Sela & Newcastle United, London, United Kingdom: Unsilence The Crowd by Sela and Newcastle United

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A first of its kind partnership between Sela, RNID and Newcastle United culminated in Unsilence The Crowd, a groundbreaking campaign, which delivered the world-first use of new technology designed to increase accessibility to football for deaf fans. Research conducted by Sela, which sought to discover how some fans experience football differently, revealed that 71% of people surveyed believe new technology can be used to make live sporting events more accessible. With this research underpinning the collaboration between club, sponsor and charity partner, Sela set out to improve the fan experience and deliver a world-first deployment of new technology in sports. Sela and technology provider, CuteCircuit, incorporated haptic technology into replica NUFC match shirts that transforms the noise of the stadium into real-time touch sensations, allowing deaf fans and fans with hearing loss to experience the atmosphere of a live football match in an all-new way. The entire soundscape came to life as a language composed of a series of touch-like sensations across the torso of the person wearing the shirt.  The technology debuted at NUFC’s Premier League game against Tottenham Hotspur in front of 50,000 people, with millions more on TV and a match take over that brought the campaign to life.  In advance of the game, Junior Deaf Football Club children and RNID members were given a surprise invite to be mascots on game day from two Newcastle United players. The children taught the players how to celebrate in sign language, with Dan Burn going on to enact the celebration during the game on live global broadcast. The footage went viral, showcasing the impact of Sela’s campaign beyond just the technology itself. Deaf fan, David Wilson commented: “What a game, what a day, what a shirt. I felt part of the singing, part of the stadium. The vibrations just continued through the full game. We felt involved in all the goals and all the singing, so I just want to say thank you.”  Sela also donated its front-of-shirt sponsorship for the match to RNID - a historic occasion marking the first time a hearing loss charity has been promoted on a Premier League front-of-shirt.   This donation was important evidence of its commitment to the deaf community and gave a PR platform for the charity. Fans in the stadium and viewers at home saw the RNID branding displayed across the pitch-side monitors, raising awareness for the campaign. Representatives from the world’s largest football institutions travelled to witness the technology first-hand including the Premier League, European Club Association and Serie A. The UK Government, UEFA and FIFA all attended to explore how the technology can be adapted and incorporated into wider football to ensure fans across the world could benefit. Unsilence The Crowd has been described by the global football community, sports industry and global sports media as a “game changer”, “revolutionary” and an example of “raising the bar” for accessibility for deaf fans. The Sela Sound Shirt significantly impacted attitudes to live sport attendance amongst deaf fans, with a 16.9% increase (from 71% to 83%) in those believing the shirt increased accessibility in stadia. The campaign achieved RNID’s objectives of growing awareness for the Charity and enabled NUFC to showcase their commitment to delivering fan experiences and increasing accessibility. There are already commitments from several major European football leagues to introduce the technology to benefit their fans and improve inclusivity of the sport including: the English Premier League, La Liga and Serie A. Furthermore, Sela has donated the technology to the NUFC Foundation for use at all future home matches. The campaign also saw a consolidated reach of 5.08 billion and a 523.9% increase in views to Sela social media channels.