How about a no goal line technology?

Recently most of the footballing world has been debating the use of goal-line technology. Pundits and fan's have been in a rage about the series of incidents- notably in Sunday's FA cup semi final clash between Chelsea & Spurs.

The issue of a goal is such a crucial one, it defines a game. So when an official misses an incident and makes a wrong call undoubtedly the talk will turn to  technology and how it can be used to make the most simple of calls. I appreciate and understand the need for clarity in the game, I do. Fifa the world's governing body have already ran trials in the past, whilst there are a whole range of system's that could be used. From Adidas sponsored microchips in footballs, to the Hawk-eye system which has been used in both Tennis & International Cricket.

All of which could be the solution to the age old question of "did that ball cross that line" which has been plaguing the beautiful game for years and years. From the Wonder of Tofik Bahramov (That Russian linesman in the 66 final) to the heartache of  Frank Lampard's disallowed effort in South Africa 2010 (you can see that tear jerking moment just below). Football is full of incident and intrigue which provides the discourse of debate which makes Football so unique.  


Across the world there is no sport that can provide the unlimited conversation topics that football can. That's thanks in part to media blanket media coverage and particularly the rise of Twitter, which is explained so elloquently by Henry Winter in his column yesterday. 

We have radio station's dedicated to the ramblings of the impassioned football fan. Be they delighted or incandescent with rage over the latest incident. From diving, goal line technology and star strikers spending 5 months in Argentina and then subsequently returning. Would some of this debate be lost if we had just the mere introduction of goal-line technology?   

I fear for the rugbyization of football. If goal-line decisions are introduced where do you stop? Would borderline offside decisions be next? Then it surely would lead to video scrutiny on off the ball incidents. The call for video technology would be widespread and unrelenting until every shred of doubt would be taken away. Leaving the game simply black and white starving the game of those shades of grey, splurges of red mist and green's of envy that brightens football. 


So why not a turn away from technology, and an embrace to enjoy the game for what it is warts and all.  If mistakes are made who cares? Afterall it's the passionate arguments down the pub/ radio/ television that makes football full of life.  

Premier League readies app to celebrate 20 years of the Premiership.

  
The app provides football fans around the world with a great new way to watch some of the most memorable moments from the Premier League’s history. Each of the 100 one-minute clips features a memorable highlight, including the first ever goal in the top flight, scored by Sheffield United's Brian Deane playing against Manchester United at the start of the 1992/93 season, and Wayne Rooney’s acrobatic overhead kick against Manchester City in the 2010/11 season. Other highlights include David Beckham’s famous goal from the halfway line against Wimbledon in 1996/97, Alan Shearer being recognised as the Premier League’s Player of the Decade in 2002. Total Digital Football also trawled Youtube for their favorite moments, the top 3 all available for your viewing pleasure. 


The app features at least five clips from every Premier League season. Each of the clips are also accompanied by a quiz question via an interactive ‘q’ button, as well as an opportunity to win Premier League prizes via competitions within the app. The launch of the app precedes the Premier League’s 20 Season Awards, the shortlist of which will be announced in mid-April, with an award ceremony at the end of the Premier League season in May. 


The Premier League 20 Seasons App was produced by the Premier League’s production partner IMG Media, part of IMG Worldwide and developed by Mobile Interactive Group (MIG), a Velti Company, a global mobile and technology solutions company. In November 2011 MIG was acquired by Velti, to create the world's leading mobile marketing and advertising company. 


Showing (some) bias Robin Van Persie's screamer against Charlton has to make the list. Superb technique and a outrageous shot, Hopefullly these should be in the App. 




Gurnsey's greatest footballer score's a absolute beauty against Blackburn, skillfully beating a few players before unleasing a 35 yard belting shot that nestles delightfully in the top corner.




Paulo Di Canio is currently making waves as manager of Swindon in League 2. But Back in 2000 his classy volley won the prestigious Match of the Day goal of the Season and cemented his reputation in Irons folklore.

Arsenal Looking to hit 10million Online Fan Target.

Arsenal FC have announced from yesterday a brand new competition   as they aim to become the second Premier League team to have over 10million fans on their Facebook fan-page. 


