At the start of the new football season teams have new kits, players have new boots, and fans have new players to shout for. Everyone loves a shiny new thing at the start of a new season. And it’s the same for referees!

The men in the middle are often overlooked, but when it comes to shiny new stuff, they haven’t been overlooked this time.

The Premier League’s sponsorship with swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer sees Premier League referees using TAG’s Connected series of watches and a new referees app to make their job keeping the time easier.

Referees have one of the hardest jobs in football. Their biggest job is making the decisions which will, in turn, be heavily scrutinised by a fervent media and fans baying for blood. So what they don’t want to have to worry about is keeping the time in the game.

The app is designed to time the 45 minute halves as well as 15 minutes for half time and to take into account stoppage time and extra time.

Jean-Claude Biver, TAG Heuer’s chief executive says the app is not a gimmick. “This is a real tool that referees can and will actually use during games. It takes advantage of the Connected watch’s sophisticated technology, which we developed at TAG Heuer with our partners Intel and Google. Because every detail of the referee app has been thought through with Premier League referees, I have no doubt that this will be a useful tool.”

The watch gets the thumbs up from former Premier League referee and now General Manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, Mike Riley.

“Refereeing a Premier League game has never been more demanding than it is now, with every refereeing decision heavily scrutinised.” Riley says. “The introduction of the TAG Heuer Connected and the TAG Heuer referee app makes the job that much simpler. Knowing they have an accurate, reliable, high-functioning device on their wrist to keep track of game time will give referees extra confidence and leave them to focus on the running of the match,”

For Premier League referees, perhaps the most important piece of kit is the watch. And now that watch is making their lives easier. No longer do they have to fear accidentally stopping time – the app includes gestures which mean they can’t do that – nor do they really have to worry about time at all. The watch itself has that covered. Now they have no excuses for getting the wrong decisions!

TAG Heuer have also made a Premier League app downloadable to their normal users, too. The app will feature a Premier League dial for the face of the watch but will also include up-to-date news and scores for your favourite team.

Now we can all have a shiny new toy for the start of the Premier League season!