Calgary startup tackles referee abuse with microphones and machine learning

Abuse of referees in amateur sport has been an issue for decades and all sorts of attempts have been made to curb the problem, from sternly worded signs that remind fans to be respectful to green armbands that identify novice officials to body-worn cameras that record footage from the refs' perspectives.

Now, a Calgary startup is employing a bit of all those strategies, combined with a type of artificial intelligence known as machine learning, to tackle the issue in a new way.

Elements Athletics has launched a product known as Mic'd Up that involves wireless microphones in lightweight armbands worn by refs, coupled with signs that alert players, coaches and spectators that what they say can and will be recorded.

The hours of audio caught by these mics would be cumbersome for a human to review, but CEO Mark Lootens says modern machine-learning techniques allow that process to be automated — and affordable.

"That's the cool thing about where we're at right now, from a software development perspective," he said.

"Our product didn't make sense three years ago. It would have cost a fortune. But we're in this really fun place right now, in terms of technology development, where products like this do become affordable, which makes them accessible, and applications like Mic'd Up for youth sports associations are feasible."

Lootens says the company's "tuned machine-learning model" is capable of quickly reviewing hours of audio and detecting even subtle moments of abuse, insults or verbal threats directed at referees.

The software then catalogues the incidents into a report that is provided to referees' sport associations, which can help when it comes to holding people who mistreat referees accountable.

"One of the big challenges that associations run into is ... they have a hard time enforcing their own policies the way they meant to when they wrote them, because they don't have this record of truth," Lootens said.

"A lot of times their situations devolve into he-said-she-said, and so we provide them with that record of truth."

Both Lootens and company co-founder Tamara Jarrett have worked as referees in the past and say the level of abuse they can face is not only troubling but also detrimental to the recruitment and retention of refs starting at the youngest levels.

Jarrett said kids who are 13 or 14 can make good money refereeing, but she's seen many who give it a try and then quit due to the treatment they receive.

"They're just not staying," she said. "It's not the money. They're just not staying."

Lootens said referee abuse also goes "grossly underreported" because of the time and effort it takes for reports to be manually filed.