Ben Foster reveals PL threatened to sue him over in-game GoPro footage
‘We will sue you like you wouldn’t believe’: Ben Foster reveals Premier League threatened him with legal action if he used GoPro to film himself during games for his YouTube channel, breaching broadcast deals
- Ben Foster became an innovator when he began using his GoPro during games
- Foster’s idea was to give fans access to pitch side footage during the pandemic
- The EFL and Sky were supportive of Foster’s idea and allowed him to use footage
- The Premier League banned Foster from using the GoPro and threatened to sue
Ben Foster has revealed the Premier League threatened to sue him if he went ahead with plans to put his GoPro in his net.
Foster launched a YouTube channel entitled ‘Cycling UK’ where he provided behind the scenes access to football matches without supporters during the Covid-19 pandemic.
This included the former Manchester United goalkeeper placing the Go Pro in his net to capture pitchside footage which he included in his regular vlogs, to give footy fans a completely different experience.
Ben Foster went from goalkeeper to innovator when he placed a GoPro in his net during games
On one occasion, Swansea star Jamal Lowe scored past Foster before celebrating in front of the GoPro.
Rather than delete the footage, Foster used it to his advantage and added it into his next video.
Foster revealed that he took it upon himself to implement the new innovation and did not get clearance to do so.
Whilst the EFL were happy for him to continue his venture, the Premier were not quite so understanding after Watford were promoted to the top flight in 2021.
Foster is a regular on YouTube with his ‘Cycling GK’ channel adding an array of content for fans
Foster vlogged before Watford’s game at Liverpool creating content for his 1.15m subscribers
‘I got the idea to put the GoPro in the back of the goal,’ the shot-stopper told talkSPORT.
‘Nobody had seen it from that angle before. I did eventually [get it cleared]. I didn’t ask, I did it and put the content out.
‘I kept it under a towel. At first I didn’t really tell anybody. I stuck it in the back of the goal, it’s on a little Tripod.
‘And then just to hear how footballers talk to each other and converse – and how I would tell my right back or left-back to come in, all that stuff people were just fascinated by it.
‘I put it out and that’s when the slap on the wrist came and they said, ‘You can’t just do that, you have to ask at least’.
‘It was Sky and the EFL that I had to clear it with and they were brilliant and let me carry on doing it.’
Much to Foster’s dismay and that of his loyal YouTube following, the former England international was later summoned before the Premier League’s bigwigs and had the law laid down to him.
Foster was warned by the Premier League he would be sued if he continued to use his GoPro
‘As soon as the season finished, I had to go on a Zoom call with the Premier League and all these other big dogs. Basically, it was ‘Don’t even dream of doing that in the Premier League’.
‘We have to charge Amazon, BT, Sky Sports, all these guys, so much money to broadcast our content. There’s no way you’re doing it. We will sue you like you wouldn’t believe.’
Last October, Watford chairman revealed Foster was fined for breaking a promise by filming at the club despite being told to stop.
Duxbury said: ‘We want a culture of excellence at Watford,’ he told the Watford Those videos were not that. I wanted to say publicly at the time that the videos were utterly wrong and we had fined the player and asked him to stop, but it just wasn’t something I could do.’
Foster is currently a free agent and with spare time on his hands whilst the search for a new club continues, he is continuing to grow his YouTube audience with 1.15 million subscribers tuning in to view his content.
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