Before I begin with my FMP production i would like to give some definitions to terms that will be used throughout my assignment.

One term i will use constantly throughout my FMP will be VAR. VAR is short for video assistant referee and is used in football to help referees in making their decisions while the game is going on. The system has been spoken about for years and this year is the first it will be used in English football where it will be used round every premier league ground this season.

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The official definition of VAR by the Premier League is –

Every Premier League fixture will have a Video Assistant Referee (VAR), a qualified referee who watches the match via a number of screens and can view slow-motion replays, enabling them to advise the on-field referee.

The video assistant referee is there to be used for referees in game-changing moment or where a clear and obvious mistake has been made by the on field official.

I conducted some research before finalising what i would like to do for my topic to make sure i knew what . would be creating content on and wether it be a suitable thing to base my FMP around.

The VAR base is away from the stadium where a group of officials have access to many different angles that the on field ref wont have had the chance to see.

It was first used in England in November 2017 when the Three Lions faced Germany in a friendly, and then made its competitive debut in January 2018 as Brighton & Hove Albion took on Crystal Palace in the FA Cup.

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Var is involved in controversy near enough every week since its introduction to the premier league.

There have been a total of 85 overturned decision jus in the premier league as a result of VAR, many if been up for debate as for people asking the questions of, Should VAR be scrapped.

Var will review 4 main things in a game. Goal/no goal,

Penalty/no penalty

A direct red card (Var will not be involved if its a second yellow)

Mistaken identity when the referee has cautioned the wrong player.

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Where was VAR used before the EPL

VAR was used for the first time in a major competition during the 2018 Russia world cup.

the technology was inevitably involved in controversy as it had a say in the current holders Germany being knocked out at the hands of South Korea. It also had people talking when Spain scraped through to the last 16.

Many people gave VAR the benefit of doubt after the world cup as it was seen to be quite successful to say its the first time it had been used in a major tournament.

It was obvious that it need improvement and more clarity however for the majority the correct decisions were made.

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Introduction to the premier league

In 2016 IFAB (the international football association board) allowed trails for video referees or live experiments with video assistance for clear errors that referees had made that could be a match changing situation.

Many people were in agreement that some technology should be trialed to take the game forward. many felt that referees needed support when making game changing decisions including fans, players , managers and moist involved with football.

On march 3rd 2018 IFAB agreed to allow the use of VAR in the premier league on a major milestone for the sport in England.

In November that year EPL (English Premier League) clubs unanimously voted to introduce the use of VAR beginning in the 2019/20 season subject to testing.

The game changing technology was tested during FA cup and EFL cup games in the 2018/19 season. the testing was successful and confirmed it would be used for the first time in the 2019/20 season.

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Stockley Park 

The decision made by the Video Assistant Referee are not made at the stadium. they are made by a panel of officials in a specific hub in Stockley park west London.

Many disagree with this as the VAR officials cant feel the atmosphere of the match and the context of certain situations.

Every premier league manager was invited to Stockley park in the summer previous to the season starting so that they could see how the technology works and understand how the officials come to their decisions.

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Pitch side monitor

Every Premier League stadium has a pitch side monitor to assist the on field referee even further. Sometimes the referees are advised by the officials at the VAR building in Stockley park so look at the incident again for himself.

Premiere League refs are told to be reluctant to use the ptichiside monitors as it slows the tempo of the game down. so far this season the monitors have only been used once in an FA cup tie between Crystal Palace and Watford. The correct decision was made.

Where the information received from the VAR falls outside of the referee’s expectation range or where there is a serious missed incident, they should use the RRA to assist with the final decision.

This approach acknowledges the views of Premier League managers and captains, and will protect the tempo of matches by reducing time delays.

Writing underlined is from the official Premier League website

 

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Sports journalism

Another term i did some research on was sports journalism as i feel a lot of people use it but not many know what it included and what a sports journalists responsibility’s actually are.

