TECHNOLOGY IN FOOTBALL

One thing I've learnt, this century is blessed. Technology has cut across every field. You can basically prepare meals without doing anything, I learnt there's a robot that does that. If you haven't known, there are machines that can get you your daily activities. There are cars that drives itself.

That's not the bone of contention today, I'm focussing on the technology in football.

_Pixabay

Watching football at home on your TV screen is far better than watching it live. More than 80% of football fans agree to this. Although, you might want to see your favourite player live, probably you want to visit Spain and be present in Nou camp, then you drop the idea of watching it on TV. Watching on TV is fun, all thanks to technology.

Have you watched a football highlight from the 90's and compare it with the ones being displayed now?

Have you ever wondered how replay of a particular action in football is shown while the match is still on?

This minute the whole football pitch is being displayed on your screen, the next minute just one or two players is being shown, and there are times when the fans alone are pictured.

If you are wondering how all these are being filmed and showed live to us, then, you are at the right post. That's technology, some mighty cameras are used.

I'll be revealing the hidden things we probably don't know yet.

Basically, there is no specific amount of cameras used, but the you will find is 20 or more. Lots of cameras are located in different parts of the stadium.

Let me walk you through the cameras used.

SkyCam

It was invented by Garreth Brown. As the name depicts, it is always placed on air. It weighs less than 14 kg and can travel at 13 m/s.
SkyCam consist of three components; The reels, the spar and the central control.

The reels are the four cable wires shown in the Image above, they are mounted at the four edges of the stadium. Each reel has a 4.5 horsepower motor, it is braided with a single mode optical fibre. Most SkyCam's reels are light, you might not see it until you move closer. All you would see is a camera being hanged on air from far.

The spar is the camera itself, it contains the pan, the tilt motor and the sensors. Images produced by this camera is between 60 - 90 degrees from the ground.

The central control is like a remote controlling the whole camera, the SkyCam isn't stagnant, it is being moved with a control that can obstruct obstacles, include motions and take some pictures.

When we watch football, every part of the stadium is showed from the top, you will get to see most of the fans and the players. SkyCams are responsible for this.

NetCams

These are called Net cameras because the main focus is on the goal post. It is placed at the edge of the field close to each side of the post.

These cameras have a wide range of 60 - 90 degrees too, they can look far into the net.

Goal line technology has been adopted in some football leagues. There are times the football crosses the line, and the goal keeper still prevents it from getting into the net. These cases can't be determined by the referee alone.

The net cameras can be reviewed, the motion will be shown, then it will be known if the ball passes the net or not. Isn't that amazing?

Technology makes this goal line technology possible.

Helicopter Cameras

These are like drones. But, the main difference is drones can only fly in a fixed pitch, helicopters can go much further. Most times, these cameras captures outside the stadium .

I'm sure you've watched football and you were shown the whole beauty of the stadium and it's surroundings. You might get to see houses and streets close to the stadium, helicopter cameras made this possible.

Although their vision is not as wide as the SkyCams, but they could be moved easily to see more. Its movement is faster than that of the SkyCam. It is also called Helicam.

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More cameras are placed in other parts of the field. There are cameras at the middle edge of the field placed on both sides. If you had noticed, there are times the players are being zoomed closer to view fully. The camera closest to the player is responsible for this.

Every camera on the field has its purpose. Now, how are all these compiled together for viewers.

HOW EVERYTHING WORKS TOGETHER

Every camera has a control and each of them has what it is set for. There's a general operator team responsible for the switching. They switch to any camera they want. If the goal post is the main focus, then the NetCam is being switched too.

It's technical but wonderful!

These team is responsible for football highlights too. Since it is being filmed, part of the action can be replayed. And, the particular camera they want for replay can be switched too.

In Euro 2016 finals, behind the scenes showing the video recorders and the whole coverage was revealed in Supersport Blitz.

There were 40 broadcasters with 42 cameras. The right holders were up to 240 with love footage from the match.

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Watching football and enjoying every actions isn't done by a single device or whatever you might have thought it was being done with it.

Lots of technology device and teams made it possible.

Knowledge is key.

Thanks for reading

References

Camera technology and football

Euro 2016 News

SkyCam