For visually impaired sports fans at stadiums around the world, following a match often means relying on commentators or those around them to describe the action. Now, an Irish startup is looking to create a more level playing field.
Dublin-based Field of Vision has produced a handheld, haptic feedback device that it says can help blind and partially sighted fans not just hear, but “feel” the action, enhancing the live experience.
Custom-built cameras positioned in each corner of the stadium use artificial intelligence (AI) to track key details from a match. Within roughly half a second, this information is transmitted to a white, tablet-sized device embossed with the shape of a sports pitch, which weighs under a kilogram and rests on the user’s lap.
A small magnetic ring guides the user’s finger around the tablet – not unlike the movement on a Ouija board – based on where the ball is, and vibrates to convey various match events, such as a tackle or a change in possession.
The device is designed to enhance audio-descriptive commentary as opposed to replacing it entirely, with a built-in headphone jack allowing users to access audio commentary if the stadium provides a feed.
“Game changer”
Deneher launched the business alongside two friends – fellow Trinity College Dublin student Tim Farrelly, and Queen’s University Belfast student Omar Salem – in 2020, as they looked for something to fill their time during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Aerospace engineering graduate Salem first envisioned the idea after seeing social media footage of partially sighted Liverpool supporter Mike Kearny. On the terraces of the English Premier League giant’s Anfield stadium, Kearny’s cousin Stephen Garcia stood next to him and talked him through the action.
With 320,000 people registered blind or partially sighted in the UK alone, according to the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), and an estimated 43 million blind people worldwide, Field of Vision’s technology could potentially improve the live sports experience for a swathe of fans.
Declan Meenagh, a supporter of Dublin football club Bohemians, was born with a genetic eye condition that limits him to 5% vision. Meenagh cannot see beyond the crossbar even if sat in the front row behind the goal at the team’s Dalymount Park stadium.
Club volunteers who describe matches for visually impaired spectators allow him to follow along via an earphone, but he can miss key lines when the crowd gets loud.
He said that a test run with the Field Of Vision tablet added new levels of context to proceedings on the pitch.
“It helps out a lot because you have a two-dimensional understanding of where it (the ball) is on the pitch and how it moves, and you actually feel things move really quickly – it’s really good.”
Kick off
Field of Vision was a runner-up for the James Dyson award – an international student design prize – in 2021, and included on Time’s list of best inventions for 2022. This June, it won Best Initiative to Promote Inclusivity and Physical Activity at the Irish Sport Industry Awards.
The company has raised roughly €250,000 in funding, most of which has come from business accelerator programs, with grants and prize money won from various competitions also injecting cash.
The founders were mentored by sports industry executive Tom Sears, and after the technology had been tested at Bohemian, whose ground has a capacity of under 5,000 spectators, he last year helped arrange early prototype testing at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, which can seat more than 50,000 fans. As part of a trial, the device was used by three season ticket holders across seven of the club’s home matches.
It served as the ideal preparation for a full rollout at the roughly 53,000-seater Marvel Stadium, in Melbourne, Australia, which is home to five Australian Rules Football teams – a completely different sport to soccer.
After the 2024 season ended in September, cameras were installed at the stadium and the AI retrained to record match details on the oval shaped pitch. Marvel Stadium will offer 40 devices at every game played there during next year’s Australian Football League (AFL) season.
The capacity of the device to be reprogrammed for a sport wildly different from soccer hints at a future for the business that could expand far beyond the soccer field.
“Long-term we want to expand to all the major sports in the world and to have it so that this is just a standard for stadiums and live venues to have within their infrastructure,” said Deneher.
Field of Vision is currently in the process of selling the product to football teams across Europe’s top five leagues (England, Spain, France, Germany and Italy), and Deneher said that “immediate plans” are also in place to start selling to US markets and expand further in the AFL.
Clubs would pay a yearly subscription for the AI model, cameras and match delivery service and another to annually lease the tablets.
A subscription-based model was chosen over selling the system outright to account for the likely fluctuating number of visually impaired fans each season, as well as to allow devices to be swapped out for potential repairs, Deneher explained.
Prices are still being finalized but will be dependent on the respective demands and stadium sizes of each club. He added that while the technology might be perceived as a luxury at the moment, it could one day become as commonplace as wheelchair ramps.
“We just want football and live sports to be more accessible for everyone,” Deneher said. “So the plan is to expand to more stadiums, more countries, and more sports for the future.”