Sports journalism focuses on reporting amateur and professional sporting news and events. Sports journalists work in all media, including print, television broadcasting and the internet. If you are a sports fan and would like to pursue journalism, read on to find out what you can do as a sports journalist. Schools offering Digital Marketing degrees can also be found in these popular choices.

The jobs of a sports journalist has changed considerably in the past decade with the growth in popularity of social media. most reporting is now done instantly on twitter and facebook.

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The main part of my research will be interviews and a few online articles. I may occasionally read a book that’s relevant but I don’t believe there will be many as VAR is a new technology however I will reference it with the Harvard system when appropriate. Social media will be a big factor for my research as its largely down to opinion which is what my FMP is based on so I’ll make sire to keep a tack of where I’ve found my information whether its twitter, Facebook and who’s twitter handle its from. I’ll talk to fans, players and referees for primary research in interviews and podcasts.   International football association board (2019). Laws of the game (online). Last accessed 6 march 2020 at: https://static-3eb8.kxcdn.com/documents/793/103202_200519_LotG_201920_EN_SinglePage.pdf   Learn.org( N.D). What is sports journalism (online) last accessed 2 march 2020 at:  https://learn.org/articles/What_is_Sports_Journalism.html    Premier League (2019), VAR, (online). Last accessed 2 march 2020 at:  https://www.premierleague.com/VAR   Van Wijk,j (2018). How did VAR fare at the world cup? A closer look at the most contentious moments(online). Last accessed 5 march 2020 at: https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/world-cup-2018-var-controversial-moments-a8445606.html     People I intend to speak to: –        Keith Hackett – former premier league referee –        Football supporters – research official supporters’ groups –        Sheffield referee’s association   –        Ryan Hindley – Hallam fc manager –        Dean Naughton – Sunday league referee –        Howard Webb – former premier league referee

 

 

Theme – The theme of my FMP will be sport more specifically football and VAR and what effect his had on the premier league this year. I will look at things such as how it could be improved, peoples opinions on it and if it has a future in football.

Website title and branding –  The title of my website will be The VAR effect . I will look to engage people by asking for their opinions on social media such as twitter.

Target audience – My target audience will probably be people above the age of 14. i don’t have a specific target gender as nowadays both men and women are interested and take part in football however i feel more men will engage with this specific subject. The interest of my target audience will be mainly sport and football. people who are wanting to find out more about VAR will inevitably be interested in football.

Content Ideas – for my content i would like to get a lot of fans opinions and see how they feel about it for some feature articles. As var is in the news most weeks i should be able to do a few different news story’s on what the latest issue with it is. i would also like to speak to referees both professional and amateur to see how they feel VAR should be used. Id also like to do a podcast with either referees fans or players and have a conversations about it .

Social media strategy –  I will post regularly on twitter and facebook to try to grow a following on my social media platforms. I will create polls, ask questions and reply to people tweet to get people to engage with my page.

Using Prior knowledge – thins i’ve learnt previously when it comes to feature writing is to make sure the topic of my article is interesting and something people want to read, also to do research on the topic so that i know what i’m talking about when it comes to writing it.

When it comes to news writing i now what i should write my headline last, as if i write it first then it may not be relevant to what the rest of my article is talking about where as if i write it last i can summarise what i’ve written. Ive learnt previously that lighting and my camera angles are very important when it comes to video production. Its also helpful to do research on my location when filming as it will give me an indication on what equipment ill need.

From previously doing podcast i know that the place you record is very important as it is just pure audio so any back round noises will be picked up on. It’s also good to brief guests who will be on the podcast so they know what they will be talking about.

When making infographics it is important to do thorough research on the topic they are about so that your not being inaccurate. It’s also good not to flood infographics with large amounts of writing as the reader will get bored.

Meeting Professional standards – To meet professional standards i will make sure all of my work is accurate including my news and feature articles and also infographics. If i am not completely accurate then there could be potential consequences.

I will also make sure when i’m writing my articles that i’m not one sided or biased. I’ll need to show the two sides that there is to each story.

