Player data compensation venture Project Red Card expands into rugby
Russell Slade-fronted GDPR firm expands its reach into third UK sport as data debate heats up
Project Red Card co-founder Russell Slade has announced that the player-focused GDPR representation firm has moved to include professional rugby players.
Slade, who previously managed Cardiff City and Leyton Orient, stated that the project has a significant number of players signed up already.
The project argues that without players’ consent, data companies exploit them for financial gain.
Football DataCo is currently licenced as the official data partner to the Premier League. Additionally, data giant Genius Sports has an official data partnership with Football DataCo to capture sub-second and skeletal tracking data across the Premier League.
In a statement, Slade said: “We are very pleased to see the project develop into rugby. It has always been clear to Global Sports Data & Technology that the principles of sports data rights would transfer from sport to sport.
“What is disappointing is that we find the same issues with regards to the lack of transparency in how professional players’ personal tracking and performance data is being used by industries outside their sport.
“We now have over 2,300 professional athletes across the UK major sports who are asking fundamental questions about the unlawful processing of their personal data by industries like betting, data collection consultancies and the gaming industry,” Slade added.
Chris Farnell, partner at IPS Law, commented: “The number of professional athletes who have very serious concerns about how their data has been used for years and is currently being used continues to grow at a staggering level. This is now one of the major issues in sport and sports law around the world.
“We continue to engage with sports organisations and commercial data providers to find a solution to the historic claim that all of our players have as well as the ongoing contractual questions which need to be resolved.”
Any potential legal action could have huge ramifications for the gambling industry, with Genius Sports having previously noted its forward looking concerns overt he impact of Project Red Card.