Communications between Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League referees, their assistants on the football pitch and the video assistant referees working remotely at the Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA)’s VAR Replay Centre at Proximus Basecamp have begun using Riedel’s Bolero wireless intercom and Artist digital matrix intercom systems.
Riedel Communications has collaborated with broadcast solutions and service provider EMG to support RBFA referee teams in all the Jupiler Pro League stadiums and in the VAR Replay Centre in their efforts to review decisions made on the pitch.
‘Despite the distance between each stadium and the VAR Replay Centre, the sound is exceptional,’ says Royal Belgian Football Association Professional Refereeing Department Operations Director, Stephanie Forde. ‘Both the Bolero and Artist systems are easy to use, so our teams have no trouble making the right connection, even in the midst of an intense match. With Riedel’s professional support, integration and configuration of the system was straightforward.’
The Riedel solution connects the VAR Replay Centre at the Proximus Basecamp, located 25km south of Brussels in the small town of Tubize, with all Jupiler Pro League stadiums across Belgium. Signals passing between different stadia and the VAR Replay Centre travel over the Proximus MPLS network, which is designed for premium sports and events — not only for VAR, but also for remote production of Jupiler Pro League competitions.
Riedel supplied all of the stadium kits, each comprising Bolero-S standalone wireless intercom systems including antennas, beltpacks and run headsets for referees working on the pitch. At the VAR Replay Centre, five VAR desks/stations, plus one spare and a supervisor desk are equipped with Artist 1024 intercom system with 1216 intercom panels that support overlapping matches (in parallel) per match day. Over the iast two match days of the regular league competition, the system will be expanded with flightpacks to support up to nine concurrent matches.
‘Proximus Basecamp is the home of Belgium’s national teams and referees, and the VAR Replay Centre there sits at the heart of the sports technical department for the Belgian FA and its regional wings, ACFF and Voetbal Vlaanderen,’ says Riedel Belgium Sales Manager, Kristof Vanden Eynde. ‘We’re proud that our intercom systems have become an integral part of match-day operations at the VAR Replay Centre and at stadiums across Belgium. It’s exciting to see the results in the live broadcast as referees effortlessly call on their remote colleagues for the final word on a particular call, and we know it makes a difference for the JPL fans.’
More: www.riedel.net