FMP and progression – I have chosen this theme for my FMP theme because i plan on going into sports journalism in the future so i feel this is good preparation. i also have a large interest in sports more specifically football and its something i have a lot of knowledge about. Working on this for a large period of time will give me an indiction of what it’s like to be working as a sports journalist which is what i’m looking forward to.

Audience Research – I feel like the audience would like to hear from the actual referees who work with VAR every week and those who make the decisions. this season there has been a lot of discussion about wether VAR should be scrapped so it would be good to get some answers from those who put it all in place. I would also like to give fans a platform to speak which is why i think a podcast is a good idea.

After conducting a presentation in front of an audience I received some helpful constructive feedback. It was pointed at to me that I should be mindful of who I will actually be able to speak to as VAR is used in the premier league, so it will be a hard to talk to an official from the premier league or a representative of the premier league.

Some other feedback that I received was the content ideas I had were good. The fact that I planned to have a discussion with fans through a podcast was seen as a good idea as it allows people to have a say on what they feel on the matter.

Audiences and Demographic 

An audience is the group of people who will interact with a piece of work i have made such as a video, podcast or a piece of writing. they will read it or comment on it or in someway encounter the work.

Media producers define and categorise their audience through demographic profiles.A demographic audience profile defines groups based on things like age, gender, income, education and occupation.

When making my video i’ll need to make sure its relevant to my target audience and demographic. if its not relevant then chances are people wont watch it or interact with it.

My target audience will be people of any age who have an interest in football as the topic my video will be about is to do with the sport. People who don’t really know much about football wont get it as its a complicated subject, so its important that its suitable for my target audience.

Evaluation of social media calendar

I feel like i could have achieved more from doing my social media calendar if i were more consistent with posting and if i engaged with a variety of different audiences.

For example if i were to make more post per day and on a regular basis then it would give more people a chance to view my profile and engage. i should have done around 3-4 post per day and on different topics so that i had a wider range of people viewing my content.

Another thing i feel i should have done was promote my stories through my social media. If i were to put links to my stories then people could read my stories and then if they like it either share it or follow me.

One thing i felt i did well was connect with one specific audience on a consistent basis. i commented and retweeted a lot of things to do with football, more specifically Sheffield Wednesday. By constantly engaging with post related to these topics it gave others a chance to see what i was posting about and potentially follow.

I found that polls were a good way of engaging with certain audiences and to gage peoples opinions. The answers that i got from the polls i created allowed me to write some news story’s based on the feedback id had off of twitter.

Most of my engagement came through polls and asking questions that were of public interest.

I also found that using specific hashtags helped to get people to view my content. For example if i were tweeting about football i would use specific hashtags like a certain football club or which city the football club play in as i knew people would be searching for the specific thing i was posting about.

when doing my social media calendar lots of people were seeing my posts however they weren’t engaging with it. I feel like one reason for this it the tweets i were posting weren’t questions or something that someone could reply to. They were one or two word statements reacting to someone else’s post.

If i were to do this again then i would tweet more open end question that were easy for others to respond to. i would also make my post more generic so that the content wasn’t just targeting one topic or genre.

I didn’t necessarily get feedback from people, the only comments i got were to do with the topic of the actual post. For example i put a poll up about a Sheffield wednday player and people commented their opinion.

Overall i feel my social media calendar could have been better in terms of my activity on things such as twitter. Although i had a clear plan of what i wanted to post it was difficult to get the tweets out on time and to constantly post.

When i did tweet i could have put more effort into what i was writing, for example rather than just quote retweeting i should have come up with an original post myself, this way i could have engaged with more people.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rise of Women’s Football

Two South Yorkshire clubs are set to host the Women’s European Championships in 2021 putting the region firmly on the sporting map.

Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane and Rotherham United’s New York Stadium will host some of the 16 teams in the prestigious tournament.

The region has six professional women’s teams – Sheffield FC, Sheffield United Sheffield Wednesday Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster Belles Regional Talent Club.

