CELEBRATION CAM!

Players encouraged to help enhance the spectacle for fans

SKY SPORTS are introducing a ‘celebration cam’ for the return of Premier League football to help players maintain social distancing when they score and to enhance the spectacle in the absence of fans.

The camera, which will be at a fixed point to the side of the goal and which will not have a camera operator, is intended to encourage players to communicate their celebration to fans watching at home, given the sterile atmosphere of empty grounds and prohibitions on the usual team bundle that follows a goal.

In the Bundesliga, players are meant to maintain social distancing when celebrating, so the celebration cam will encourage the usual flamboyance of marking a crucial goal but allow players not to overcelebrate.

The celebration cam will spark memories of Steven Gerrard’s iconic celebration when he scored in a 4-1 win at Manchester United in 2009 and ran to the corner flag to kiss the camera — though on this occasion embracing the camera in such an intimate manner will not be encouraged for obvious hygiene reasons.

It is just one of the several innovations clubs and broadcasters are working on to enhance the spectacle when football returns a week on Wednesday with Aston Villa v Sheffield United on Sky at 6pm, followed by Manchester City v Arsenal at 8.15pm.

Both BT and Sky are experimenting with crowd noise available if desired rather than the eerie echoes of a near empty stadium. Sky are developing an app which will allow fans to vote on which chants they want to play as background noise to encourage interaction.

The Sky Sports website will also feature a fanzone enabling viewers to watch together in a video room, which will discourage fans from congregating at one house to watch a match and thereby support lockdown restrictions.

Several clubs are considering copying Borussia Monchengladbach’s idea of fans buying a cardboard cut-out photo of themselves to represent them in the stands, while others have contacted Danish club AGF Aarhus, who have a giant video screen with thousands of fans dialling in so that players can see their faces live as they watch the game in their living rooms in what is effectively a mass Zoom call.