Rugby Football Union Expands Use of First Sports Solution
First Sports International* designated as the Official CRM Supplier
London, England (June 30, 2004) First Sports International (FSI), a leading provider of participant relationship software, today announced that the Rugby Football Union (RFU) has expanded its use of the First SportsTM solution.
The company’s expanded relationship with the RFU includes a license that provides for the use of the First Sports solution throughout the entire RFU enterprise. In addition, the RFU has now designated First Sports as the Official CRM Supplier to the RFU. The RFU departments that will be implementing the solution in this expansion include coaching, league and event administration, player management, fan club membership, officiating, venue management and community programmes.
The RFU, a First Sports customer since November of 2003, utilizes the First Sports solution to gain a better understanding of its members, serve its participants more effectively and aid membership recruitment. The RFU is one of England’s largest sporting organisations, with approximately 1700 clubs, 28 regional constituent bodies and more than 250,000 games played each year under its auspices.
The cornerstone of FSI’s relationship with the RFU is the ability of the First Sports solution to provide the RFU with a single, comprehensive view of its participants’ multiple roles with the organisation. This allows the RFU to coordinate its administrative and revenue-generating activities. The solution is expected to provide each RFU department implementing the solution with critical information regarding each fan, player, coach and/or sponsor needed to deliver efficient and comprehensive services.
“We are looking forward to rolling out the First Sports solution throughout our organisation,” said Steve Elliott, Head of IT for the RFU. “We believe it will allow us to improve our communications and administrative needs, therefore delivering more personalized and efficient service to each member.”
As the Official CRM Supplier to the RFU, First Sports will have the right to incorporate the RFU’s name and logo into FSI’s marketing materials and website. FSI believes that this type of recognition with large sports organisations will help to further the Company’s efforts to gain customers throughout the sports industry.
David R. Simmons, FSI chairman, comments, “We are very pleased that the RFU has chosen to expand their use of the First Sports solution. We believe it will provide them with the tools necessary to increase overall participation and maximize revenue to more efficiently run their organisation, while providing their many participants and fans with improved communication and experiences.”
About First Sports International (FSI)
First Sports International (FSI) delivers full-service software and business solutions to many of the world’s top sporting organisations and events. The FSI sports solution improves operating efficiencies and participant relations while enhancing revenue opportunities. Built upon a core repository of information for all individuals associated with an NGB or event, the solution manages the administration of participants, fans, volunteers and ticket buyers as well as the execution of player registration, membership and fan programmes, accreditation and premium seating/hospitality sales systems. The system’s architecture includes both core product modules and a flexible toolset that allows the customer to customise the application to fit specific customer requirements. Visit www.first-sports.com to learn more or call our team at +44 (0) 1932 268 000.
About The Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union was formed in 1871 and is responsible for the governance of the game in England. Some 1,700 clubs and 3,000 schools are affiliated to the RFU and the Union produced an operating profit of £18m in the last financial year. Currently the home of Rugby World Cup winners, England, Twickenham stadium has a capacity of 74,000 and last year held its first rock concert when the Rolling Stones performed twice at the venue in September 2003.
*On the original date of this release, First Sports International (FSI) was a part of Firstwave Technologies, Inc. As of June 2005, FSI is a separate company.