The popularity of women’s football is growing worldwide. The FA has announced that “commitment to women’s football has never been greater”.

The FA also feels that the recent rise in popularity is down to their “record investment”.

UEFA has also announced a new sponsorship deal with Visa which will run until 2025. They have promised to match the amount of money that they put into mens sport which is a substantial figure.

UEFA has announced a new strategy for women’s football which will see competitions such as the Women’s EURO’s and the Women’s Champions league value double.

 

Chantelle Haigh (34) has been playing football since school and is now the manager of Doncaster Rovers Belles.

She said: “I love the fact that women’s football is finally growing and a lot more people take an interest in the sport.

“However, when I started playing it was always a bit of a joke about women playing and I was always one to defend the sport.

“Now we have more coaches, players, medical staff and other roles within the game as females, but we still are, in my eyes, a long way from the men’s game.

“I believe the biggest issue is the money involved with the men’s game having huge amounts of money put in for sponsorship, advertising and broadcasting.”

Chantelle played football throughout school and college and it was at college that she completed her level 1 coaching badge.

She then got a job coaching at Barnsley FC girls’ Centre of Excellence and Redfern’s JFC  before work commitments halted her footballing journey.

Later she started coaching again with two boys’ teams – under 13s and under 7s.

Chantelle said: “Being a female manager in football can have its challenges more so in grassroots football. However at the elite level is it more welcoming and everyone is in it for the right reasons.

“Within grassroots it is more male-dominated and some, not all,  of the males involved are old school and don’t think women don’t have a place in football. ”

She added that the thing she enjoyed most was always learning and developing herself and seeing the players improve through enjoyment of the game.

“Anyone who is thinking of getting involved in football -whether men’s or women’s – do it give it your all as the opportunities are endless and truly rewarding.”

Rotherham United’s Lucy Ridley talks about life as a professional footballer and the growth in women’s football

Video Link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_y09oBTNmM&t=2s

 

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Infographic  – https://infograph.venngage.com/ps/vyDWUH1mk4/visual-content-marketing-statistics-infographic

Photojournalism

 

 

 

 

 

Podcast research

 

 

 

I like how these two podcast show the people actually speaking to each other over the audio. rather than just have the piece of audio I feel that just by filming the recording makes it more interesting and keeps you listening for longer.

I also like how its quite a casual conversation whereas some podcast are just a formal interview. id like mine to be a normal conversation between a few football fans.

After doing some research her are the things that make a good podcast:

 

from doing my research I found that a few things can help make mine of a good standard.

For example the quality of the sound will deepens on how good the microphone is that I will us to record my piece of audio. the quality will also depend on where place the microphone when recording. if the recording equipment is too far away from the person speaking then it will be too quite and may sound muffled, which would make it hard to edit.

another factor into making a good podcast would be the type of environment I record in. I plan on recording in one of the college audio rooms which have some proof tiles around them so this should cut in background noises out and will also prevent echoing .

if I were to record it somewhere else such as a normal room or outside then the chances are the piece of audio wouldn’t be very good as it would have background noise such as people speaking, wind or muffling.https://slideplayer.com/slide/8068847/

 

 

liam-theaker-proposal

 

When I decided to choose women’s football i wanted to see how people felt about it so i wasn’t just doing my FMP from a biased point of view. I decided to do a poll on social media to get people opinions.

From the start it was obvious that although women’s football has been a big success recently and has had a rise in popularity, people still didn’t rate it as highly as the mens games.

The results i got form the poll gave a clear answer to my queston and that was no. women’s football wont be as big as mens football.

 

The second poll i did i decided to ask a different question, which was will you be watching the upcoming women’s world cup.

The results of this one were much more interesting as they were near enough 50/50 which shows many people have actually took an interest women’s football.

In previous years most people wouldn’t have even know the women’s world cup was happening and now its a big event. This backed up the point of my FMP which i was pleased about.