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BALL STREET CONCEPTS

AFR x Ball Street x Ian Wright

It’s a Friday night and there’s one thing on our minds: football. What else? The guys over at Ball Street have invited us, alongside several other blogs, to do what we do best: talk football. Joining us on our very first Google Hangout will be former Crystal Palace and Arsenal striker, England international, Ian Wright.

We’ll be discussing the issues and problems fans and their clubs have to tackle. It’s a broad, but very interesting topic, with plenty of talking points and who knows where it’ll take us.

UPDATE: You can watch the Hangout in full here.

Repping AFR tonight is our man Dom at 8PM GMT. Watch us on their YouTube page and keep up with the project through Twitter @Ball_Street.

This is our new YouTube football show with Ian Wright and Jimmy Bullard: 4 Leagues | 5 topics | 1 show.  We'll be covering more than the top 6.

Isn't every league a 'premier' league?

by Matt, Ball Street

First things first, this isn’t it.   People keep asking what we’re up to and we’ve some exciting things in the pipeline - more of which soon.   For now we thought we’d do a blog to introduce ourselves and tell you about where we are coming from.

I’m a Huddersfield Town fan.  In all my time watching the Terriers we’ve never graced the top flight of English Football.  But every year, we’re in a league that matters more to me.  Last year it was League One; this coming season it will be the Championship. 

Now, like me, something like 80% of fans that actually attend matches support teams outside the top 6.  You wouldn’t think that from the coverage our teams receive or the quality of the analysis. 

Sure, Man United’s global fanbase of 333 million has to be catered for, but are the majority of football fans in the UK getting what they need from the media?

It’s still the usual suspects serving up the same old, pre-packaged lack of coverage be it on telly or online.  In our version of the ‘Usual Suspects’, the greatest trick the devil pulled was convincing the world that there was a ‘premier’ league so that we put up with this.

We don’t hate the Premier League, far from it.  We just think that every league is a premier league, and there should be a place where all fans, all teams, get the top six treatment.

Over the coming months and years, Ball Street’s going to try to do something about it.

twitter: @Ball_Street

UPDATE - the people have spoken

What a 24 hours that has been.  Couldn’t sleep for excitement and my eyes are so sore from reading the whole of Twitter last night.  Thought it would be good to take stock of where we are.

Firstly, this is our company blog.  The company was only formed recently, but Ball Street is an idea that Stuart and I had a good while back. 

“Most fans are underserved by the media”

We loved the response to Wrighty’s tweets.  Many fans see it the same way we do: most teams get 30 seconds of highlights per week with little insight.

@ianwright0 Coventry and about 2 minutes on the football league show. Not enough media for outside prem in general given fan base.

— Gilby (@skybluegilby) January 21, 2013

@ball_street Everton main one, we could win the league and the media would talk about the rest of the prem having a off day.

— Ian McMenemy (@ianmc23)

@ball_street Fantastic! Hopefully more fans get on board and you + fans as a collective can really make a difference.

— Nick Murphy (@NickDRFCMurphy) January 21, 2013

That's just a fraction of the responses, with many supportive of the idea that fans outside the top 6 are underserved by the media.

To clarify, we're not having a pop at the BBC Football League highlights show, or questioning the logic of Sky showing the matches that generate the most viewers.  However, we are questioning the lack of depth and quality of the media coverage outside the top 6 in general and we want to help make a change.

We don’t have all the answers, but we do want to be a part of the solution.  We want to improve the media experience for all fans.

As Wrighty says:-

  Morning all, overwhelmed by the response yesterday. @ball_street are you watching? The people have spoken - lets get something done!!

— Ian Wright (@IanWright0) January 22, 2013

Some old friends and many new friends and followers have rallied to the cause, asking to help out.

We’re meeting up with Wrighty and the others today to discuss what we can do.  This feels like the start of something big.

  Matt, football fan/dreamer

The Beast - aka Ade Akinfenwa! - was released by Northampton Town today.  We've been covering him through the playoffs - here's the 3rd and final episode of BEASTCAM this season...

