How Edmonton Rovers matches are filmeD, EDITED & PRODUCED

Edmonton Rovers are a mens' team who play in the Mercury Waltham Sunday League just to the north of London. Club Secretary Laurence Hughes has filmed virtually every Edmonton Rovers match on a professional basis since 1990 when he started up Hughes Video Services, and indeed selling copies of 'Rovers' match videos & DVD's to opposing Club Secretaries and players has been a vital part of the business ever since.
Edmonton Rovers matches are all filmed from the half-way line, usually at ground level using just the one camera on a tripod, but for Sunday League Football this is actually quite sophisticated compared to the 'wobbly' hand-held palmcorder or mobile phone camera that is often used by other teams when attempting to film their games. The advantage of filming matches from this position is that the players are very close to the camera and you can really feel the 'atmosphere' (and hear everything that is being said !).
Thankfully, the perennial Sunday League problem of spectators on the touchline getting in the way of the camera is quite rare at Edmonton Rovers matches (mainly because quite often they are only watched by 'a man and his dog'), but all Home matches are filmed from a portable 'scaffolding' raised four feet off the ground which solves the problem completely and gives a much better view all round. We used to use a large wooden box (See picture left), but somebody 'nicked it' from the changing rooms during Council refurbishments !
All matches filmed before April 2001 were recorded using an S-VHS camera which produced a good quality image, but all matches since then have been filmed using a Canon XM1 (latterly upgraded to a Canon XM2) 3-CCD Mini-DV (Digital) camera which has a vastly improved picture quality. The Canon XM1/2 also has a 20x zoom and is ideal for filming football matches and obtaining close-up shots of players on the far side of the pitch.
For Season 2007-2008 onwards though, we are now using an even better camera in the Canon XHA1, which means all Edmonton Rovers matches will subsequently be filmed, edited & produced on DVD in the widescreen (16:9) format. Most TV stations now broadcast all football matches in widescreen, so we anticipate that most of our customers will already have widescreen TV sets on which to view their DVD's. If you are watching our DVD's on a standard 4:3 ratio TV set, the DVD's should display in widescreen with black bars at the top and bottom of the picture.
Sometime during Season 2008-2009, we are hoping to start filming and producing matches in high definition on HD-DVD or Blu-Ray discs. The Canon XHA1 camera can already film in that format, but Blu-Ray or HD-DVD recorders and players are not readily available at this moment in time.
Matches filmed up until May 2003 were edited & produced by feeding the footage from the camera master tape into a stand-alone non-linear editing suite which was not DV-enabled. This means that the edited master copies of all matches filmed before then are in the S-VHS format and DVD or VHS copies for customers are run off from that. Although the copies of those matches are of reasonable quality, the acquisition of computer-based editing software in July 2003 resulted in us being able to produce vastly improved copies of matches filmed from the start of Season 2003/2004 onwards, as the source footage and edited version is kept in a loss-free digital format which is of television broadcast quality. Slow-motion replays and titles are now greatly enhanced and more importantly, copies of all matches filmed from the start of Season 2003/2004 onwards are available on DVD's which include menus and chapters whereby the goals can be accessed at the click of a button rather than by rewinding and searching. (DVD's of matches that were edited & produced before Season 2003/2004 are straightforward copies from S-VHS master tapes, so they do not include menus and chapters).
The finished (fully-edited) version is kept as the Master Copy for an unlimited period of time, both in tape format and on DVD, so copies for customers can then be run off at any time in the future (as per those listed in our Catalogues on this website).
To see some of our Video Clips of Edmonton Rovers in action, click here for the Videos section on the Edmonton Rovers website.

