Kick-Ass creator Mark Millar backs AI cameras in Scottish football

He's the man that helped bring Kick-Ass and Wanted to the big screen, and now he's taking Albion Rovers to your living room via robot cameras.

Comic book writer and Hollywood producer Mark Millar is behind a far-out idea that will transport fans to Cliftonhill and other lower league grounds throughout Scotland.

Coatbridge-born Millar has teamed up with his hometown club to allow fans of the League Two side - and 21 other lower-league teams - to broadcast live games via a state-of-the-art streaming system.

Oh, and it will also have referees booking players on their phone.

"AI technology can unlock stadiums and ensure that Scottish football clubs not only survive the Covid pandemic, but use it as a launch pad to a complete revolution in the game," Millar, who has put £18,000 into the project, told BBC Scotland.

"I wanted to come up with a post-Covid plan for Scottish football, and Albion Rovers being the club I always loved, I wanted to start it here. I'm lucky to be in a position where financially I could help but also have a great contact list, I was able to assemble a great bunch of people to achieve this.

"This whole new initiative takes football out of the 19th century where it's been for 140 years, where you try to pack as many people as possible into a stadium, into the 21st century where we stream it all over the world."

So how does it work?

It sounds like something straight from the wild imagination of a comic book writer, but it really is essentially robots filming lower-league Scottish football matches.

The system uses cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence (AI) software to film, record and produce live and on-demand footage.

The idea is to be able to produce streams of live games at a professional standard, without the need for a single camera crew member at the game. Fans will be able to stream live or on-demand through an app while having the ability to watch, pause, and zoom in on the action on their device during games.

In addition to the streaming, referees could also be kitted out in the kind of futuristic technology Iron Man might use. To make their job easier, they would wear a waterproof smartphone on their arm and record goals scored, bookings and substitutes on an app instead of writing it in a referee's book.

The we.socccer app will also be used by clubs to submit their official team line-ups digitally before a match, in line with Covid-19 social distancing regulations, and has been cleared by Ifab - football's law makers. Clubs will control the app for now, while clubs speak to the SFA about approval on referees using this technology.

"It's real cutting-edge stuff, it's amazing," said Millar, who has teamed up with Stenhousemuir to help launch the initiative. "To me that's exciting because I love new things, I love to see a disruptor come in and shake things up.

"What we'd considered at first to be a rescue package is hopefully going to create a new generation of fans and a new golden age for Scottish football.

"I love the idea that somebody in Nebraska becomes an Albion Rovers fan because they've got access to this. We're going to give this a really big push in the US - I love the idea to make this an international thing. The dream would be to eclipse the Premiership."

Clubs that will use the Pixellot system

Championship: Alloa Athletic, Arbroath, Ayr Utd, Dundee, Dunfermline, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Morton, Queen of the South, Raith Rovers. (Hearts already have their own system in place)

League One: Airdrieonians, Clyde, Cove Rangers, Dumbarton, Forfar, Montrose, Partick Thistle, Peterhead. (East Fife and Falkirk already have their own system in place)

League Two: Albion Rovers, Annan Athletic, Brechin City, Elgin City, Stenhousemuir.