The announcement on Arsenal.com late last night came as the page has changed to embrace the recent timeline feature, highlighting the clubs history. "Stretching from our origins as Dial Square right up to the modern era, the timeline provides a fascinating look into how Arsenal became the club it is today, illustrated with some fantastic photographs from the last 125 years."


The competition, which encourages fans to log into the clubs  team of 10million facebook app, includes the change to win matchday tickets and signed shirts. In terms of overall fans Arsenal are currently second behind Manchester United who have just over 23million fans on the social networking site. With both Chelsea and Liverpool in third and fourth place with just under 9million and 8million fans respectively. 


The move marks a busy period for the North London club, having just confirmed a string of preseason games in the Far-East & Nigeria as the club aim's to appeal to a growing world fanbase. The far eastern tour will take in China, Hong Kong & Malaysia (Picture above) in late July and will include a match with rivals Manchester City. Whilst plans are also provincially in place to tour Nigeria later on in August.


The move away from the clubs traditional pre season of the Emirates Cup, which has been postponed due to the olympics being held in London. This is the second preseason in which the Gunners have visited the Far East in a row, as the club look's to create new commercial deal's with some of the Far East's big brands. 


Give the Arsenal Facebook account a "like" for the chance to win some prizes.

Mobile round up- Euro 2012 official phone application & NFC Phone technology.

European football’s governing body UEFA is working on its official mobile app for this summer’s Euro 2012 tournament as part of the mobile operator’s sponsorship package of the tournament hosted in Poland and the Ukraine. 

The app is likely to be co-branded and will contain functions, such as group tables and match dates, that will prove useful to both fans attending the tournament and those watching it from home.Orange, an official sponsor of Euro 2012 and is present in 11 markets across the continent, has confirmed that it is developing the app on behalf of UEFA although no launch date has been officially set.

However, with a little over 60 days until the tournament kicks-off a launch date can’t be far off as the mobile operator has already raised the curtain on its sponsorship activity in the UK through joint exercises with the relaunched Sony Mobile. Sony Mobile has been named as Orange’s ‘global handset partner’ for Euro 2012 and from next month the two will use their combined web properties get fans to interact about the tournament when online. This will include a co-branded Facebook game, Orange Golden Goal, to win smartphones and tickets to the tournament through events such as the Orange Supporters’ Cup game. 

Earlier this year, Orange sponsored the African Cup of Nations tournament, hosted in Equitorial Guinea and Gabon, following a similar deal it struck with the Confederation of African Football. The sponsorship packages from the mobile operator are aimed at bolstering awareness of its customer base in developing markets, it counts millions in Europe but only 150,000 in Africa, according to official statistics. 

Although, no official details of the app have been released yet, Total Digital Football did check out an O2 and Adidas sponsored event hosted in London recently where the brands encouraged programmers to develop sport-themed mobile apps using NFC phones. Although NFC phones, devices that can communicate data without contact using the tech standards, similar to Oyster cards, are still niche they are expected to be rolled out massively in the next year.

Adidas’ prize, tickets to a Champion’s League game, was awarded to a developer team that produced an app called ‘Total Event’ which encouraged attendees of football games to check-in to the ground using their NFC smartphones, both at the turnstiles and when at their seats. Theoretically, the app could be used as part of a digital season-ticket and users of the app  can share their photos of the action on the pitch with others in the stadium. Fellow supporters can then see how certain incidents appeared from their side of the stadium by looking at another pictures taken from opposing stands. 

Although the app is unlikely to be launched any time soon, the app does demonstrate some of the possibilities posed by technology and digital media which brands, such as Adidas, are currently looking at to augment crowd participation in the game. Previously, Manchester City kit-manufacturer Umbro has encouraged users of mobile social network Foursquare to ‘check-in’ to the club’s Eastlands stadium using Foursquare in a bid to get supporters to interact while at the ground. 

By Ronan Shields

Women's Super League lead the way with "digital ambassadors"

Finally it seem's that the FA have made one decision that could greatly benefit that could enhance the beautiful game. It comes as they have announced three "Digital ambassdors." who will represent their teams via the medium of Twitter. Amongst the players are Arsenal midfielder Steph Houghton, Bristol Academy's goalkeeper  Siobhan Chamberlain & Everton Mildfielder Jill Scott. 


