Published September 2nd, 2003 by Jim O'Halloran
Perl for Football Tipping - Final Siren
A while back I posted my perl script for football tipping, then later updated it with some new features. Subsequent web site redeigns by the AFL meant that the HTML parser has since changed, and I also added a feature to predict the winning margin for the Footy Park match (something that one of the comps I’m in requires). Finally the script grew a subroutine to help correct typo’s in the team names on the expert tips page. The final version is available here.
So, after a promising start, how did the script fare? After the 22 minor rounds of the season, my perl script tipped 120 winners (avg. 5.45 per week), of a maximum 176. Past season’s suggest that an average of about 5 will win it for you, but in one comp I finished 5th while the winner scored 123 (avg. 5.59). Although the final results aren’t in yet, I expect to be further off the pace in our work comp due to some excellent tipping by the leaders.
If nothing else, it proves that 143 lines of Perl will produce a better result than a coin (when I tipped with a coin a few years back I got 90 for the season). It also proves that a small Perl program that knows nothing about the game is likely to tip better than most footy fans 
Allan Beattie Says
Hi,
I like the concept of your script but now in 2004 it looks like they have changed the site again
How are you going in tipping with the changes, if you find where they post the new tipping data please let me and others know. Would appreciate an email too if you find it. Thanks, Allan.
Mar 29th, 2004 at 6:23 pm
Allan Says
Woops this year you just dtop the default.asp and its fine, or maybe it was just me
Mar 29th, 2004 at 6:46 pm
Matt Says
Yeah bummer ….. script is broken now or should I say that the AFL is losing money because this script is so good they changed the web site to compensate the effect it was having on the average office tipping competition!!
any news of a fix would be appreciated ….. I tried a couple of different URL’s but that didnt work
The teams come up but all with zero tips….
oh well …. back to the bottom of the ladder o go
it was good while it lasted!
thanks
-Matt
May 21st, 2004 at 7:34 pm
Jim O'Halloran Says
Yeah, the AFL changed the layout of their site, which has broken the script again. Hopefully a fix will be available in a week or two.
Jim.
May 21st, 2004 at 8:17 pm