How the Smart Ball is revolutionising rugby
Rugby union can finally drill down into the sport to get game-changing insights for international teams.
Mark Souster investigates
SPORTS DATA: THE BEGINNING
WHAT IS THE SMART BALL?
WHY THE SMART BALL IS PERFECT FOR SAGE
HOW TO MAKE IT WORK
TESTING IT WITH A PROFESSIONAL
HOW THIS CAN HELP SUPPORTERS
THE FUTURE
SPORTS DATA: THE BEGINNING
The genesis of modern-day data analysis in sport and how it could benefit performance can be traced back 20 years. In 2002 the Oakland Athletics baseball team in California found themselves cash-strapped and their chances of success in the season written off. Using early-stage data analysis, the team went on a record-breaking winning streak to clinch the American League West title. Their story was depicted in the hit film Moneyball starring Brad Pitt.
The Smart Ball was used during the autumn internationals including the England v New Zealand fixture last year
The complexity of rugby made it difficult for it to follow suit. But that is now changing with the development of pioneering initiatives such as the Smart Ball sponsored by Sage, which is again being used in broadcast in this year’s men’s and women’s Guinness Six Nations Championships.
WHAT IS THE SMART BALL?
Once-in-a-generation new technology arrives that proves to be a game changer. This story starts with a couple of sports fans, who developed a technology that sits inside a ball, revolutionising the way teams and fans alike consume sports data, by transmitting a huge variety of information in real time. The potential and application in any ball sport is almost limitless.
Dugald Macdonald
Pete Husemeyer
The idea was born in a garage in Cape Town seven years ago when two best friends who were passionate about sport got together. Dugald Macdonald worked in private equity mining and Pete Husemeyer had worked for Nasa and was completing a PhD at Cambridge University in nuclear engineering.
The ball is fitted with an internal radio frequency (RFID) chip which communicates with up to 20 different sensor beacons to generate live data and insights.
It has a microchip with an accelerator and a gyroscope embedded just beneath the valve and can discern to within a few centimetres:
• the distance the ball has travelled (either by kick or pass)
• the velocity with which the ball has travelled
• how many rotations it has gone through
• how fast it has spun
And it transmits that information in real time. It also offers insights into passing and at line-outs. The information is then relayed to screens for analysis.
In the early days, while the duo were confident the technology they had developed would work, they needed to know it could withstand repeated kicking and not break. They also had to ensure that, once embedded, the software would not fundamentally alter the ball’s unique properties and balance. If anybody could provide the answers, it was Gilbert.
WHY THE SMART BALL IS PERFECT FOR SAGE
For Sage, technology experts in accounting and payroll systems and champion of SMEs, to become involved as the Six Nations official insights partner, rugby offered exactly the right profile, as Sally Moore, the company’s global head of sponsorship, makes clear.
“What we do through our technology is find insights into business. So there is a natural link to the sports we want to be involved in,” she says. “When it comes to the Six Nations, the Smart Ball provides layers of insight that weren’t there previously. We also want to be additive to the sports we’re involved in. We want to reach our customers where they have a passion point, and we want to add to their experience in going to rugby.”
This new partnership follows Sage’s successful integration as Official Insights Partner to the Hundred in cricket and, more recently, a partnership with Major League Baseball.
Smart Ball ambassadors (from left to right) Maggie Alphonsi, Tommy Bowe, Paul Grayson, Sam Warburton and George Gregan
That focus changed when they met Rob Lowe, a sports data expert. He steered them in the direction of putting the technology in the ball itself.
“I knew the guys at Gilbert and I suggested to them that this could be something that could be good for everyone’s business,” Lowe says. “We built some hastily put-together prototypes.
“To start with we squeezed the microchip and the battery in between the bladder and the outer casing. The battery was about an inch in size and the chip smaller. The challenge was trying to find the best way to get it inside the ball and not make it too heavy. You put a bit more weight around the valve and use the bladder to balance it. It ended up only two grammes heavier than a normal ball.”
The first test was at Grange Road, Cambridge University’s ground. “It was then a question of ensuring the ball was up to the task,” says Lowe. “We worked closely with Loughborough University to make sure that when somebody kicked it, it didn’t break or shatter.”
Rob
Lowe
The dreaming spires of Cambridge University where the Smart Ball was invented
Ian
Savage
HOW TO MAKE IT WORK
Gilbert’s long history in making balls for a variety of sports was invaluable. Its development team was led by chief engineer Ian Savage, who has worked for the company since leaving university, where his dissertation was on the use of the ball at the 2003 Rugby World Cup won by England.
“After our first meeting the cogs started whirring, especially with regard to how we could make it robust enough not to be damaged when it was kicked, or landed on, or thrown about, deflated and reinflated. For us at Gilbert, the imperative was to maintain the balance of the ball. Even though we were adding weight into it, we wanted to make sure we maintained that off balance so that the ball was still maintaining its rotational stability.