MEDIA PUBLICITY

Over the years, Edmonton Rovers videos have had quite a bit of T.V. and media exposure, firstly in 1991 when Danny Baker hosted a regular weekly programme ('The Game') on ITV which showed some clips of Rovers in action. When the first Compilation Video of an Edmonton Rovers season was produced later that year, Rovers then found themselves being  featured regularly on BBC Radio 5's 'Sunday Brunch' arts programme which saw presenter Mariella Frostrup phoning the pub every Sunday lunchtime to get a post-match report live on air from Laurence Hughes and interview some players. 
The best publicity to come Rovers way though was undoubtedly between September 1994 and early 1999 when Sky Sports 2's ' Sunday morning 'Soccer Extra' show started a 'Sunday League Soccer' feature in which a 'spoof' commentary (by their own 'Steve & Jonty') was dubbed on to video footage sent in by Sunday League clubs. Rovers match videos were then consistently shown on the programme every three or four weeks on average and with the show rapidly attaining 'cult' status (especially when it switched to Saturday mornings to become 'Soccer A.M.'), Rovers became so 'famous' that players such as Conor Mc,Govern even found himself being recognised by strangers as a result !
Several magazine and newspaper articles have since followed, but the club now relies mainly on it's excellent website for publicity.

EDMONTON ROVERS MATCH DVD'S

Edmonton Rovers Match DVD's from Season 1999/2000 onwards are edited to include the 'Full 90 Minutes' (and Extra-Time if played) whereas Match DVD's before Season 1999/2000 generally have a running time of between 70-80 Minutes. All Match DVD's include every shot at goal (by both teams) and any other major incidents, plus titles throughout the video for goalscorers, substitutions, bookings, etc. and slow-motion replays.
Up until March 2005, all Edmonton Rovers Match DVD's included a narrated introduction describing both the Edmonton Rovers line-up and that of their opponents (if the information was provided by their opponents). However, we no longer do a narrated introduction on our Match DVD's due to a lack of time to script it, although the improved picture and editing quality more than makes up for that. There is no 'match commentary' on any Edmonton Rovers DVD's...the spectators on the touchline tend to do this for us (unwittingly !).
All copies of Edmonton Rovers Match DVD's are supplied in presentation boxes with full colour inserts featuring still-frame shots of footage from the actual match. (See the example left).
All Edmonton Rovers Match DVD's (and videos) are priced at £11.00 each (not including postage & packing), although Club Members and ex-Club Members only have to pay £10.00 per copy (plus £1.50 postage & packing if necessary).
Edmonton Rovers Match DVD's from Season 2003/2004 onwards include menus and chapters, but DVD's from previous seasons are just straightforward copies from S-VHS Master Tapes.
Matches from Season 2003/2004 onwards also feature much-improved slow-motion replays, titles and general picture quality.
Click here to visit the Sunday League Home Page where you will find links to our full Edmonton Rovers F.C. Match Video & DVD Catalogue.

EDMONTON ROVERS COMPILATION VIDEOS & DVD's

Edmonton Rovers Compilations up to and including the 1997-98 Season feature all the goals and main action from throughout the particular season with an informative and sometimes humorous narration by Club Secretary Laurence Hughes. All copies of these Edmonton Rovers Compilations are supplied in presentation boxes with full colour inserts featuring still-frame shots of footage from that particular Compilation. (See the example right).
The majority of our Edmonton Rovers Compilations that were produced during the 1990's have a Running Time of 180 Minutes and are priced at £13.00 each (not including postage & packing), although Club Members and ex-Club Members only have to pay £10.00 per copy (plus £1.50 postage & packing if necessary).
Compilations with a running time of 180 minutes are available on video only (until such time as we have experimented with using Dual-Layer DVD's to copy them onto). Compilations with a running time of 120 minutes are available on both DVD and video (for the same price).
Unfortunately, we have not had time to produce any narrated Compilation Videos since the 1997/98 Season as they take too long to script, while the voice-overs often need several re-takes !!!  Instead, we are hoping to eventually produce DVD Compilations for each season from 1998-1999 onwards which will consist of approximately six 80-minute volumes per season featuring 20-minutes worth of highlights from four matches on each volume (but with no commentary or narration). Unfortunately, due to time constraints, this is the only way that we can produce Edmonton Rovers Compilations from now on. We have already compiled these DVD volumes for Seasons 2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2005-2006 & 2006-2007, and these are now listed on the Compilations Page. These are priced at £10.00 per volume (plus £1.50 postage & packing if necessary), although current or former club members can purchase these at just £5.00 per volume.
At the moment, these Compilation DVD's do not come with a colour insert (like the one pictured right), or with a printed label on the actual disc, but we will be looking into designing something for them in the near future.

