INSIDE THE GAME
In the highly pumped world of professional sport, more often than not the one person to be mentioned above all others at the end of each match is the man or woman in the middle. Often the subject of ridicule, without the referee, there would be no matches. However the relationship between players, coaches and the ref is not quite what it is always painted out to be and there can be stark contrast between how players in different sports address the referee.
The MLS All-star match v AS Roma this season included a referee wearing a RefCam. Great footage indeed and while the pictures are not quite as clear as those used in a recent rugby match in Australia we certainly see some interesting perspectives of the match – and interactions with some of the players.
INCREASE IN STANDARDS?
What will be interesting to watch, should this technology become more commonplace, is the behaviours of players when they are addressing a referee who is adorned with one of the camera. Foul and abusive language surely cannot be accepted by the ref if video evidence will be available to implicate those using a poor choice of words.
And of course, we will also be able to see what the ref saw! did he really have a player in the way when he fails to spot a serious foul or do they guess at penalty decisions? Early days indeed for this technology but where the RadioRef has been highly successful in rugby (where you can hear EVERYTHING the ref says in a match) surely its only a matter of time before we are getting live-streaming of this content to an iPhone in the stands!