“It’s Just An Easy Way Of Looking As If You Can Play Football” | Dragons’ Den
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Tony is hoping that his idea for a football game based on traditional tennis favourite swingball will attract the Dragons. Will he achieve his goal of investment or be sent off with nothing?
An international sensation, Dragon's Den features entrepreneurs pitching for investment in the Den from our Dragons, five venture capitalists willing to invest their own money in exchange for equity.
#DragonsDen #Football #Easy
I've seen kids more enthusiastic about doing their homework 😂😂
He can’t even get his own kids to pretend to enjoy it
hahahahah
I put this here ball on a pole, gimmie 150K.
omegatrue xD
😂😂😂😂
That drive home with his boys in the back saying dad how did it go would have been the longest drive of his life
If he keeps this up the boys will not have a home to go back to lol
He was probably angry at them for not having fun during the pitch lol
@@James4President I reckon this aswell
He drove off a cliff that day, kids screaming and 3 of his invention sticking out each window.
Later that day he see’s his kids playing normal kick-ups in the garden and proceeds to ground them both
The problem is, you can never tell which direction the ball Is going to come at you from.
So we fit a flow signal...
First thing I thought of when he was told not to spend another penny on it!🤣🤣🤣
Legend
😂👍
Burning and turning 🙂
and if you're not sure how to use it, you can call the BallDoctor
I think this is the first time I've laughed out loud at the product reveal.
Hahaha you must haven't seen much yet ;)
LOL. You're not the only one.
Can’t have seen many episodes then. Over the past 15yrs watching this show there’s been many many worse products
Easy to laugh when ur sat on ur ass looking at a screen.. What have you done
@@Danwhite9 also easy to "play" with this toy when you sit on your ass.
So check mate?
Edit: anyway, this may look boring but may be fun too, seesaw is also a pretty boring looking toy.
I actually love the idea. With a few tweaks whereby your remove the pole and the thing in the middle and leave just the ball. He could invent a really popular sport...This guy is a genius.
I reckon that’d be a great idea, can see people playing that competitively, genius.
Lol for real though 😂 I do feel quite sorry for the guy though because he invested so much energy into what he believed would be a fun bit of kit. But in reality he just overcomplicated and crapified football
You should never start a business if you believe this is a good product.
Yeah mate with you, or he could replace the beam with a spring loaded rope or something so the ball isn't limited to a small area and can be kicked around the area of say a football pitch.
@@nanophree you should not write if you can't read
The kids trying to have fun was kind of sad
Even sadder that it was his own kids. They are probably forced to play it.
They've probably gone through God knows how many rounds of product testing at home during the lifespan of its development.
🤣
Those seem to have been his kids. He took them to China and had them kick a ball on a pole for a few months before going back home.
I’d be cool to play helicopter with it
tony’s kids: dad please, we are so tired of kicking this ball, please can we rest, its been 12 hours.
tony: KEEP DOING TRICKS, THIS HAS MASSIVE PLAYABILITY
I can imagine this being played in a future dystopia where children are restricted to even leave their flats so they're all playing this on every balcony. Not even knowing the wonders of outside.
You've basically been describing the last 2 years
I think you would call that lockdown and the coming Green Agenda where noone can afford a car due to over taxation and other manufactured fuel crisis.
@@ibendover4817 That's the joke.
If that happens, maybe someone will invent video games.
"restricted to even leave their flats "
Restricted to leave their flats? So they can leave them? What.
The guy is actually well composed and well spoken. It's a shame it's the worst product I've ever seen in my life
It do be like that sometimes. Lol
The most pointless, expensive, clunky and over engineered product backed by a pitch without any substance. He really shouldn’t have been at all well composed in that situation.
To be fair, the idea of the ball not ending up in another person's garden is appealing, having had neighbours who were annoyed by what we were doing.
Have you seen Flow-signals?
@@richardparker7157😂😂 you beat me to it 😂 damn 😂😂
Mum I want to play football with the lads.
Mum: We've got a football at home.
*The Football at home:*
Hahaha!
Exactly
hahahaha
😂😂😂😂
what a sad existence lol
straight away you can see the issue is that it doesnt mimic gravity, so it's like a low speed football and cant replace the real thing
Right? It'd be like me putting a wiffle ball on a stick attached to the ceiling, and calling it a tennis training aid.
Well, actually, he explained the reason for that. He has the springs adjusted tightly for the presentation. The problem is that the ball isn't going out of its 4-5 feet parameter. A kicker can't even practice on it because there's no correlation between kicking this ball and the direction, projection, arc, etc it will take when compared to a loose ball. Even putting those issues aside, it looks like something even 5 year olds would quickly become bored. I don't know who told him this would sell, but they're obviously not in the toy industry. Having said that, I do hate when their dreams and the entire futures are wiped away in less than 8 minutes.
