The BBC's subtitles produced a rather bizarre caption during their live coverage of the England v Scotland game last weekend. While commentator Andrew Cotter announced 'Nigel Owens is saying...' the subtitle produced a very different description.
BBC Sport quickly corrected the error and released a statement explaining the malfunction.
Our live subtitling service produces accuracy levels in excess of 98%. But, as with all broadcasters, there are instances - particularly during live broadcasts - when mistakes happen. On this occasion the voice recognition subtitling software made an error which was spotted and corrected immediately.
In the past Owens has discussed his sexuality with admirable honesty, and the Welsh referee was made aware of the error after the game. However, he chose to see the lighter side of the situation and tweeted a comical understanding.
I must say I had a giggle when I saw this. I thought bloody hell this voice recognition is good. Shame it wasn't about 25yrs ago it would habe helped me find out who I truly was sooner then. Mistakes happen so no worries at all on my behalf BBC it actually made me smile. https://t.co/WdawxHNGY5
— Nigel Owens MBE (@Nigelrefowens) February 27, 2018
Owens is renowned as one of the best referees in the world while also speaking openly on a variety of matters both in and outside of sport.
