Sports Industry taking Women as Seriously as Fans
Stars of British women’s sporting elite, including Olympic golden girls Shona McCallin and Shirley Robertson, England Netball Captain and Commonwealth Gold medal winner Ama Agbeze, and sportswomen turned reality TV stars, Heather Fisher and Laura Crane, turned out in force at the Yahoo Sports Technology Awards on Thursday evening at the Roundhouse, London.
The winners were revealed by an all-female cast which also included Aimee Fuller, Goldie Sayers, Kelly Sotherton, Steph Twell, Lizzie Cass and Donna Fraser, in a ceremony dubbed ‘the Oscars of Sports Technology’.
Ama Agbeze, England Netball Captain and Commonwealth gold medal winner, said: ‘I’m delighted to be here. The tech influencing sport today is amazing, innovative and inspirational, and pushes us further to excellence. Clearly the Sports Technology Awards attracts world-leading innovators so it’s a privilege to be presenting them with their trophies. It’s wonderful that it’s an all-female line up presenting on stage tonight – I’m certainly in great company and it makes me feel excited that we are, at last, starting to enjoy the same kudos as our male counterparts.’
Former Olympic, World and Commonwealth sprinter, Vice President and Equality Diversity & Engagement Lead of UK Athletics, Donna Fraser, added: ‘Whilst I’m so pleased to see the sports business community embrace women’s sport – and hats off to the Sports Technology Awards making this commitment – we, as women in sport, need to take up these opportunities and promote what we do too. The women here tonight are stellar examples of this and I am proud to be here with them.’
The Sports Technology Awards is owned by the STA Group and Rebecca Hopkins, its CEO said: ‘Sport and technology are seen as very male-dominated but there are a lot of unsung, brilliant women out there. With a wonderful summer of elite sport ahead, which features both genders, we need also to recognize the year-round examples of women in the sector who deserve to be higher profile. I hope that by taking this stand tonight, we have done something to raise the debate and profiles of hard-working women in all aspects of sport and I am so grateful to all the athletes here tonight who turned up to support us.’
The winners, by category are:
- Agency of the Year: Fanview Media
- Best App: Fishbrain
- Best Digital Technology: IBM Watson and ESPN Fantasy Insights
- Best Sports Broadcast (Single or Series): Discovery and Eurosport
- Best Sports Equipment, Apparel or Wearable Technology: Solos Smart Wearable Technology
- Best Technology for Athlete Welfare: HP 1T and Charles Owen Helmet ICS
- Best Technology for Elite Performance: SBG Sports Software for RaceWatch Race Strategy
- Best Technology for Fan Engagement: Formula 1 and Goodform for F1 Fan Voice
- Best Technology for Participation: Cricket Australia Coach App
- Best Technology for Sports Betting: Trustly Group for Trustly Pay N Play®
- Best Technology for Sports Commerce: mycujoo
- Innovation of the Year: BT Sport and EE deliver 5G
- Most Innovative Sports Partnership: Intel and LaLiga
- Rights Holder / Governing Body / Team / Sponsor of the Year: The Ocean Race for Southern Ocean RAW
More information about the Awards can be found at www.sportstechgroup.org/awards/ysta/