“We had to re-engineer parts of the ball to allow for additional weight to go in.”
“That is where the iterative process starts. You have to look at how you add that weight and where you take it away. The additional weight going into the valve also had to be offset around the rest of the ball while still maintaining consistent product. That was the real challenge.
”Our ball is called the Innovo. And we have been through eight iterations to get to where we were happy to push it into full production. Each one of those took up to four months – we had to get it right.”
TESTING IT WITH A PROFESSIONAL
As with every element of the process, human testing was pivotal – in keeping with Sage’s philosophy, data and technology without human interpretation is only part of the process. And for the Smart Ball, proving it worked and acted in a normal fashion when kicked, was vital. That responsibility fell to Paul Grayson, the former Northampton and England fly half whose ability to kick in different ways, styles and fashions, and to mimic other players’ approaches, was key to the process. He has been part of Gilbert’s research and development team since 2005.
Former England fly-half Paul Grayson was instrumental to the testing process and is now an advocate for the ball
“From a playing and coaching perspective I could see the benefit, because there is an awful lot of coaching in the game that is purely based on assumption and what you can see, but not backed by any data,” Grayson explains.
“Understanding what the ball does and goes through, what makes good, good and what makes bad, bad, is made more understandable by the feedback you get. The numbers you can attach to an event are hugely advantageous to learning and development.”
High profile rugby stars Sam Warburton, Maggie Alphonsi, Tommy Bowe, George Gregan and Paul Grayson have all lent their support for the Smart Ball sponsored by Sage.
Warburton, the former Wales captain and assistant coach, says the Smart Ball will prove to be a boon for players and fans alike with telling insights for instance into height of kicks, and the speed and distance of a pass.
"It'll hopefully help the viewer understand more by bringing more analytics into their living room,” he said.
"That's always been a priority of mine, making the game easy to understand. This will definitely help."
"The thing I'm looking forward to most is knowing exactly where the ball went out when you're kicking to the corner. That's probably the decision that is affected most by human error in rugby. Defending a two-metre gain on a five-metre lineout is huge."
"I'm fascinated to see how it impacts coaches as well. I used to like it when defence coaches would challenge the kick chase. Now, you can see that extra data on hangtime and how many metres forwards are running, you can question why a forward is only making up 25 metres in five seconds, for example. It'll perhaps create more accountability - these are the metrics I'd be looking at if I was a coach."
"It's quite a nice measure to see how quickly the ball can get from one side of the field to the other."
"What people always forget when the ball goes out from those 'kick tennis' battles is whether it's a win or not, as people forget where it all started. Having that data will help the data better understand the territorial gain and why it's easier to kick the ball rather than play 20 phases going nowhere."
The data the teams at the Six Nations need to focus on in 2023
Former Wales captain Sam Warburton gives his views on the Smart Ball
HOW THIS CAN HELP SUPPORTERS
In the Six Nations, fans now have their viewing experience heightened.
In a world where data drives engagement, Sage will ensure supporters and viewers will have meaningful stats to hand.
“To have fans immersed in the game is what everybody wants,” says Grayson. “They want to get as close as they can, and the more insight they get helps them enjoy their experience on the day.
Keeping it simple from the outset has been paramount, as Husemeyer explains. “The aim for the Autumn Nations Series [when the Smart Ball sponsored by Sage was first used in men’s internationals] was to choose simple and relatively easy data points that speak to the questions that fans ask themselves. Like in a kicking battle, ‘What is the net territory gained?’ When someone kicks well to the opposition corner flag, we can tell you how far it was from the corner flag.
“Our technology is portable, wireless, cost-effective and we can put it on screen in milliseconds. The key point is we give fans the data they’re interested in. You want to satisfy that curiosity while it’s at its peak. That’s a key part of our value proposition, to provide data as quickly as possible.
”We are learning some fascinating statistics. There’s great correlation in terms of how much you kick versus how many points you’re likely to score. These are stats we’ll be making available to the Six Nations over the course of the year.”
THE FUTURE
The true potential and benefits of using technology like the Smart Ball sponsored by Sage are yet to be fully understood but its use in the Six Nations last year was the start of what those behind it hope will be world domination in terms of its application in any ball sport.
In rugby there are already programmes to ascertain whether a pass has been forward, whether a ball has been held up or not on a try line, and to pinpoint where a ball has crossed the touchline to ensure a line out is in the right place.
As data has shown, a metre can make the difference between a successful driven maul and not. Helping match officials gain a deeper understanding of the game and make more informed decisions is a major plank of their forward thinking, ultimately leading to a more positive experience for players and fans alike.
Commenting on the partnership with Sage, Ben Morel, the chief executive of Six Nations Rugby, said: “Six Nations Rugby is a fan-focussed organisation, working in collaboration with each Union, Federation, and partners to deliver truly unmissable experiences. The partnership with Sage is incredibly exciting for everyone involved, as they share a desire to enhance the experience for audiences, and ultimately bring even more fans into the game.