So they've built a brand, sold naming rights and corporate packages. But no-one in football got rich on their own. The fat cats would be nowhere without your season ticket money, the shirt on your back and the Sky subscription. Sure, the game needs money. It even needs brands. But part of the game is to be a good sport and look after the game handed down to us by our fathers. Ask yourself: are they playing fair?

Pele and Maradona competition: terms and conditons

OPEN TO:

All fans, of all teams.

GUIDELINES:

Send a picture of your teams football shirt for a chance to win a signed jersey from Pele or Maradona.

Ball Street wants all fans to #ClubTogether so that we can create better coverage for all fans of all teams.

You can enter via 3 routes, just follow the instructions and read the terms and conditions below:

  HOW TO ENTER:

Twitter

Upload a picture of your team's shirt to Twitter and mention @ball_street.

Remember to also type both the hash tag - #ClubTogether and also a hash tag for the name of the team (e.g. #pompey) on the picture.

You must be a follower of @ball_street on Twitter to qualify.

Instagram

Upload a picture of your teams shirt to Instagram.

Include the hash tags #ClubTogether #ballstreet and #YourTeamNameHere (e.g #PartickThistle) on the upload.

You must be a follower of ballstreet on Instagram to qualify.

Facebook

Upload a picture of your team's shirt to our page.

State your teams name on the post.

Like our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/BALLSTREET

GENERAL CONDITIONS

Must be an actual shirt that you or someone owns, not just a picture from the internet.

You may enter as many times and as you like using the methods above, provided each picture submitted contains a different kit (i.e. it can be the same team, but must be from a different season or home/away etc.).

One entry will be drawn at random from the entries received from each of the following channels: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Those three finalists will be entered into final draw, where again the winner will be drawn at random.

The winner will be asked to choose their prize, either a signed Pele Brazil shirt or a Argentina jersey signed by Diego Maradona.

Employees of Ball Street Ltd. and their relatives are not permitted to win the prize.

Our ability to control User Generated Content is limited, however Ball Street Ltd. reserves the right to disqualify and/or block any entrant who is deemed to be, in the opinion of Ball Street Ltd, abusive or misusing the services.

Closing date TBC.

The decision of Ball Street Ltd. is final.

So, what is exactly is Ball Street?

Many of you have been asking the same thing.  What is Ball Street?

Ball Street is an idea, a vision, where the size of a club, and the league it is playing in doesn't determine the quality of insight and the level of coverage that the club gets.

We understand that more people are always going to watch Top 6 games, and that things aren't going to be solved overnight, but if we #ClubTogether believe we can change things.

  The start

Ball Street started as a small collective of football fans (including Luton, Huddersfield, Forest, Leeds and Rangers) who shared the view that most proper football fans are missing out.  With a few skills and experiences in production and sports media, we reached out to Ian Wright to see if he wanted to be a part of it.

Fans of most teams would have admired the passion he showed on the pitch, but most important to us, Ian knows the value of all clubs and the role football plays in our culture.

Before our meeting with Ian, he sent this tweet.  The response was fantastic and like he said to us, "we gotta get something done".

Serious question peeps - Who do you support and do you get what you need in terms of media coverage?

January 21, 2013

THANKS 4 amazing response.Most fans not happy with their teams coverage. Me and @ball_street are gonna take this on. Will need help tho!!

January 21, 2013

Having Ian Wright on board is huge for the cause.  He has profile; he has experience; he has contacts; and he wants to be part of something that benefits the game he loves.  But he can't do it alone, and neither can we. We need your help.

  Where are we heading?

It's too early to say exactly what Ball Street will become.  You're with us here on the ground floor as we start out on this journey.

At the very least, we're going to create a digital football show with Ian Wright that provides a platform for, and can be shaped by, fans of all teams. 

Consider our first production a pilot; a co-production created with your help and contributions.  We can shape something that we all want to see.

We don't have the funds of resources of the big boys, just a few quid that we've cobbled together from friends and family.  

We have many ideas about how we can work with fans, bloggers, established media companies and other organisations, and judging by your tweets and emails so do you.  So keep them coming, keep believing and please look out for, watch and contribute to our first show.