Channel Nine to introduce Spidercam to rugby league coverage this season
Ben Dorries EXCLUSIVE
The Courier-Mail
March 03, 2013 11:30PM
Spidercam in action during last year's third Test between Australia and South Africa in Perth. Source: AFP
IT will be rugby league, but not like anyone has seen it before.
League lovers will get a swooping bird's eye view as Channel 9 introduces Spidercam to league coverage this season, with the cutting-edge camera to take fans directly above scrums and play-the-balls.
And Nine indicated they would make the aerial vision available for use in video referees' decisions, although they say that Spidercam won't be used in all televised games.
The camera, which is suspended over sporting venues by a maze of pulleys and cables, was successfully used in Test cricket coverage in the summer and received rave reviews from Australia's cricketers.
Spidercam will be used for the first time in league in Thursday night's season-opener between Roosters and Rabbitohs at Sydney's Allianz Stadium before it is unveiled in Brisbane for Friday night's Broncos-Manly blockbuster.
Nine plans to deploy the camera for all State of Origin games and selected blockbuster NRL games, as long as the wind is below 40km/h.
Nine has previously used a device called Skycam for league coverage but that moves in straight lines, whereas Spidercam is the most manoeuvrable aerial camera in sporting history.
"Viewers will feel like they are looking right over the shoulders of their favourite players on the field," Nine's director of Sport Steve Crawley said. "It can go down to virtually any height and will give an extra dimension to the coverage.
"It will be like nothing you have seen before on a rugby league field.
"Spidercam is probably a lot better suited to rugby league than other sports, it can get right over the top of scrums and play-the-balls."
Nine has the support of the NRL and stadium authorities and work began last week on installing the complex system at Suncorp Stadium.
Top cricket umpires and players gave Spidercam their blessing this summer and Crawley said several NRL coaches have already approached Nine to use Spidercam vision in their post-match reviews.
"All the coaches want aerial and high views of their games to analyse and some have already asked us to look at Spidercam footage when they sit down for post-match reviews," Crawley said."
Spidercam can have complications and it has been hit by several football goalkeepers in Europe and also at last year's Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament in South Africa.
Fellow rights holder Fox Sports will also use the 2013 NRL season to experiment with new technology, introducing its cornerpost cam, Foxkopter and possibly Ref Cam, which has been trialled in rugby union.
