Soccerex Global Convention 2015: Notes from day two

Day two of the Soccerex Global Convention 2015 at Manchester Central Convention Complex had a strong technology flavour to it, with a number of sessions and panels focusing on the impact and, for the most part, the importance that technology has in today's soccer industry.

The first session of the day in The Studio brought together former Premier League, Uefa Champions League and Fifa World Cup referee Howard Webb, Dutch Football Association (KNVB) operations director Gijs De Jong and Hawk-Eye managing director Steve Carter to discuss video refereeing in soccer. 

The KNVB advocates the use of video refereeing and in 2013 launched a pilot scheme, Refereeing 2.0, which it hopes the International Football Association Board (IFAB), soccer's law-making body, will now put into live testing. The scheme sees the introduction of a fifth and sixth official to stand behind the goals and assist the referee on key decisions during matches; such as whether or not a goal has been scored, and the introduction of a video assistant who would be able to communicate with the referee. The scheme is intended to allow intervention on a decision on a red card, penalty and goal where an obvious mistake has been made by the referee.

"Our goal is to improve the fairness of the game. We want to bring in an assistant who can help the referee on the field, " said De Jong, adding that the hope is that this will increase the accuracy of decision making and with it the respect for match officials. "I can't explain to my own children why we're not using (video refereeing) now," he remarked.

Webb expressed his support for using video referees, stressing that while it will not lead to "absolute perfection", it will minimise mistakes made by referees and reflected that there were many times during his career when he would have loved to have been able to check a decision at a key point in a game with a video official. "If we don't go to the live trial situation we will never be able to move the argument forward," Webb said.

Much of the opposition to the idea of introducing video refereeing in soccer has focused on the possibility that it will slow the game and disrupt the rhythm, with too many decisions possibly being determined in such a way. "Not slowing the game down is right at the heart of what the KVNB is trying to do," said Carter. "We think definitive decisions can be made within 15 seconds; the average time taken in testing is 11 seconds."

Life after soccer

Former players Michael Owen and Louis Saha took to the stage in front of a packed room in the next session in The Studio to discuss their post-playing careers.

Saha addressed the shock of retiring from the professional game. The Frenchman was keen to stress the difficulty in planning for a future when you are immersed in your career as a professional player. The former Manchester United player said he didn't feel soccer management was something you can commit to when harbouring other ambitions as it is for people who are "addicted" to the game.

Owen, who saw the latter part of his career hampered by injury, talked about his investment in M7Aerial, a drone camera company which he sees potential uses for in soccer. "You've got to live another life" after playing, "make it important to you," said Owen, who also works as a TV co-commentator for BT Sport.

Fan experience

Fan experience was on the agenda as San Jose Earthquakes president Dave Kaval discussed his side's new ground, Avaya Stadium - the world's first cloud-enabled professional sports venue. "(Technology) has to be for the end user," Kaval said.

"Technology is a baseline", he continued, "but you don't want to deploy it in a way that ruins the experience."

HOK's John Rhodes said technology could be a driver for creating positive change to an urban area, sighting its ability to assist things like transport: "With technology you can increase the sphere of influence within that urban environment."

"It is important to take chances and risks. Some things won't work, but in the end you'll have a better product," concluded Kaval.

Later on, in The Academy, the panel on meeting the needs of the modern fan were in agreement that social channels such as live video stream service Meerkat allow better story telling to take place in the case of sport. Eurosport's chief executive Peter Hutton said: "You have to provide people with an environment that gives them a service and a positive experience.

"Short-form content is driving people to watch a better story on Eurosport," Hutton said.

The game's agents

In a hotly anticipated session in The Studio, Jonathan Barnett, owner of The Stellar Group - which counts €100 million player Gareth Bale among the players on its books - debated the role's of agents in soccer today with Wasserman Media Group executive vice president Richard Motzkin and fellow agent Dennis Roach.

Barnett said he backs a year-round freedom to buy and sell players, saying he would do away with the transfer window as it gives agents a "bad name". He said he believes the new Fifa regulations on agents are "illegal" and "unenforceable" and that he intends to challenge them in Brussels. 

"It's hard to have blanket rules for the entire world," suggested Motzkin, pointing to the "different realities" between leagues such as the Premier League and MLS.

Barnett stressed his support of third-party ownership in soccer; which he believes is vital for clubs in South America: "If you take it away from some of these clubs in Brazil there will be no league," Barnett said.

Barnett was not, however, in agreement with Roach - who negotiated the sale of Trevor Francis, the first UK£1 million player in England after starting his career as an agent to the great Dutch player Johan Cruyff - that the world of football agents today is "far more" like the Wild West than it used to be. "Today the companies are well run companies that actually look after the players," Barnett said.

When asked why clubs need agents by moderator David Davies, Barnett replied: "Because we know what's going on in the market better than they do."

"You want to see your clients go to the highest level and succeed at the highest level," Motzkin concluded.

The Football League

The final panel of the day focused on The Football League, the biggest and oldest soccer league in the world, which this summer saw transfer spending - at UK£100 million - reach four times the amount spent in any other non top-tier leagues in the world. The Football League chief executive, Shaun Harvey, was joined on the stage by ITN Productions managing director Mark Browning and Brighton and Hove Albion FC chief executive Paul Barber.

Harvey said the strength of English soccer comes from the depth of the pyramid which represents the professional game in the country, with thousands of fans attending matches at every tier. He stated that The Football League is keen to grow its profile, using that to encourage fans to visit their local soccer team's grounds.

Barber described the Championship as the "most exciting league" he's ever been involved in; though he admitted that he remained desperate for his side to get out of it and earn promotion to the Premier League.

By Sports Pro staff writer Mike Kennedy. Taken from Soccerex.