The first official football game to use a digital referee signal system (DRSS) will take place in Mexico during the Indoor Football Final this Thursday Nov 15th

BARCELONA – November 13, 2012

While almost everything in our lives is being computarized and digitally coded, it seems hard to believe that football referees still rely on their paper notebook to capture every incident that takes place on the field. Wouldn't it be great if referees could use a single tool to take notes, mark fouls, report live statistics, and even show red and yellow cards? With this paradigm in mind, a team of technologists and football experts built a solution: Referee Pro by Siine. This thursday will be the first time you see a professional referee working not with pen and paper, but with a smartphone in his hand.

The match is the most important event of the Mexican Indoor Football and gathers thousands of fans and a large TV audience. This will road-test the new tool in a live environment. Referee decisions will even be directly beamed to a Twitter account, which will allow instant verification of who scored or fouled. Referee Pro has been carefully developed with the aid of top referees in order to comply with official FIFA guidelines and their needs. The application is produced in partnership between Siine Ltd, (a London and Barcelona company famous for its special keyboards and backed by Skype founder Niklas Zennstrom) and Mexican football professionals.

The use of technology in sport has made a great impact on the way many sports are played, and soccer has fallen behind. Referee Pro could be the smart step that brings it forward.

Expectations are high, and Referee Pro will be the focus of the football technology world on Thursday, and will bring strong interest from football associations, sports media, sponsors, and football fans alike.

OLD REFEREE NOTING KIT

- Many pieces
- Difficult to share
- No stats

NEW REFEREE KIT

- One piece
- Ability to broadcast
- Fast

Referee Pro aims to be the reference DRSS for referees not only at an official and professional level, but also among amateur users who want to track, share and gather fun stats on their games. A consumer based version will be released in the coming months for Android and iPhone devices.