“To offer fans even greater data and insight from the on-field action through innovative broadcast and social presentation is going to be another important step in ensuring we are offering the best possible experience for the audience, as well as supporting the teams on and off the field.”
Sage is the Official Insights Partner of the Six Nations, enhancing the fan, player and coach experience by bringing new technology and enhanced insights to the game.
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200
Number of years Gilbert has been involved in rugby ball development
World Rugby regulations stipulate a ball has to weigh between 410 and 460 grammes
Gilbert aim for the window to be between 455 and 460 grammes
The battery and chip weigh between 20 and 30 grammes
Ball pressure is 9.5 pounds per square inch (PSI), which is what balls are inflated to.
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Hawkeye first used in Test cricket
Video technology in rugby to decide tries
Football goal-line technology trialled at U17s World Cup
Hawkeye first used at a tennis slam (US Open)
Hot Spot used in Test cricket
LZR swimsuits used to reduce drag
GPS tracking used in rugby league
Hawkeye and GoalRef at Football Club World Championship
Snicko used in Test cricket
Hawkeye used in Premier League football
Goal-line technology first used in football World Cup
Smart racquets used in tennis
Hawkeye in rugby to help TMOs make decisions
GPS used to track rugby players’ heart rates, field positions
Halo headband for athletes
VAR introduced to Premier League football
Smart Ball first used in rugby internationals
Rugby Union started to embrace statistics in areas such as counting scrums, lineouts and kicks in the mid-1990s soon after the game went professional. But other sports then took the initiative, using technology such as Hawkeye, in tennis and cricket.
Senior Director, Global Sponsorship Leader, Sage
SPORTS DATA: THE BEGINNING
WHAT IS THE SMART BALL?
WHY THE SMART BALL IS PERFECT FOR SAGE
HOW TO MAKE IT WORK
TESTING IT WITH A PROFESSIONAL
HOW THIS CAN HELP SUPPORTERS
THE FUTURE
Sage’s day-to-day focus is on helping businesses make better data-led decisions and now as a partner of the Six Nations it is helping give the teams’ unions, coaches and players access to valuable sporting insights to aid performance and on-field decision making.
Because, as Sage knows only too well, collating data is only the start of the journey – the crucial part is for people to analyse the information and make key decisions based on that analysis.
But how did we get here?
“We realised there are some sports for which camera tracking is really difficult to do. We decided there would be an opportunity for us in Rugby Union, Rugby League, America football, football and other contact sports if we could get it right,” explains Husemeyer.
“We just needed to be brave and build our own solution. And that’s what we did. Dugald quit his job, I left academia and in 2017 we went at it full time.
“It’s beneficial to be naïve in the early days and to not know how hard it’s going to be. Dugald slept on my floor in my room in Cambridge for two months as we worked on it. We put together something by hook or by crook, and we learned valuable lessons in that process.”
Sage had similarly inauspicious beginnings. It all began for them 40 years ago in a pub on Newcastle’s Quayside. The company has always been about championing innovative businesses and it saw the Smart Ball as a chance to get behind something that would make a real difference to a sport. But they knew, like Husemeyer knew, that the first steps of any new business can often be faltering ones.
“In the early days it was about learning the hard lessons quickly and then refining. It took six years to get where we are now,” says Husemeyer.
Initially the duo toyed with using technology in a shoulder pad to transmit data to a screen, and which measured the forces generated in a tackle. Their interest had been pricked by watching heavy collisions in ice hockey and wanting to know the forces involved. Nobody could provide it.
Legendary Australia scrum-half George Gregan added: “Sometimes you can get bombarded with data but this real-time data which comes from the ball in terms of the strike.
“I think there are things you’ll be able to learn as a commentator but also for the viewers at home.
“You’ll be able say, ‘here’s why they dominate the territory, here’s the accuracy of passing, or a kicking comparison of nine-10s – what makes them a special combination? Is it the width of their pass, the speed of their pass, the depth how they can vary that and what does that do for time and space? So you’ll be able to have some really nice narratives around that.
“I’m getting really excited just speaking about nines and 10s let alone the accuracy of the lineout thrower, the height of the jump, you’ll be able to do all those things but particularly for kickers.
“From a coaches’ perspective it is coaches’ gold dust really. It gives them real-time data which they can feed back to their players and the players can learn from it.”
Ben Morel
Sally Moore
The Smart Ball was brought to Northern Hemisphere international rugby in a three-way partnership between sports data company Sportable, Six Nations Rugby, and Sage, the Official Insights Partner of Six Nations and a global leader in software technology.
Sage's Smart Ball challenge
Co-founder, Sportable
Co-founder, Sportable
Co-founder, Sportable
Chief Executive, Six Nations
Chief Executive, Six Nations