Clever app lets fans stay home but still be heard in the stadium
It may not be the famous Anfield roar, but a Japanese app lets fans’ cheers – and insults – be heard in empty stadiums.
Joy that the English Premier League makes a welcome return to the pitch in June will be tempered by sadness that the EPL’s loud and colourful fans will not be in the stadiums to add atmosphere with their songs, chants, insults and war-cries.
But perhaps clubs and die-hard supporters who would like to inject a bit of ambience into the proceedings can turn to a clever piece of Japanese technology developed in readiness for the reopening of the baseball and soccer seasons. Like almost everywhere in the world, games in Japan will be played behind closed doors.
Now the Yamaha Corporation, best known for its musical instruments, has come up with a novel way to ensure that fans can still be part of the action, albeit from home.
Fans can send cheers via their smartphones
Its Remote Cheerer system lets fans watching matches on television in their living rooms cheer, or boo, the players on the pitch via their smartphones, sending either a pre-recorded shout-out or their own personal message composed in the heat of the moment.
The comments they send to their players – plus, presumably, the odd insult to the opposition – will reverberate around the stadium in real time, transmitted by giant loudspeakers.
In a trial conducted at the 50 000-seater Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa in the prefecture of Shizuoka, 58 speakers were placed around the ground and fans were able to decide which of the speakers they wanted their message to be sent to.
The cheering fans were right there with me
“At one point during the system field test, I closed my eyes and it felt like the cheering fans were right there in the stadium with me,” said Keisuke Matsubayashi, an official with the stadium company told Reuters.
“Users were able to gain a sense of being present at the venue, even though it’s a massive stadium,” Yamaha said in a statement. It added that the system “demonstrated the ability to create a spectator atmosphere similar to that of a real match”.
The company declined to say whether the app can be used to suggest that the referee requires a guide dog, or to question the dubious parentage and social habits of opposition players.
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