@@B_Bodziak Even if you keep adjusting the springs, the fact that it's attached to that pole makes it less of a soccer aid in general.
@@gaaraxnaru Oh, trust me, I'm laughing at his pitch, too. I thought in the interest of fairness after Duncan pointed out the issue with gravity, that someone should supply a comment with how he replied to Duncan. It's simply a bad "toy".
Gravity is a theory that has never been proven, if you were truly educated you would be saying mass and buoyancy
That man looked so utterly destroyed at the end I just felt like crying with him
He needed it though. I have been in this position, a wakeup call before you piss away your money in to a dead product. They did him a favour
@@mg6240 we all need that wakeup call once in a while
You are right. The invention was so ridiculous. They should have had let him walk out of there believing it could sell so he could go bankrupt trying to sell that piece of garbage. What an absolute joke.
@o8byrner08 that was not cruelty snowflake
Yeah he looked like he was about to burst into tears
Ironically, a string attached to the football would have been a far better option than a pole.
I was just about to comment this! Like, how did he not think of string or elastic first? 🤦😂
It would tangle up though, mostly on the players' feet.
Totem Football. The goal is to inflict blunt force trauma to your opponent..
What I was expecting actually
Definitely. That works well with tennis balls
The guy says that Peter's suggestion of elastic tied to a ball doesn't sell well. I'm not a massive football player but I imagine that'd sell better than what he has.
Michael Owen had his face in one of these in the 2000s
I feel really bad for those kids, who now have the video footage of their dad basically being given PTSD on national television after they leave the room
Lets say it costs £60 rrp - a regular ball would cost £3, you would have to lose 20 balls before this would make any sense.
Even then you would factor in fun also, and that's almost priceless. If you were losing a ball every day maybe you'll think you should invest in something to prevent it. But this is awful. Swing Ball is much better because there is skills involved.
Where are you buying footballs for £3? Mountains of Afghanistan or in ruins of Syria?
@@rejuvenatingsoul3498 sports direct sells size 5s for £3.00
@@faarishaque9142 sports direct sell for like 10 to 20 pounds
@@rejuvenatingsoul3498 they have factories in Afghan mountains? Technically price will be even more there
Tony, Tony, Tony... why a pole rather than a string/rope/chain?!
What a joker... Chinese loved the idea as you are paying them to manufacture it... they don't care if it sells or not, it isn't their problem
Of course they do 🤣 the more you sell the more you reorder
@@BigWes95 Yeh but if they can tell it wouldn't sell in the future they'd just want to bait him for whatever amount his initial order would be, get paid, and call it a day lol
Someone else probably has the patent on a direct football analogy to swingball.
“Will James Kahn be more forgiving?”
No. No he won’t.
caan or kahn? im confusedd
@@pupplemupple it's caan
@@pupplemupple Isn't it Nazim Khan or something like that, but he wanted an English sounding name... thus James Caan (like the actor)
He later went on to try to bribe a poor family into giving him their baby lol
It must be hard to be told you should give up on something you have already put time and effort into. I hope he took something positive away. Like Theo said sometimes your first loss is the best loss. Hope he does better on his next venture
I agree wholeheartedly, and I honestly hope that he'll make a better business in the future (fingers crossed that he didn't put too much money in)
He's likable and seems like a nice guy but this product is so bad
very nice s2k mate
@@KitamiK11
Thanks!
The joyless and lifeless way those boys played cracked me up 😂😂😂
That’s what happens when you’ve got a rotaball every Christmas and birthday for 10 years
The product was so useless that the Dragons didn't even ask for the price or even cost of the product xD
😅😅😅😅😅 this is so funnny, Product is useless asf
you're aware that this is a 10 minute cut down of what was probably a 40 minute pitch?
@@nickea399 True but the financials behind the product are usually in the part not cut out.
Honestly wouldn't have even mattered. Just a ball is more fun than this, and it's already blatantly clear a ball would be drastically cheaper. I'd think the cheapest possible would be $50 USD, probably more, and that already is just a huge no.
That would have been hilarious: "Well, Peter, the cost of the product is £699.00 to manufacture, and it will retail at £1199.00."
“What’s 10 percent of nothing?”
“Nothing!”
Savage!!
Still more than Brian's figures.
"I've spent 9 months in China and not heard a bad word about it"
Erm...China, the same place who you will pay to manufacture? 🤔
They did complain, but he didn't understand.
Yeah because China has always been known for their honesty in business and other areas.
