ClearSky Telstra Tracker named Sports Innovation of the Year at 2017 International Sports Awards

Catapult’s ClearSky technology was today named Sports Innovation of the Year at the 2017 International Sports Awards, winning the award for its role in powering the Telstra Tracker during this year’s State of Origin series.

Deployed during the 2017 State of Origin series to deliver live physical metrics to over 3.5 million viewers on Channel Nine, the Telstra Tracker used Catapult’s ClearSky local positioning system to help viewers understand the loads, impacts and exertions experienced by the best rugby league players on the planet.

Driving fan engagement and bringing them closer to the action than ever before, our ClearSky system was installed in the Suncorp Stadium and the ANZ Stadium to enable live physical and positional data to be fed directly to the Channel Nine production team during all three State of Origin games.

“The Telstra Tracker had a great debut,” said Tom Malone, Channel Nine’s Head of Sport, speaking during the State of Origin series. “In sports it’s all about access and innovation. This was both. You were getting closer to the players than ever before by knowing things like how fast they were travelling and also in terms of being able to tap into GPS trackers in real time. We’re grateful to the players for wearing them and also from a commercial point of view, getting Telstra on board was a good result for Channel Nine and the NRL.”

“The Telstra Tracker project was an opportunity for us to find the balance between the performance insights teams want to keep as differentiators for tactical or physical performance, and the layer that they are willing to share with fans to improve the spectacle and understanding of the sport,” said Karl Hogan, Catapult’s Commercial Director. “The physical demands of sports generally still remain invisible to most fans and we’re trying to change that. The State of Origin was a great starting point for that.”

A competition that attracts submissions from some of the world’s leading sports and technology brands, the International Sports Awards celebrate individual, group and company achievements in elite sport.

Congratulations to the Catapult team of Igor Van De Griendt, Damien Hawes, Brendan Dodgson, Chris Polley, John Coulson, Karl Hogan and Paul Every for their work driving the successful completion of the Telstra Tracker project.

Interested in discovering how the ClearSky system could benefit your organisation? You can find out more here.