Guillem Balague on Building Community at Biggleswade United Through Video Technology

Guillem Balague's journey with Biggleswade United began in October 2014 while he was getting his coaching badges. Having spent years analyzing football from the outside, he felt ready to take on decision-making responsibilities himself. When chairman Chris Lewis challenged him to prove his knowledge, Balague accepted.

The biggest lesson came early: grassroots clubs don't grow vertically like professional clubs, they grow horizontally.

"I thought, okay, I'll get this team and I'll just push them up the divisions. Now I realize that clubs like Biggleswade United and most grassroots clubs, you have to grow horizontally to become a community club," Balague explains.

That horizontal growth has been substantial. The club now involves 300 people across an academy, men's and women's senior sides, walking football, veterans, and disability football programs.

"That has been the best football journey of my career," he says.

The Invisible Pressure of Grassroots Football

When asked to compare the challenges of chairing a grassroots club versus coaching professionally, Balague identifies one key difference: the type of pressure.

"The main difference is an invisible thing called pressure, and obviously the fact that you get a wage out of doing well as a professional and not from an amateur. But the pressure we've got to make sure that we meet targets, which could be sporting targets or growth targets, is also very big."

That pressure became painfully real when the FA moved Biggleswade United from their league to another, causing them to lose players. The club only secured their league status in the final 20 minutes of the last game of the season.

"I cried. I couldn't sleep for weeks. It was the same with the other volunteers. It was just incredible," Balague admits. "That is the same emotion as professional football."

The personal nature of grassroots football adds another dimension. Unlike professional clubs where players can remain somewhat detached from the community, grassroots participants face their community members directly.

"It's easier from the point of view that you only have to respond to your own responsibility. But once you start the project you have to keep it going, you have to commit. You have to create identity. And of course you have to help the coaches get the best of the players. That's where Veo comes in," Balague explains.

From Luxury to Expectation

Balague emphasizes that building a strong club culture cannot be taken for granted. Many clubs change managers thinking that's the solution, but Biggleswade United takes a different approach.

"We all have to think the same. When somebody asks you what Biggleswade United is about, you're going to get more or less the same answer from 300 people. That is what part of the job is," he says.

Video technology has evolved from being a bonus to an expected tool at the club.

"When you're able to say we've got Veo, it absolutely is a plus. Although we have gone from 'hey we've got Veo' to coaches asking 'we've got Veo, right?' So it's gone from being a bonus to being expected, which is great," Balague notes.

The club uses Veo in multiple ways. Coaches review matches, highlights can be created immediately, and the club now has a media team of six people plus a commentator who work with the footage.

"The evolution of Veo towards making that easier and easier has been of great help. It's one of those things that you mention when interviewing for head coach positions, and it always gets brought up. Players demand clips," Balague explains.

The Need for Accessible Analysis

While praising Veo's capabilities, Balague identifies an area where grassroots clubs need additional support: analysis.

"I think you should either be sponsoring or creating football analysts even at our level. It would be very hard to finance, so for clubs like ours it doesn't become a priority to have a football analyst. But a football analyst is what converts Veo into even a better tool. It helps you focus on detail, it maximises the potential of the filming, it gives us more information to take better decisions."

When Biggleswade United has had access to football analysts, the combination with Veo proved powerful. However, budget constraints at grassroots level make dedicated analysts difficult to justify.

Broadcasting Ambitions

Balague sees potential for Veo to evolve further as a broadcasting tool. The club has been exploring ways to enable live commentary from remote locations.

"We've been blessed with a commentator in Ryan Madden, but we've got other commentators who don't always have the ability to come to the game. So if they can do it from their homes, in the UK or abroad, that would certainly be one of the things that I would ask," he suggests.

This capability would help serve Biggleswade United's national and international audience. While the numbers aren't massive, there is definitely viewership from fans who cannot attend matches in person.

"Older people do not travel away with us, and many of the 300 we get in home games will watch it if they could and would love commentary with it," Balague explains.

He envisions creating more community interaction through these broadcasts, similar to what the club sometimes does via Facebook where viewers can comment in real-time.

Veo has become integrated into the club's match-day operations. When secretaries send pre-match emails to teams, one of the standard questions is whether Veo will be available, as this affects various logistical decisions.

AI-Powered Analysis for Time-Strapped Coaches

When shown Veo's new AI-powered analysis tool that provides match summaries, performance ratings, and training drill suggestions, Balague immediately saw the value.

"100% useful. For the commentators, for the fans for sure when they're watching it, for myself," he responds enthusiastically. "The lack of time of coaches means they have to choose where they dedicate their time. This would be a shortcut to whatever happens."

But he identifies an even more fundamental benefit: education.

"I also feel that many coaches at this level don't read the game, don't see it. I'm not saying about ours, because understanding and adjusting during a game is something I demand. But many coaches at this level think their job is to chose a line up and get the subs on during a match. So this may just open so many eyes into understanding what had just happened."

Balague sees the AI analysis as a valuable application of technology to a real problem in grassroots football.

"It's a great idea and it's a great use of AI. I'm sure there'll be many others, but one that I hadn't thought of. It certainly helps read what's going on and then obviously apply whatever you need to do to improve your team based on that."

Through his work at Biggleswade United, Balague has demonstrated that grassroots football requires the same level of strategic thinking and emotional investment as professional coaching. The difference lies not in the passion or complexity, but in working within tighter constraints while building something that serves an entire community.

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