The "incident" message is the primary message that our Scout sends during match coverage as part of the ScoutsFeed product. This part of document contains a description of the most important fields and information included in it. Understanding these elements will enable better integration of the product and further exploration of its capabilities.
The “Action” field
The key to understanding the differences between single incidents (match events) is the “action” field, which provides clear information about the type of action taken in relation to a specific match incident.
The "action" field can take on 3 values:
insert - new incident generated (used) by the Scout
update - incident was somehow updated by the Scout
delete - incident was deleted by the Scout
The table below will provide a better understanding of the differences between the 3 "actions" within an "incident" type message.
Sport | Insert | Update | Delete |
|---|---|---|---|
 Soccer | “Shot on target” for FC Barcelona “Goal” for Spain |
| “Shot on target” for FC Barcelona is deleted (for example it was blocked shot) Key incidents are not deleting. We are using the “confirmation/cancelltion” rules (description HERE). Goal might be cancelled in the case of using the VAR system |
 Basketball | “2pts shot made” for Boston Celtics |
| “2pts shot made” for Boston Celtics is deleted (for example, when there was a foul before - shot is not counted) |
 Ice Hockey | “Suspension” for Colorado Avalanche |
| “Suspension” for Colorado Avalanche is deleted (for example after video review the referee' call is overturned) |
 American Football | “Touchdown” for Kansas City Chiefs |
| “Touchdown” for Kansas City Chiefs is deleted (for example there was a yellow flag) |
 Handball | “Throw saved” for France |
| “Throw saved” for France is deleted (for example, where there was a foul before - shot is not counted) |
 Baseball | “Out” for Los Angeles Dodgers |
| “Out” for Los Angeles Dodgers is deleted |
Fields related to the incident and its level of detail:
Each incident generated by Scout may have additional information, which is usually sent in an “update” of the specific incident (see the table above). The most important fields describing a specific incident include:
incident_id - ID of the sended incident (the list of specific incidents for all ScoutsFeed sports is available HERE)
incident_name - name of the incident
category - possible values:
standard - for all incidents related to a specific sport
emergency -for special set of incidents sent to clients, which inform about an extraordinary situation before/during/after the match (description HERE)
attribute_ids - contains information about the attributes that have been added to a specific incident. Attributes refer to additional, more detailed information regarding the sent incident (for example goal with left foot, outside of the penalty area, after fast attack)
Not all incidents have attributes and the scope of their usage depends on the statsl level of the competition under which the specific match is covered. The available attributes are also accessible in the "incidents" space HERE.
properties - a field used exclusively in American football. It provides information about the yards assigned to a specific incident
additional_info - contains information about an additional player who has been assigned to the specific incident (the main player assigned to the incident is always referred to as a subparticipant – see the next point). The additional player could be for example an assistant on a goal, the current goalkeeper of the opposing team, etc.
Participants and subparticipants (players)
An important element of the message that may cause identification issues are the fields related to “participants” and “subparticipants”. These terms are related both to the "incident" message type described in this section and are also an integral part of the "event" message type.
There are four fields related to these definitions:
"participant_id": - the ID of the sports event participant
"participant_name": - the name of the sports event participant
"subparticipant_id":- the ID of the player representing a given team (participant)
"subparticipant_name": - the name of the player representing a given team (participant)
In the case of individual sports such as tennis, table tennis, badminton, beach volleyball the participants are the players themselves who take part in the match (they are not subparticipants in this case).
Examples of participants and subparticipants (not only for sports offered in the ScoutsFeed product):
Sport | Event (match) | Participants | Subparticipants (players) |
|---|---|---|---|
Soccer | FC Barcelona - Real Madrid |
|
|
Basketball | Boston Celtics - Los Angeles Lakers |
|
|
 Tennis | Carlos Alcaraz - Jannik Sinner (single) Max Purcell/Jordan Thompson - Kevin Kravietz/Tim Puetz (double) |
| Not applicable Not applicable |
 Table Tennis | Fan Zhendong - Wang Chuqin Manyu Wang/Yuling Zhu - Honami Nakamori/Satsuki Odo |
| Not applicable |
 Ski jumping | Zakopane Men’s HS 140 (individual) Zakopane Men’s Team HS 140 (team) |
| Not applicable
|
In the case of a doubles pair, it is considered a single participant and has its unique ID. Both players forming the doubles pair have their individual IDs, but when playing as a pair, they are treated as a single participant.
In the case of sports competitions that can be either individual or team-based (e.g., winter sports, speedway, athletics), the participants are either individual athletes (for individual competitions) or sports clubs/national teams (for team competitions). In the second case, athletes belonging to a specific sports club or national team are considered subparticipants (example of ski jumping is presented above, in the table)
The “confirmation” field
This field contains information about whether the given incident has been confirmed by Skaut or not. It can take 3 values:
tbd - incident without confirmation/cancellation
confirmed - will appear when the incident is confirmed by the referee. Incidents with this value will have an effect on statistics.
cancelled - will appear when the incident is not upheld by the referee. For example, when he decides that a goal or a penalty will not be awarded, etc. Incidents with this value will have no effect on statistics
A value other than "tbd" is assigned only to incidents called "key incidents," which have been selected separately for each of the offered sports.
Since this field is crucial for clients who wish to use our data to settle match markets, a separate section of the documentation has been dedicated to it, which can be found HERE.