To be fair, US and UK have a looooong list of backstabbing incidents in business and elsewhere!
These people lack critical thinking, same people who would take 100 booster shots from big pharma if big pharma told em to, not questioning their intentions in the slightest
@@darklordojeda Oh, racist, Ricky Gervais.
9:40 Peter's reality check: "If you got a family at home that are relying on you... you should put that aside and do something else." Ouch! What a wake up call!
I mean... he's right, though.
If you want to achieve something... yeah...
That guy needs more friends who are like Peter. That's a part of his problem I think, not enough people to tell him to stop when it matters. Too many enablers.
Kids looked so bored playing that 🤣
When he revealed his valuation I thought "it's all gonna kick off now".
Hi dad
Haha. I get it. Because football
We had a couple of balls on a rubber rope thing at our football academy here in Beijing. After 5 minutes the kids were bored and started to play with our table football.
Guy s in tears. Probably put his house into this that's why his kids looked so sad.
If that's the case, I feel so, so sorry for his wife.
I don't know why but this really made me laugh... I was already going straight to hell so oh well... 🤷♂️
@@WobblesandBean she choose him, feel sorry for the kids 😀
Good
Lmao he must of been smashed for 9 months if he thought this was a good idea
Jokes aside, you can see the pain in his eyes towards the end, the kids probably seemed so down cuz they probably been through a lot to get to this point, thinking its their big break
A fathers struggle to provide the best he can for his family
the product might be rubbish but he looked crushed. i feel for the guy.
the kids probably knew better than anyone how bad of a product it was
I feel bad for the guy, we all realize the issues with this product. But I can't help but feel empathy for him when he got crushed. I hope Tony sees better days :)
I agree, they didnt have to be this rude about it. He was upfront and honest about it. He probably knows nothing about business. He had an idea, and he thought it was brilliant. He thought its was a million (and a half) dollar idea.
It wasn't smart, but they didnt have to be so cruel, on television in front of everyone. Idk... he might have told everyone he was going to be there, thinking his idea would be loved. Idk. He seems just a simpleton.
I get some harsh critic is fair, we also want good television. But this was too much.
I also don't think the idea is that terrible. Seems to me this is playground equipment. In a public playground it makes total sense its attached. I would check some of the durability. Is it investable? No.
@@AntonFlier "I would check some of the durability" - Peter would break it.
@@AntonFlierthey’re trying to give him a reality check . You got to be rude sometimes
Got to be one of the funniest pitches of all time, man I miss Duncan
I love how pissed Duncan gets 🤣
Duncan and Theo were just what I was thinking
So they took football and made it worse. I also love how he claims you can take it anywhere, but it's this massive bar attached to a huge, heavy base, who's gonna bother lugging that thing to the beach??
Millions and millions of people, of course!
Yeah when you could just take a ball 😂😂
It's not for the beach, it's for confined spaces. Where the ball will never hit and thus break something. He should have emphasised that aspect. Mothers would love it for indoor use. Comparing it to a regular football was a loss.
@@David_Polak Indoor use? Are you for real or what? Look at the size of that thing... In exactly what kind of living room would that fit? Not a normal one.
Mothers telling their kids to gtfo is free.
@@R3dCol0r Not a living room indeed. But I was thinking of a basement or a patio. But maybe a garden is better.
It's hilarious when they use the largest possible statistic that encompasses every single human on the planet to figure out their own market share, ie, "There's 7.5 billion people in the world who've seen a ball in their lives, and I expect to sell a ball to half of them in the 1st year. GREAT! Now, who's onboard to give me $500k for 2.5% of my not-quite-a-business company??"
Amen.
My favourite is when they're downplaying the market; "This market is yearly worth 200 billion dollars. Now, if we can get *just one percent*" yada yada yada. What makes you think you will be able to get one percent? They think 1% of a global megamarket is small; it's freaking HUGE to hold 1% of a market consistently.
🤣🤣
@@Paaraadox Just Think Mcdonald the brand we all know and love only holds 4% of the fast food industry.
@@xovxxvox1281
Looked it up because I couldn't quite believe it, and it seems you likely have your numbers slightly off, as most of the results I got put them over 10%. I do not mean to insult you or anything of the sort, I just think it's funny
After watching this pitch, it did make me wonder if he has no adult family members, friends, neighbors, etc. If he did, surely one of them would have told him what a crap idea this was!
@Travel Crawl Wrong!
Give that to a kid they'd cry. Something Ned Flanders would buy his children.
