Who is Football's Masked Rapper?

April 21, 2023

Good Morning! It’s Friday, and with that, a new edition of The Sports Road. From Football’s best rappers to the technology that will change sport forever, you do NOT want to miss this one… Enjoy!

Here's what we got for ya today:

  • Meta Aren’t Stopping Yet

  • The Future of Scouting 

  • This Tech is Crazy…

  • Football’s Masked Rapper…

Most valuable public market sports teams

Let's get into it!

The Takeover is Here…

Meta cannot be stopped…

Dominating headlines in the last few weeks, the tech giants have announced deals in the entertainment, esports, and broadcasting sectors of the world's major sports.

From allowing the Premier League to be watched live in VR, to changing the landscape of how we consume NBA 2K content, it seems as though Meta has identified their newest avenue to success…

What is it? Well, the future.

Yep, this week Meta opened their Horizon Worlds to 13-17 year olds. 

With major sporting entities being some of the most successful to use the platform, this could really change the game. 

Wanting to further interact with fans, this news could lead to  widespread use of the metaverse as a means to garner more support for sports teams.  

Already realising success in using the platform, companies such as the UFC and NBA will be especially looking to expand their current fan bases. 

Inspiring the next generation of sports fans, the potential impacts from such a move could have BIG ramifications…

With increased accessibility being granted, those who usually would be limited in their access to sport will have the opportunity to immerse themselves into a whole new culture; one with an emphasis on technology and augmented reality…

While also offering benefits for athletes and teams, its effects have already been seen…

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Get Ready, You’re up!

There’s an old saying: in sport, you’d rather be lucky than good…

How true that is, we don’t know 😅 Saying that though, it is interesting to think about the talent lost simply due to bad luck. 

With it being harder than ever for young athletes to gain recognition at the top level, it would be a shame to see more of these gems’ talent go to waste…

Well, that’s about to change – and technology is playing a BIG role in it.

How? Tonsser. If you haven’t heard of them, Tonsser is an app which allows the next generation of ballers to build and showcase their footballing identity. By using the app to capture performances, unsigned players can collect performance data and showcase their ability to professional and semi-professional clubs.

Ever heard of Erling Haaland? Guess what app he used when kickstarting his pro career…

Already being used by over 1.6 million players, you may wonder why we’re even talking about it. Well, Tonsser is coming to England.

Yep, in a deal struck with Southampton FC, the two will provide an experience unlike any other. Here’s what we know so far:

  • Tonsser and Southampton will hold a two part trial experience held in London 

  • During these two days, young footballers will be able to showcase their skills in front of some of the country’s top scouts 

  • To participate in the  trial, unsigned players will be able to upload their performance data to the app and see if they are eligible 

With this not being the club’s first venture with technology within the year, it’s clear to see where their priorities lie. Wanting to improve on-field performance through technological innovation, it looks as though Southampton are really looking to build for the future.  

Languishing at the bottom of the Premier League, they may need to… 😬

“Southampton Football Club is renowned for developing potential into excellence. As a club, we’ve always had a strong focus on youth development that’s been built into our philosophy. We’re excited to be working with a like-minded organisation in Tonsser, whose vision of empowering young players to unlock their potential matches our own. We look forward to working with Tonsser to unearth the hidden talent of the future and help players to reach their potential.”

Gareth Hamer, Southampton Local Recruitment Manager 

A Game Changer

“Effective teamwork begins and ends with communication.” - Mike Krzyzewski

Teamwork makes the dreamwork. 

Cringey, we know. Sorry for that.

But really, without efficient communication, sports teams cannot properly function… 

This is exactly what Zach Maurides found while playing as an offensive lineman on Duke’s Football team. Despite the top level coaching he acknowledged receiving, Maurides still felt as though something was missing. 

Not being able to communicate effectively, a change was needed. With that, Teamworks was born.

Building a software program to enhance the efficiency of communication in sports settings, since its conception, Teamworks has gone from strength to strength.

Already working with the Chicago Bulls, New Zealand’s national Rugby team, and Chelsea, this week the company raised a further $65 million.

With the funding round led by Dragoneer, a group who invested in Uber and Spotify, big things are expected from Teamworks. Planning to use the money to globally expand their brand, Teamworks could very quickly begin to take over the sports world.  

“We look for category-defining businesses with innovative, customer-centric technology and a proven leadership team that operates in large, global markets. Teamworks checks all those boxes and more. Their efficient and durable growth over the last several years is impressive.”

Christian Jensen, Partner at Dragoneer Investment Group

Now This Could Get Interesting

In this day and age, once something reaches the grasps of social media, it’s rare to remain a secret.

Well, in that case, hats off to DIDE. Now get ready, this one is VERY intriguing… Let’s get into it:

A couple weeks ago, we spoke about new trends in what athletes have been getting up to after retirement. Specifically, we touched upon them entering the entertainment business.

With that though, we never see players pursue those interests during their playing careers. DIDE has.

Yep, claiming to be a Premier League star, the masked rapper has taken the internet by storm. 

Some of the responses… Chefs kiss 🤌

Whether this is true or not is yet to be seen, but it brings up an interesting question as to why pro athletes aren’t more expressive with their hobbies beside Sport.

To further investigate who the masked rapper could be, the BBC asked an artificial intelligence researcher to try and match the sound to a player.

His findings?

“What I do is I cut the Dide vocal up into one second fragments and basically between 10% and 20% of those fragments sound like Wilf Zaha, whereas most of them sound like Eddie Nketiah.” 

Matt, AI Researcher

Our guess is still Todd Boehly 🤷‍♂️

 Quick bites

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“I don’t care, he's old”

Dilon Brooks on LeBron altercation

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Chat to ya on Monday! ☮️