It’s been a while but Anita Byrne-Phillips is back and she’s angry! In the wake of the EFL’s wrist-slap for friend of MFW, Jack Reeve, Anita lets forth her thoughts on their order for him to remove all video shot from inside the stadium.
Take it away ABP…
_________________________________________________________________________
Football, by its very nature, evolves and every season rules are tweaked or changed.
This season has seen one man kick-offs and an intolerance of players’ “intolerable behaviour”. With the offside rule also ever evolving it feels like the minor changes are being made to keep us on our toes.
But I have a question… Is the game keeping up with social media?
Fans and journalists alike are now able to post and comment on games as they happen on social media and decisions made by officials can be instantly dissected by the armchair fans who are able to see snippets of controversial incidents (and goals) on the plethora of sports apps.
It’s the modern way; a way of technology making football more accessible to the masses. How often do you now see … “Can’t get to the game so am following it on Twitter”
Gauging the views of fans via a tweet or a link to an online blog has become the norm, something to be embraced, an extension to the game, some added interest.
But while the use of cameras are now being embraced on the field of play, initially in the form of goal-line technology and potentially in the future for instant replays of debatable decisions, it seems that if fans using cameras in those same stadiums could land you in a whole heap of trouble!
The EFL’s decision to not permit filming ‘inside stadia’ is, for me, a step too far.
I understand the legality of not live streaming a game, or perhaps even a photo opportunity of a goal, as Sky and BT have paid handsomely for the exclusive rights to the action and as much as we may agree or disagree with them it’s difficult to contest.
But to be banned from a stadium for filming you and your friends at a game is unbelievable.
Surely, the connecting of fans with their team is the modern way of building a family album; a way of sharing moments, good and bad, with like-minded fans who can’t enjoy the match day experience be it through distance, commitments or simply affordability.
Is this not progress? Is it not just an extension of the TV reality show?
Or is the real problem that the big boys aren’t getting the revenue?
What next? Will we be stopped from typing comments within the ground?
Bloggers often upload onto social media and I understand that guidelines need to be in place, but to put a stop to fans filming? Is this necessary?
Some use this as a stepping stone to get into the media or journalism. What of those good folk? Surely the wrong people are being targeted.
There are so many corruptions in sport, why target the small fry? Why target those working hard to form career paths? Why can’t the EFL work with these platforms not against them?
In the modern world the EFL are dragging their heels.
Do we permit the use of pictures of ourselves, children families to be used, or have close up shots taken by the many cameras? Do we sign a waiver to say we’ve entered the ground so have no rights to privacy or anonymity?
The answer is of course, no! So how can they film us but we can’t film ourselves?
But the EFL have invoked this ruling and now individual grounds and clubs have to police this themselves? The trouble is each will interpret their own translations and we could go into different grounds with different viewpoints on what constitutes an innocent selfie or photo.
Get it wrong we therefore risk the possibility of ejection
Has the footballing world just got that little bit sillier? Or is it just pure greed?
________________________________________________________________________
Thanks as ever to Anita. I’ve a feeling we’ll be hearing from again in the next few weeks.
Passionately and logically argued. I’m sold!
Nice work, Anita.
This has been the policy in the Conference for some time now, and seems to be the norm. Oddly, when a FA cup game is on, cameras allowed in again.
Madness, and forgetting the fans are the game.
Isn’t the issue here that you can’t film unless you have a licence? If so, I suppose the next questions are, how easy is it to get a licence and, more important, the cost?
Yes, I’m sold too. Good stuff.
I cannot see what harm Jack Reeve could be perceived as doing to anything or anybody.
Like many others, I like Jack’s output very much.
However I suspect #3 Gary has a good point about licences.
This could be solved very easily by simply having a license based on YouTube etc video views with the license fee being a percentage of the ad revenue from those views. The significant fan channels could sustain this as long as the fee percentage was reasonable and very easy to administer. EFL should look to solve issue not ban but clearly lack the creativity to do so.
I’m not sure I really see an issue here. Surely for the two 45minute halves of football it is not such an imposition to not film things? You are there to watch the football, no? I have taken selfies at 3 different grounds before kickoff and its a nice momento, does the game really have to be in progress for it to mean something?
Most people are clearly doing little harm but every game there will be at least one post with a goal or two being shared on social media, for the Newcs away game earlier this season I saw a facebook live stream that encompassed about 40 minutes of the match! Is it any wonder the broadcasters want the rules tightened. I guess it is the sharing of these things that ruin it for the rest. It is no different to any other company protecting its product with patents or privacy agreements. A steward who may be 5+ meters away, can do little to evaluate what someone is doing when they are using there phone; to record, text, look up scores or catch pokemon! Unfortunitely a blanket ban is easiest, if someone is unwilling to show that what they were doing is of an innocent nature, then they are being rather touchy or have something to hide and perhaps should be ejected?
Clearly its not desirable for fans to be treated like criminals, but is it really a massive deal? Do people really need to record stuff in the ground? Is it a massive infringment on their human rights or freedom of speech? Or do you hav to just lump it because you’ve bought a ticket to an event that has some rules?
Bah!