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VAR is Changing Forever: And it’s Not What You Think…

August 30, 2023

Welcome back to The Sports Road everyone! You’ve heard what they say – Technology is needed for the mere fact that it improves the on and off-field quality of sport. Well, let’s see if that’s really true… Enjoy!

Here's what we got for ya today:

  • The New VAR

  • AFL’s Future…

  • Pickleball’s Revolution

  • WWE x NFL?

Most Valuable Sports Teams:

Let's get into it!

VAR is Changing Forever: And it’s Not What You Think…

Look, being a newsletter which covers the wonders of technology in sport, you wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the concept of Video Assistant Referees (VAR) tends to come up a lot in our research…

And I mean, it makes sense. Naturally, us sports fans tend to be pretty opinionated 😅And when we say nothing, we mean NOTHING, gets fans riled up quite like a dodgy refereeing decision…

With the technology being majorly responsible for drama across a number of sports, while you’d tend to think the idea of minimising contentious calls would be a good thing, it turns out that – under its current setup – you’d be wrong.

Why? Because at the end of the day sport is subjective. The way one fan may view a play – even when they’ve seen multiple angles and replays of it – may differ from another.

So with that, the question stands: is its implementation even worth it?

Well, those in charge of some of the world’s biggest Tennis competitions definitely think so!

That’s right. For the first time ever in a Grand Slam tournament, a Video Review (VR) system will be in place to aid chair umpires in monitoring challenged calls.

Yep, making its first appearance in the US Open, the system will be implemented off the back of a number of successful trial runs at numerous ATP events.

Being used for players to challenge decisions such as double bounces, foul shots, and more, in the case of its use being needed VR officials and operators will send the footage – covered in multiple angles – to the chair umpire as well as stadium screens.

In addition to on-field based calls, the system will also be used to monitor player behaviour. You know, so we won’t have to see things like this!

Despite that though, it looks like players are still on board. Just listen to what world number one Iga Swiatek had to say:

“We need that in tennis because there are many important points that can really change the momentum. Sometimes the decisions that the umpire takes, everything is going so fast that sometimes it would be nice for them to have a replay and to exactly see what happened.”

Iga Swiatek

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The Future of AFL

This may just be the most popular sport you’ve NEVER heard of…

Not having the global pull of Football, Rugby, Cricket, and – to be honest – most sports that you can probably think of, Australian Rules Football probably doesn’t get the love it deserves.

Combining elements of a number of the previously mentioned sports along with its own twists, the AFL – the sports biggest league – is the most popular spectator sport in the country!

FInding itself under new leadership, the AFL looks like it may be changing forever!

That’s right. Announcing earlier this week the appointment of Laura Kane as the league's new General Manager, the new boss has prioritised the inclusion of new technologies to improve multiple aspects of the game.

While a timeline is currently unclear for when these changes are expected to be fully implemented, that doesn’t mean that things haven’t been going on behind the scenes.

In fact, the AFL have been trialling a ball-tracking technology for quite a while now…

Powered through an innovative microchip hardware placed inside the ball, the technology will be able to aid referees in making goal line calls.

Not interfering with the ball's shape or weight, don’t be surprised if there’s an announcement coming VERY soon…

“We're looking into what other sports around the world are doing and how we can overlay things like ball-tracking technology to make officiating, particularly on the goal-line, as good as possible, as clear as possible and have the best outcomes as often as possible," Kane said.”

Laura Kane

Times Are Changing

Last week we told you guys to expect some massive movements in the Pickleball scene, and it looks like they may be coming faster than we expected…

The Pickleball revolution is NOW.

Acting as a hub for all things Pickleball in the states, Pickleball Kingdom currently owns a number of large-scale state-of-the-art courts all across the country.

Being one of the main contributors to getting people to play the game, an increase in audience could see engagement with the sport shoot up; and it looks like they’ve figured out exactly how to do it…

Signing a deal with specialists in all things AI, Playsight, the Pickleball Kingdom is looking to heavily increase the number of players.

Equipping venues with Playsight’s SmartCourts system, fans are sure to be more compelled and excited to engage with the sport.

Powered using AI, the SmartCourts system will allow athletes the opportunity to real-time information, stats, and insights into their very own performance.

Features are set to include video replays, AI automated highlights, interactive coaching tools, and more.

If there was ever a time to get into a sport, it would most definitely be right now…

“We are thrilled to join forces with PlaySight to bring an unparalleled pickleball experience to our clubs. This collaboration epitomises our vision of marrying technology with the pickleball experience, forging a new era in the sports landscape.”

Ace Rodrigues, Pickleball Kingdom CEO and founder

We Need to Talk About: Sports Weirdest Partnership

Goldberg, Roman Reigns, and Brock Lesnar. What do these three men all have in common?

Yes, they’re all WWE champions, but that’s not all. Come on, it wasn’t going to be that easy…

All three of these men also actually competed in the NFL!

That’s right. For years now, despite not officially, it always felt as though there was an unspoken link between the WWE and NFL.

Being mainstays in the American sporting scene, it makes sense.

So much sense, in fact, that earlier this week the two announced their first ever official partnership!

In the first ever licensing deal between the two, WWE have released NFL-inspired custom championship belts which are already available for purchase.

Having featured all 32 teams, the WWE were quick to remove the listing for the Jacksonville Jaguars…

Why? Well, we don’t know yet. But, as tends to be the case, fans have been speculating.

Owned by Shad Khan, father of AEW President Tony Khan, the reason may be that bit more clear.

Being the WWE’s biggest rival at the moment, it could get in the way of the WWE’s bigger interests…

Quick Bites

Meme of the day

Quote of the day

“Prime Benzema. He was the hardest to play against.”

Rio Ferdinand on the best strikers he’s played against

Picture of the day

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Chat to ya on Friday! ☮️