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Piero is a new 3D sport graphic system, designed for enhancement and analysis of sport on TV, web or mobile. It uses 3D telestration and tied-to-field graphics, enabling viewers to see play from angles that cannot be captured by conventional cameras. It works by taking pictures of real play are transposed into the virtual stadium, where it is possible to view and analyze play from different angles in animated sequences. It creates a virtual stadium, which is synchronized to the 'real' pictures coming from the TV cameras. Piero Can do many things such as lay tracks of players across the pitch, perform a virtual fly through of any stadium, place scores, text or images in live video. Piero also offers a variety of user interfaces including easy to use touch screen technology and can place advertisements on the field. The Piero technology is named after Piero della Francesca, one of the great artists of the early Italian Renaissance. He was one of the first artists to use geometry in his paintings. Piero has many existing clients all over the world including the BBC, Sky Italia, TV Globo (Brazil), Digiturk (Turkey) and others. Piero has received many awards such as Cable and Satellites product of the year for the best outside broadcast technology or service and the International Broadcast Conventions award for Innovative application of technology in content creation.

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power sponsored the cash-strapped Tonga rugby team, who planned to show their appreciation by dying their hair green for Saturday's match against England (England won 36-20).  The International Rugby Board ordered the team to re-dye their green hair saying that it broke tournament rules prohibiting team sponsorships.  Read more...

This weekend the University of Hawaii was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct for doing its Haka dance while its opponent was still on the field.  The Haka is a warrior dance famously done by the New Zealand All-Blacks rugby side prior to its matches. 

It is not clear if the Rainbows were doing the traditional 'haka' dance they had been doing for several years or the updated Hawaiian Warrior dance they created in the pre-season according to the Honolulu Advertiser:

Defensive tackle Keala Watson said several teammates made suggestions. They also consulted with several Hawaiian language instructors. While the focus will be on Hawaiian, the calling will incorporate traits from other Polynesian cultures.

"We took ideas from everybody and combined it into one," Watson said. "We tried to make something that would be unique to us."

Kalilimoku said he hopes the chant will be completed by tomorrow night.

"We want to make sure we choose the right words," Kalilimoku said.

Watson added: "We want to keep the words simple."

It's interesting and not just for the fact that the headlines, "Hawaii vows to drop haka dance," and "Hawaii says it will keep on dancing," appear side-by-side when you search Google News for "haka" and "Hawaii".  Is this a case where the dance is a cultural tradition inappropriately coopted by athletes and fans?  The fact that the Rainbows are made up of a significant number of Hawaiians implies that it is culturally OK.  Who better to determine what is appropriate than members of the ethnic group themselves?

The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) decided to walk this administrative tightrope by forbidding dances "if they are done in a way that's directed toward the opposing team in a taunting manner--or if done to 'incite' the opposition's fans" according to an email sent to teams by WAC commissioner Karl Benson on August 27.  The message goes on to say that routines are allowed if they are done "while the opposing team is off the field or court and in their repective locker rooms."  On Saturday, Hawaii was penalized because their opponents were still on the field as the Rainbows did their dance 75 yards away.

What I find interesting is the mix of respecting tradition when the 'tradition' is a newly created dance, unique to this year's Hawaii football squad that incorporated cultural tradtion, balanced against maintaining sportsmanship and order at a sporting event.  I think the WAC made the right call in their August 27th email and the referee made the right call on Saturday by enforcing the letter of the law.

 

PARIS -- International news agencies reached an agreement Monday with organizers of the Rugby World Cup on relaxing restrictions for posting video on Web sites. Under the deal, The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse and other agencies that cover tournament news conferences, training sessions and other non-match activities now can distribute as much of their video as they think their subscribers need.

Previously, rugby officials had sought to limit the agencies to three minutes of video per day of the 20-nation championship in France.

"We're very glad this issue has been resolved and that the right of news organizations to manage the video they shoot has been affirmed," said the AP's executive editor, Kathleen Carroll.

"News agencies are now free to cover and distribute news stories on events such as training sessions, press conferences and associated interviews according to normal editorial judgment," according to the text of the agreement.

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Since restrictions have been relaxed for posting videos on web sites for the Rugby World Cup, other agreements have also been made. News agencies are able to cover and share news stories on several events. These include training sessions, press conferences and interviews. Posting videos on web sites was the last issue to be taken care of. A statement was given in response to the new agreement, "to ensure that the needs of the tournament, rights holders and the news media can be met".

Due to the negotiations, news organizations are now allowed to display more still photos online than in previous years. Originally a set limit of 40 photos per match were allowed to be posted on a web site. If the match went into overtime then 10 extra photos could be posted. The International Rugby Board has now agreed that news agencies can post 200 photos during each World Cup.

Since news agencies are now allowed to post an increased amount of photos on web sites, the Rugby World Cup will be more known to sports fans throughout the world. More coverage will be provided for the Rugby World Cup will benefit the sport of rugby by attracting a larger fan base. Also, fans who originally did not have access to any coverage of the Rugby World Cup will now be able to.