Haha, so true. 😂
Kid no.1: ‘Dad’s getting ripped apart by the Dragons’
Kid no.2: ‘’yeah well, I told him not to come here for this’
Gotta feel for the guy, he’s done his best, the product is poor but he does seem like a genuine bloke and he’s just trying to make a buck, hope he has more success with a better product
He should just get a job.
I love how Theo is always so pleased woth Duncan's antics.
The awkward silence when the kids are kicking the ball 😭
Duncan just stands up and pops off immediately lol
The kids were probably super nervous to be on television. He did very well with answering their questions honestly and being concise and polite, and whether or not it simulates football is not relevant: wether it is fun is relevant.
You have a radiator as a pfp what are you going on about
@@Alphoric Not a joke: Fair point. I'm ugly to boot, so my perspective is clearly invalid.
A joke: lol yeah
@@levih.2158 windows 95 is ugly to boot
@@Alphoric damn straight
@@Alphoric Radiators are cool
The face on Theo after the demonstration says it all😂 I would disown someone who thought this was a good idea
So basically swingball but with the fun taken out. Genius🤦♂️😂
The way the children walked on already showed that they didn't want to be there.
This would be much better as a more robust thing for parks, essentially install it in small playgrounds with no space for an actual field or even half a field.
i thought the same thing. it’s too bulky for regular use but i thought my 4 year old would like this for 3 mins on a playground somewhere.
True, but open questions would be how robust it is for long-term use outside (does it need to be oiled?) and also whether it can be danger, e.g. what if you kick it really really hard?
@@MushroomMamaa 3 minutes!!??? Yes.✅☝️🤣
how he handled that so well is inspirational
I'm only 1:37 in so only seen the demonstration. Looks like something for someone who can't play football.
*Lovin hearing Deborah's initial thoughts as I type
Looks like the kind of thing a Gran would buy because 'Little Jimmy likes football doesn't he?' then gets used twice
I love these "I haven't seen the whole video yet" comments.
Purhaps the senior citizens play ball...???
Could have put an elastic rope inside the ball and tied the end of the rope to a stump/nail mounted on the ground.
That way, it is a portable solution. It is much cheaper. It also is free moving in any direction and works like a normal football.
It also achieves the objective of the ball not getting lost or off field.
I think that already exists. I'm certain I've played that in my youth.
Honestly, for the years ive been watching this show, this may just be top 3 worst products. Needs a major rethink because Duncan is absolutely right. As is, the product is fitting for toddlers or children just picking up the fundamentals of football.
The Guy seemed very genuine and I hope he is doing well❤️
"what's 10% of nothing..." "NOTHING" 🤣
Last time I was this early... Rory was just a Humble Seaweed Hunter
But did he take in to account Brain's figures?
What's this memo from hahahaha?
U just need some flow signals on that pole and you'll have a cracking product
It's unfortunate there was not ONE person in this mans life to say this is a very terrible idea.
Exactly. That guy needs some real friends.
There probably has. He has just not took notice of it.
Because it's not a terrible idea.
@@TheManInBlueFlames 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@TheManInBlueFlameshi Tony
I don't even play football, but I can tell this does not simulate the real thing. Part of the skill of playing football is in keeping control of it even though it can go anywhere. This makes it so it's always in the same spherical area.
Duncan ranting about it was quite funny.
I like how he tries to use swing ball as an excuse without saying swing ball. Then they essentially say it's a worse version of swing ball and he gets mad. When they ask him about his manufacturer, he says they manufacture swing ball. 🤦♂️
Toni sounded so defeated when he said no
Even the football said “I’m out”
The way it creaks on initial reveal is just chefs kiss
Haha "Your own children looked BORED"😂😂😂
His lads did him dirty with their lack of enthusiasm 😂
I think he mortgaged his house for this. I've never felt so sorry for someone
Yeah man it was pretty rough. Could see him nearly crying at the end of it.
He’s a nice guy, dunno how he can’t see this isn’t a business
Brought his kids on. Embarrassing
Because he’s in denial
I bet Rory would love one of these to play with on his boat for his breaks in between catching all that seaweed.
Eh?
@@modelsteamers671 we can just add the numbers up?
Surely?
No one is going to kick a ball on a pole for long, the numbers are irrelevant.
@@modelsteamers671 that's not taking into account Brian's figures.
@@Sam-yr8ls That's why he didn't secure a deal. It's not rocket science is it?
James is being so nice
they said his sons looked bored playing it...wrong! they looked bored walking up the stairs before they started playing it. thats the clue. absolute rubbish product
Yeah the look on their faces was "ffs this again"
@@lj7169 "I wish dad would invest my inheritance wisely, like Theo does for his children."
