'Important thing about innovation is it isn't for gimmick's sake'
Ireland and Lions rugby legend Brian O’Driscoll enjoyed a Tuesday with an enriching difference last week working at a studio in London as one of the judges in Innovate 21, BT Sport’s search for exciting new sports broadcast experiences from entrepreneurs, creatives and start-ups. He was tickled by the presentations of all four shortlisted finalists but in the end joined ex-footballer Robbie Savage in deciding that the winner should be AriSports, a digital prediction platform that is the brainchild of co-founders Rassim and Djewed Hariz.
Their innovation allows football fans to predict on-pitch events, earning points in the process and competing against friends. It even includes a fantasy trading element where fans can collect and own unique digital cards of their favourite football players. These cards can increase in value, depending on the player’s real-life performances and correct predictions from the owner of the card.
AriSports will now have the opportunity to work with BT Sport to develop its technology for future use and O’Driscoll can’t wait to see how their partnership unfolds. “There were four good finalists and all presented very well,” he enthused to RugbyPass. “But the innovation that did win, they presented phenomenally well. They did their homework on all of us, knew a lot of details about us, made it interactive with us, allowed us to get involved and it all came from a very clever background.”
Innovate 21 was the third occasion BT Sport backed a search for new viewer innovations from small businesses. Seenit, the winner of a 2016 BT competition, enabled fans to send in video reports from stadia around the UK as part of BT Sport’s Premier League Tonight show.
Meanwhile, Sceenic, the winner of a 2018 BT competition, worked with BT Sport to support last year’s launch of Watch Together service on the BT Sport App, something O’Driscoll explained he had a fun time trialling when he was hooked up over his phone last October with three Made in Chelsea influencers to watch the final of the 2019/20 Gallagher Premiership final.
Our winner is…@arisports_uk has won Innovate 21, @btsport‘s competition for exciting new broadcast experiences.
Their concept enables viewers to predict football on-pitch events, compete against friends by earning points, and collect unique digital football players cards . pic.twitter.com/aIq63DGFUR
— BT (@bt_uk) September 28, 2021
“We were watching the Premiership final between Wasps and Exeter. I’d worked earlier that day at Ireland versus Italy (in a rescheduled Six Nations fixture) and I then watched the game with JP Patterson and some others. Watch Together was a company with such clever technology and it couldn’t have been better timed with the pandemic where you were able to watch a game on your phone or your tablet with your mates, with three mates, which was brilliant.
“I did a bit of promo work with a couple of influencers from Made in Chelsea. I had never met these lads before, but they were seriously good value. If you can have the craic with guys you don’t know, you will have great fun with your mates. It’s all about how you add to that experience and actually offer something that is beneficial and worthwhile rather than just have it there for the sake of being an innovator.
“BT definitely have always been big on innovation, changing, working and moving with the times. The important thing about innovation is that it is not for gimmick’s sake, that it actually adds value to your viewing experience. We all have an appreciation now, particularly younger generations, that there is a need for multi-faceted involvement in watching live sport. It’s not just watching on TV at home or in a bar anymore. It’s multi-screen, it’s interaction with your friends, it’s being an armchair pundit. It’s all of those things that can add value.”
It was 2014 when O’Driscoll, the former Ireland and Lions skipper, retired from playing and moved into punditry with BT Sport. His interest in the latter stages of his career in new business start-ups and innovations was something that had resulted in him backing the Ultimate Rugby scores app and this curiosity hasn’t dimmed.
Ask what has lately caught the eye and there are kudos for STATSports and Kitman Labs. “STATSports are an Irish company that uses the GPS unit. What they are going to do now is bring in the viewer at home and offer you your own pack. They have had a load of the footballers invest in them and they now want to show all of the detail and data they are recording throughout the game, have people challenge them at home in trying to match what they are capable of doing, high-speed metres, distances covered and all that. To align themselves with the fan at home is a really clever next step for them.
“Then there is another Irish company run by my old Leinster team fitness coach, Steve Smith. Kitman Labs have gone over to the States and are doing brilliant stuff. They have huge integration across multi-sports and are really good on injury prevention.”
When it comes to his own preparation for rugby punditry, though, his own Ultimate Rugby app comes into its own. “It remains a massively important component in being an analyst, being able to look back on most recent games, picking up information on them and understanding the sequence of how games evolved. All that stuff is massively important,” he reckoned.
- BT has been at the heart of sports broadcasting innovation over recent years, details of which can be seen at btsport.com/innovates
'Unfortunately, he [Erasmus] maybe has changed things & not for the better. He definitely questioned the whole respect the referee conversation that we are so proud of as a rugby community.' @BrianODriscoll talks to @heagneyl 👨💻 #Springboks #urc #lionshttps://t.co/yJ7EyaZvXj
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 26, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Good to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
16 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
16 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
16 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
16 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
16 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
16 Go to comments