Sherwin is a Lecturer in Coaching and Course Director of BSc Sport and Exercise Sciences Programme in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences at the University of Limerick. Barry Smith is a Chartered Physiotherapist working in the area of Sports and Exercise Medicine who has completed a MSc in Applied Sports Coaching in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences at the University of Limerick. He has worked as a physio and coach in a variety of sports including rugby, soccer, hockey, and boxing.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
