BALL STREET CONCEPTS

Ball Street's first YouTube football show with Ian Wright - here's the promo for 451.

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.

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

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.

Now God's getting involved...

"All over this new footy show-bit.ly/451Promo - get following @ball_street tweeps"Looks quality @ianwright0

— Robbie Fowler (@Robbie9Fowler) March 28, 2013

Real fans clubbing together

At the weekend we learned a lot about what #ClubTogether is.  It's fans standing up against the status quo.  Fans realising that, to make a difference, we can work together and get the things we want.

In the case of Jack Cox and everyone connected with Bath City FC, it was getting exposure and getting people to #PackThePark to #SaveBathCity.

Jack invited us to City, a club in danger of folding unless they sell the home they have played at since 1932.

@ball_street you guys should come to Bath City on Saturday and experience rival teams #ClubTogether to help a non league club.

January 28, 2013

At Bath, we met fans that are willing to step forward and make a difference; fans that are tune with what football should be.

Jack, a Bristol City fan, started a Facebook page to get fellow Robins to #PackThePark at Bath.  Joining Jack were fans from clubs  across the country - from the Bristol clubs to Luton, Swindon, Plymouth, Tranmere and Chelsea.

What we love about Jack is that he didn’t just stand by and watch.  He didn’t want to accept that a local club should be allowed to die and be ignored by a media focussed on catering to a mass market.  He has tried to connect with people and do something about it.

We started using #ClubTogether because we believe fans of all clubs can change things by working as one.  We have a vision where the league a club is playing in doesn’t determine the quality of insight and coverage that it gets and if we club together we can change things.

But as Jack has shown, #ClubTogether is much bigger than that - use it to tell us what's important to you and your club.

If you want to get involved, then get in touch via twitter  @ball_street,  www.facebook.com/BALLSTREET or drop an email to clubtogether@ballstreet.co.uk.

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?

Send us your fan video

In true Ball Street style, we need you to ClubTogether with us!!!

During our live transfer deadline show on Monday 2nd September 7.30pm-11.30pm we’ll be featuring videos from our followers and fans about their team’s transfer window.

We’d like 30 seconds on each of the following:

  #DayOfHope

Everyone hopes that their team makes the right deadline day moves – what business would you like to see your team do on deadline day?  This could include players you are being linked with or positions that still need addressing.

  Your window so far

How do you rate the business that your team has done in the window so far?

  What transfer broke your heart?

Tell us about a player leaving your club and why it left you broken hearted.

  Best moves of the summer

What are the signings you’ve been most impressed by?

    PLEASE FILM THE CONTENT SO YOU'RE CLEAR IN VISION, DON'T SIT IN FRONT OF A WINDOW, MAKE SURE THAT IF YOU'RE USING A SMART PHONE, YOU USE IT LANDSCAPE (ON IT'S SIDE) NOT PORTRAIT (NORMAL WAY UP)!

  ONCE YOU HAVE FILMED THE FOUR ANSWERS, PLEASE SAVE THE FILE AND USE A FILE TRANSFER SYSTEM (WETRANSFER IS A GOOD ONE) AND UPLOAD THE VIDEO AND SEND IT TO INTERN@BALLSTREET.CO.UK

VIDEOS BY MIDNIGHT THURSDAY 29th AUGUST PLEASE

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.