Better than your football team ... just joking 😅😂😂😂😂
I feel sorry for the kids, their mates are gonna be taking the piss at school
😅😅😅
Insane how these people are so confident in their terrible idea
"I reckon it's worth 1.5 million cause yknow, I'd really like it to be"
Imagine having to act like you’re enjoying that in front of your dad
It's an interesting concept; I imagine it would work well outside of supermarkets as one of those coin-operated attractions, though I doubt it would be something people put in their gardens.
Edit: You could test the concept by offering to put it up in front of a supermarket for free and measuring how well it performs, then you can make more and more adjustments to fine-tune the attraction for that setting.
It would make a killing if it had an accelerometer and a screen.
@@andyandreou that is such a good idea
This is one of the few times I've though a pitched product is completely idiotic. Like, most of the time, the product at least seems somewhat reasonable in it's purpose. But this? Just, wow.
Should of tested it with 🐒🐒🐵!!! Than on poor kids.😱🙀🥱🤣
He got a deserved mauling from the Dragons, The Ball did not act or move in a natural manner, who is why the idea was deeply flawed...
Noone deserves a mauling from the Dragons.
Its like doing keepy uppys with a balloon and thinking you're Maradona.
💯😂
We fit a Flow Signal. It mimicks the ball coming towards you.
That looks like something you would let the kids who eat paste play with so they don't hurt themselves
I think it would be good product if the ball had more movement of dropping instead of it floating down
He said you could ad just the springs. It would be fun to jump over the ball and stuff
The only use I could really see it having is if you can belt the living daylights out of the ball, to practice really hard striking in a small area; but just hanging a big net is probably still a better option even in very confined yards; especially if this thing costs a fair bit too...
Not a bad product - probably just needs a flow signal in the middle so you know which way to kick it- then it would be perfect
My salad came out of my mouth from laughing too hard when I saw the big reveal
18 Apr 2017 First Gazette notice for compulsory strike-off
04 Jul 2017 Final Gazette dissolved via compulsory strike-off
The idea is good but h could have make it more interesting by using an elastic rope. Plus it will be easy to storage.
We had this come with our house 50 years ago. It was a metal pole with a string connected to a soccer ball
I cried for him so brutal 😢😭
This is one of the most difficult pitches to watch in my opinion, the bloke is clearly professional, came across well but just so happened to have an abysmal product - looked like he was about to cry at the end.
He pitched his product to solve the problem of footballs landing in other peoples gardens, footballs on strings exist
Footballs in wider spaces than gardens exist too
The frightening thing is that he is actually serious about this. He probably yelled at his kids afterwards for not looking excited with his product and blamed them for not getting the investment rather than realising the product is worthless.
I feel so sad for the guy. If he wasn't so focused on this junk and had a decent product, I feel like he could have really been successful.
At least towards the end, it seems like the Dragons got through to him.
Unlike some of the other contestants that just double down :D
It's classic Steve Jobs syndrome. "How can I be the next Steve Jobs/big millionaire/billionaire/inventor". You can see the thought processes like they're writing a list: "OK first. Well, what's my skills and abilities? Nothing really. OK What makes money or stuff I like? Kids. What else? Um...Soccer. Soccer is really popular. Let's reinvent the wheel but much crapper I'm PEAK ENTREPENEUR"
I’m an entrepreneur and investor and tend to disagree with you. Confidence is not unimportant, but one of the most important things in business is to be super open minded and constantly adapt and challenge your beliefs and views.
The worst entrepreneurs tend to be the ones that believe things instead of verifying them. Often more confident or arrogant people. Spending 9 months on product development in China without verifying the business model is just insane, even taking into account that the food is better.
@@Sheizerinho Yup, I am programmer and the first thing you do before you even think about fleshing out the software product is the same - you create simplified prototype and see if the concept works. You don't just go and try to make the end product you though about from the very start.
This product is genius for public parks. There are only 27,000 Parks in the UK.
I've got a great idea .
What about inventing a ball without a pole , it'll teach you how to play the game for real and gain skills.
But sshhh I'm thinking of giving that idea a go but I'm concerned it possibly won't take off
I have an idea.
Put the ball on a string which is then attached to a heavy flat base. That would be better.
Narrator: Will James Khan be more forgiving?
James Khan: ಠ_ಠ
Dad making the kids come along with something they got bored of after 5 minutes!
Kids definitely got in trouble for looking bored after this lol
It would have been better if he'd put the spring pressure down so the ball moved a bit more like a football instead of like in an action replay.
Feel sorry for his kids who aren’t allowed to use a normal football
I LOVE how uninterested the kids looked
Dunno if he took on Peter's advice, but the company closed down around a year after this episode aired, having never made any money with the product.
Good guy. He will come back stronger