The selected players will all have their accounts printed onto the sleeves of there teams respective football shirt. The move is an intelligent one by the league, As they look to build up a interest in the Women's game in the UK.Last year's Women's World Cup final was one of the most tweeted events of 2011 with 7,196 tweets per second.


 Now from regularly staring at twitter during a televised game male star players regularly appear in the trending topics in the UK, so through active promotion of the respected accounts should lead to heightened interactivity and growth within the women's game. Which can only be good for the long term grass roots development of the game, ultimately leading to the women's national team winning the European and World cup's that have eluded them in the past.


It's not the first time that team's have turned toTwitter to promote themselves. Only this season Valencia printed their official Twitter account onto their shirts whilst against Barcelona, along with the sustained use of Twitter & search functions by both Manchester City & Arsenal to be accessed by fans across the world have lead to #askvincent and #arsenallive to be popular trends online. 


The next step should be taken by the sponsors of the Premier League to promote their brand via twitter. Even if a brief sponsored hash-tag appeared on the Saturday they have the potential to be seen by 4.7 billion people, who watch the Premier League. Even from a basic tweet-to-win hash-tag would become a worldwide trending topic within seconds. It's only a matter of time before it's used.

Orange and Carlsberg announce official mobile applications for Euro 2012.

The race for the most desirable Euro 2012 mobile application hotted up today with the announcement of two official mobile applications from two principle sponsors of the tournament.

Both Carlsberg & Orange today announced the launch of official applications as they bid to appeal to the masses ahead of the tournament in Poland and Ukraine which kicks of in 66 days time. Carlsberg announced that their app which will me made available for free across both Itunes and the updated  Google Play Shop.

It will include exclusive content in the build up to and during the tournament, this will come in the form of the latest news, live match commentary along with exclusive content from former Manchester United & Denmark goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel. (See the video below!). The drinks manufacturer is also promising special content for the England national team who they are also an official sponsor for, which should include official Uk brand Ambassador Gareth Southgate. He should be at the tournament as his role as a pundit for ITV.

French telecoms group Orange announced an official tie up with mobile phone manufacturer Sony mobile, as they look to create a number of bespoke products linked to the tournament. Linked to this will be the official Euro 2012 smart phone application. Which would include cross promotion competitions to win both Sony smartphones & tournament tickets. Currently there is no word on the price of the application, however expect a clamber from developers to create the most desirable free App, similar to a raft of apps created during the World Cup in 2010.

Both sponsor's will be looking to appeal to the raft of supporters expected to visit both Poland and Ukraine, when the tournament kicks off on the 8th of June. Co-host's Poland entertain Greece on the opening game of the tournament.

Toffeemen's deal with Nike can only be good for the peoples club.

Last week Everton announced a new three year sponsorship with sportswear giant Nike. The deal seem's ideal for both sides for a number of reasons. Firstly Nike where on the look out for a new sponsorship deal after Aston Villa signed a new deal with Italian sports brand Macron. Whilst Everton represent a solid brand to associate with for the American giants.

With a longstanding coaching setup , a loyal and passionate fan base, and importantly a brand presence aliening the Liverpool side as "The peoples club" is a great choice for Nike. These are certainly the views held by Everton blogger Adam Partlington. "It's a great move for the club, in the past we have had problems getting our merchandise out in the past, so a deal with Nike put's up right there with Liverpool, Spurs, Manchester United and Arsenal, all in all a great commercial deal for the club."

A link up with the largest sport's kit manufacturers will quite obviously promote the club further, but i feel the club with certainly benefit in Thailand thanks to the existing long term deal with one of the country's most popular beer's Chang. Both Manchester United & Chelsea are both linked with Singha beer. So a tie up with Nike, coupled with a tie up with a popular beer brand would lead to a heightened presence in a country which is passionate for the Premier League.

While the issue of the clubs finances is still strongly debated between fans, this could certainly serve raise the profile of the club for any potential investors, and potentially lead to a move away from Goodison park. For now the deal can only benefit the club, who are currently above local rivals Liverpool, and are on the course for Uefa cup football after impressive victories against Manchester City and Chelsea already this season.

You can watch some of Adam's Talking Toffee episode's from his Youtube channel.