OTHER EDMONTON ROVERS DVD'S

We also have DVD's available of Edmonton Rovers CLUB TOURS and some 5-A-SIDE or 7-A-SIDE COMPETITIONS they have entered. Details of these are on the Compilations page. Once again, these will be supplied in presentation boxes with full colour inserts featuring still-frame shots of footage from that particular DVD.
Please note that these DVD's are just straightforward copies from S-VHS Master Tapes and they do not include menus & chapters.
During the 1990's, we also produced a number of 'Out-Takes' Videos from our footage of Edmonton Rovers matches and Club Tours. These are only available for current and former club members to purchase and are not listed on this website for the general public.

DISILLUSIONED OR RETIRING FROM NON-LEAGUE ('SEMI-PRO') FOOTBALL ?
COME AND PLAY FOR EDMONTON ROVERS !

Are you fed up with sitting in a 10-mile tailback on the M25 after work when trying to get to your midweek match ?
Is training all about fitness, passion and dedication and a bollocking from your Manager if you are perceived not to have those qualities ?
Is it worth it only working part-time during the day when you don't get paid much for playing 'Semi-Pro' ?
Is the 'missus' starting to complain that you play too much football and she doesn't see you at all on a Saturday because your game is up North somewhere ?
If playing for a 'Semi-Pro' Saturday side is getting a bit too much, why not try out Sunday football instead with Edmonton Rovers ?
Many 'Semi-Pro' Saturday players are under the impression that Sunday League football is a very poor standard with no Referees, drunken overweight players and dreadful pitches to play on. However, the Mercury Waltham Sunday League that Edmonton Rovers play in is anything but !  Over the past five years or so, Edmonton Rovers have had a number of former Ryman League players play for them after retiring from Saturday 'Semi-Pro' football, and they have all been pleasantly surprised by the standard of football and the general organisation of the League. Although you have to pay to play Sunday League Football (a £25.00 signing-on fee and £5.00 per match if it is for Edmonton Rovers), the benefits of playing for Edmonton Rovers in the Mercury Waltham Sunday League are as follows:
- All games are 10.30.a.m. kick-offs on a Sunday morning, so that gives you the whole afternoon and evening with the 'missus'.
- All games are played locally, and at a time when the roads are not clogged up with traffic.
- You are not forced to attend training sessions as you will not be under contract.
- You can get a good higher-paid full-time job without the worry of having to get off work early to play in midweek matches.
- Edmonton Rovers' Home pitch in Palmers Green has the best playing surface in the League and is better than many Non-League grounds.
- A qualified Referee is appointed for every match, many of whom are much more 'sensible' than Non-League officials who are being assessed.
- Virtually all teams in the Mercury Waltham Sunday League have ex-Semi-Pro players and there is hardly a 'beer-gut' in sight !
- Edmonton Rovers play in a 7-a-side League during the Summer, which is when they try out new players.
- Edmonton Rovers have been running for 32 years, they have all their matches captured on film, and they have the best Sunday Club Website in the Country...probably !
The sort of players Edmonton Rovers are looking for are those who are intelligent, enjoy their football, and can play on a regular basis. Players who have been kicked out of Non-League/Semi-Pro football for a lack of discipline will definitely not be welcome, as ranting and raving at Referees and trying to start fights with opposing players will not be tolerated. Edmonton Rovers are not that sort of club !
If you are an ex-Semi-Pro player who is interested in joining Edmonton Rovers, click here to view their Website, then contact Laurence Hughes.