Slowly but surely, Google Glass is making its way into the mainstream. On Sunday night, in Atletico Madrid’s match against Getafe, it was used for the first time at a football match.
As Atleti edged three points closer to their first league title in 18 years, the glasses were used by their Assistant Coach Muno Burgos to get an instant stream of real-time statistics on both his team and their opposition during the match.
— marcwebber (@marcwebber) April 14, 2014
Pictures of the former goalkeeper wearing the glasses caused quite a scene on social media, and a pair of tweets from La Liga’s official Twitter feed documented what Burgos would have been privy to as he watched the clash with his Glasses on.
— La Liga (@LaLiga) April 13, 2014
— Atleti VAVEL (@Atleti_VAVEL) April 13, 2014
The coach was able to utilise a specialised data system through Google Glass to access a wide range of statistics as they changed throughout the game. He could use a connected device to browse through these stats and even compare them to data from previous games as if he were playing a computer game like Football Manager in real time.
It surely won’t be long before all top teams start to utilise similar technology in their coaching set ups. If anything, it’s a surprise that instant interactive technology like this hasn’t already been picked up by the meticulous coaching set ups of the world’s leading teams.
Could Google Glass change everything for the fans?
In the long term Google Glass could also revolutionise the way that fans across the world consume the beautiful game – as well as other stat-driven sports like cricket, tennis and baseball.
Devices like Google Glass could allow supporters to analyse and compare stats during matches whether they’re at the game, watching at home or even down the pub. Right now, an insular solution like this still seems pretty unlikely to catch on – particularly in a sport such as football where the collective fan experience is so important. But you never know.
