ABOUT

Synopsis
BeTheRef is a unique world first - a truly immersive VR experience designed to raise awareness among rugby league fans of the skills required to be a referee controlling a highly competitive SuperLeague game, making over 15,000 judgements in 80 mins, all while running up to 10km!
State of Mind Sport is a national charity that harnesses the power of sport to promote positive mental fitness and ultimately prevent suicide. One group the charity work with is match officials across sport.
The levels of abuse directed at officials has risen for years and the impact is stark. We've lost referees - not only from their respective sports - but in some tragic cases we've lost them to suicide. Yet so many fans somehow don't see the human behind the uniform nor treat them with the respect and decency they deserve.
An official collaboration with State of Mind and the Rugby Football League, BeTheRef enables fans to spend a high- octane 7 minutes in the boots of elite referee, Marcus Griffiths overseeing a clash between Salford and St Helens. Fans live and breath every moment with Marcus providing commentary - an immersive, first-person perspective positively changing attitudes and increasing empathy.

Concept
BeTheRef was an exciting brief from the start. First discussed with my charity colleagues at State of Mind Sport in 2019, we always felt this challenge could represent the best opportunity our young company has had to truly innovate with immersive tech.
Collaboratively with State of Mind, referees societies and RFL pro referees, we started exploring the root cause of the abuse and vitriol directed the way of officials. Surveys were carried out, research completed, papers written. Ultimately, a light was shone on a huge knowledge gap among the fan population as to the role of a match referee, the unique physical and mental demands of the job and the extreme pressure under-which they discharge their duties.
We then turned our attention to how we could devise a ground-breaking fan experience that plugged that gap, raised that low level of awareness and ultimately would empower fans to "run in the boots of a top flight referee for a few minutes". Fundamentally, BeTheRef does just that, utilising fully immersive and never-before-seen 360 video. The massive challenge that came with this unique brief, was how to effectively shoot stable 360 video, from a sprinting referees' perspective, when many 360 filmmakers steer clear of fast-moving cameras and first-person perspectives for fear of inducing motion sickness in viewers. We wanted to place fans in the very heart of the action, from the most pressurised vantage point in the stadium - so we set to work researching and developing an optimal solution to this huge production challenge.

Execution
The project team undertook a lengthy R&D process in which we explored a number of options for wearable camera rigs that would offer high levels of shock-absorption, light-weight comfort and would withstand the sharp twists, turns and sprints of an elite referee. Nothing existed in the 360 filming world so we had to spread the net wide. Eventually we found our answer from an unlikely source, albeit another sport - motocross.
Motocross riders wear equipment to protect their neck and head in case of a high-speed crash - their helmet is therefore connected to a shoulder brace offering stabilisation of the upper body, neck and head in the harshest of impacts. Once we obtained a motocross shoulder brace, securely rigged two 360 cameras to it (front and back) and carried out some early test shots with the wearer sprinting at speed, we knew we'd found our innovative solution. The test stitches, even without post-stabilisation came out not only watchable, but remarkably smooth and stable.
We presented our findings and recommended solution to the client (State of Mind Sport) and principle partner (Rugby Football League) and sought permission to film a test shoot with a SuperLeague referee at a pre-season friendly, just for
the first half, to establish whether the rig was practical and comfortable for an elite referee to wear in a match, to ascertain the quality and stability of the stitched footage shot during a real game and also to observe the effect of the presence of the camera rig on the players and their behaviour towards the referee.
The results were compelling. The footage was a stunning first-person representation of the vantage point of a referee , and in particular the audio offered a surprising level of insight into what goes on 'out in the middle' during a game. It's fair to say at that point of the project, as we presented this test footage back to the State of Mind trustees and RFL referees, there was an immediate groundswell of excitement for the project and its eventual outcomes. The resulting 360 footage was so strong that we opted to use it in a 'Coming Soon' teaser video to start promoting the project to the rugby league community.
Following this successful R&D, we worked with the RFL to identify a full competitive Super League match at which we could rig up a willing referee and capture the full game. This came in the form of Salford Red Devils vs St Helens RLFC at the conclusion of the 2021 season and the man-in-the-middle wearing the 360 cameras was young referee, Marcus Griffiths. Again, the footage captured was more than we could have hoped for and the fixture itself provided a blood-and-thunder match with plenty of incident, controversy and even the first pitch-invasion Marcus had had to manage in his career!
In post-production, we selected the match highlights to feature in the VR experience, collaborating closely with State of Mind presenter and former referee, Ian Smith. With the linear rough stitch edit complete, we revisited Salford's stadium with standard 2D cameras to film a retrospective interview with Marcus Griffiths in which he self-analysed and commentated the selected plays from the game, this audio going on to become the in-experience commentary users hear throughout, perfectly supplementing the in-game audio.

Results
BeTheRef VR officially launched at the biggest fixture in the SuperLeague calendar - Magic Weekend at Newcastle on 9th/10th July 2022 - a weekend where every SuperLeague team play at one stadium attracting all rugby league fans to a single venue. State of Mind were granted a high-value pitch in the official Fanzone at St James' Park offering the perfect showcase to launch BeTheRef and put high numbers of fans through the experience in a short timeframe.
Across those two days, we saw approx 150 supporters, amateur referees, former players and coaches put on the headset and experience the BeTheRef VR piece. We surveyed over 40 of those users to gather important data on both the user experience and the impact of the VR piece on their outlook and attitude towards match referees. The results of this survey are included in this submission and are overwhelmingly positive - over 86% had a much better understanding of being a referee - evidencing the client's KPIs being hit even at this early stage of release.
Since launch, requests have been flowing in for us to take BeTheRef into referees societies and clubs across Super League and the amateur game as word spreads about this incredibly unique opportunity. BeTheRef has also made a second appearance at Magic Weekend by popular demand and at the specific request of the RFL referees.