USA Rugby Signs First Sports International as the Official Sponsor of the Women's National Team's England Tour
BOULDER, Colo. - USA Rugby is pleased to announce First Sports International as the official sponsor of the 2007 Women's Eagles Tour to England in December.
First Sports International (FSI), a leading provider of sports industry-focused technology solutions, has signed on as the Women's National Team's jersey sponsor for its three match tour, which spans December 6-16. The sponsorship also includes the branding of the team's training kit with the FSI logo.
"As an international sports company, we are pleased to support the USA Rugby Women's tour in England," said David R. Simmons, Chairman, First Sports International. "Our passion for sport is the basis for our development of leading software solutions that provide governing bodies such as USA Rugby with the foundation they need to successfully build their grass roots participation for both women and men. We're looking forward to a great competition between these top-ranked teams."
First Sports International has proven itself committed to many of the world's leading sports organizations and events, with clients that include the Rugby Football Union, The Football Association (The FA) and The Wimbledon Championships.
"It is always a great pleasure to welcome a new sponsor to USA Rugby," said Nigel Melville, USA Rugby CEO and President of Rugby Operations. "FSI is keen to help us develop the sport of rugby in the United States and recognizes the Eagles as a team with a great future."
The Women's National Team kicks off the 2007 First Sports International England Tour against the Nomads on December 8 and faces England A on December 12 and the England Women's National Team on December 15.
'The tour to England will be a fantastic challenge. If we want to be serious contenders in the 2010 Women's World Cup we have to play and beat the best in the world," Melville said.
USA RUGBY, founded in 1975, is the national governing body for rugby in the U.S., and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Rugby Board (IRB). The organization is responsible for the development of boys, girls, high school, collegiate and club athletic programs, and ultimately, the nine national teams representing the United States in international competition. For more information on USA Rugby and its supporting partners visit www.usarugby.org/goto/sponsors.
About First Sports International - First Sports International (FSI) is the leading provider of full-service software and business solutions to many of the world's top sporting organizations and events. Built upon a core repository of information for all individuals associated with a National Governing Body (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 programs, ticketing, accreditation and premium seating/hospitality sales systems. Visit www.first-sports.com to learn more or call + 1 404.504.6213.
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Online Memberships A Huge Hit for NSW Rugby - NSWRU Media Unit
The 2008 Super 14 season looks set to be a big one for HSBC Waratahs members with renewals going through the roof on day one of sales.
The first 24 hours saw a tenfold increase in sales on 2007 levels.
The increase is due at least in part to the development of NSW Rugby's new online membership interface, which allows fans to secure their seats via the internet.
NSW Rugby Chief Executive Officer Jim L'Estrange says the reaction to the new renewal process has been outstanding.
"2008 promises to be a big year and we're already drawing a crowd," Mr. L'Estrange said.
"I've been a NSW Rugby Union member for a long time and from personal experience the new system is leaps and bounds ahead of the old.
"Being able to renew online means no matter where in the world our members find themselves over coming weeks - be it Montpellier or Maroubra - they'll be able to quickly and easily renew their association with the Waratahs.
"By renewing online members get an instant guarantee that their seats are safe for 2008."
The off-field innovation will be matched on it, with the Waratahs boasting an exciting roster of established and up and coming stars.
HSBC Waratahs head coach Ewen McKenzie said even with five months to go before kick off, season 2008 is shaping up to be an exciting year.
"There's already plenty to like about next season," McKenzie said.
"We've recruited strongly with Timana Tahu and Luke Burgess coming into the squad, and have exciting young players like Tatafu Polota-Nau, Kurtley Beale and Lachie Turner who will be much better for the experience gained in 2007.
"Our home crowd is a direct source of inspiration for the players and we rely on them to make the Sydney Football Stadium an intimidating venue for visiting teams.
"As a team we're eyeing a top four finish and this is a chance for all members, old and new, to be a part of it."
The priority renewal period for existing members started this week for NSWRU Life Members and will be followed by Season Member renewals.
Memberships will then be made available to the general public.
The Waratahs have six competition matches at the Sydney Football Stadium in 2008, including blockbuster clashes against the Hurricanes (Round 1), Brumbies (Round 4), Blues (Round 8) and 2007 runners up the Sharks (Round 11).
Members also get guaranteed seats to the Rotomahana Challenge match against the Crusaders, the traditional final trial before the start of the competition, as well as an inbound tour game and the Tooheys New Shute Shield Grand Final.
Other member benefits include special access to the team, priority access to purchase tickets in the event of a home Semi-Final or Final, and an exclusive members-only merchandise pack.
For further details, visit the NSWRU Memberships page at http://www.waratahs.com.au/Memberships/Memberships.aspx.
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IBM serves Wimbledon's data needs - ComputerWeekly, 21 June 2007
As well as great tennis, good information flow is vital to the Wimbledon tennis championships.
This year's tournament is no different, and will rely even more heavily on its dedicated wireless network, as well as on the traditional wired system, to ensure that live match data gets out to the press and public as quickly as possible.
The Lawn Tennis Association, which runs the Wimbledon championships, has been working with IBM Global Services to build a dedicated wireless Wi-Fi network to cover much of the grounds.
The association started working with IBM Global Services in 1990 to devise electronic scoring and statistics systems. In 1996, IBM created the graphics that the BBC uses in its coverage of Wimbledon. Since then, IBM has helped to develop IT systems to cover everything from intranet and internet access to ticketing and gate security.
"We are introducing all of this new technology while the club maintains a 'tennis in an English country garden' appearance," says Paul Figgins, senior IT specialist at IBM Global Services, who is effectively Wimbledon's IT manager.
He says that technology is assisting Wimbledon in remaining the premier Grand Slam tennis event. It is worth noting that IBM also provides the technology for the three other Grand Slam events: the French Open, Australian Open and US Open.
This year, Wimbledon has a wireless network comprising more than 70 wireless access points around the site, giving key user groups - officials, press and players - wireless access to the internet and Wimbledon's various intranets and applications.
The wireless project started in 2003, when IBM piloted wireless access in the press centre, Centre Court and Court One, mainly for photographers to send images to their photo editors straight from the courts. Cisco provided the networking equipment, including 16 access points.
"It was a resounding success, and people asked to have more coverage the following year, and we have been building on that ever since," says Figgins.
Between 2003 and 2006 only a handful of journalists had wireless-enabled laptops, and Figgins configured them individually as required. But last year, a couple of hundred members of the press arrived as the tournament began, all demanding web access for their laptops.
"The logistics of configuring, supporting and helping all these individuals is quite something, particularly when they come in on Monday morning expecting access, and there is a queue of people banging on the table and saying 'configure my computer now'," says Figgins.
As a result, IBM has extended the cabling across the site to ensure that more areas are both Wi-Fi and Ethernet enabled, including the whole of the press centre. It also encourages users who can link into the wired Ethernet network to do so to ease network traffic.
As well as facing demand from more users, the network has had to adapt to bandwidth-hungry users, such as press photographers. In 2003, says Figgins, there were two or three photographers from the agencies who wanted to upload images from Centre Court and Court One. Now there are dozens of them, taking photographs with cameras that can instantly upload the images via a wireless link.
So IBM has had to make all of its local access points available in the tennis courts, in particular, providing a 12mbps pipe, and balancing the load on the wired and wireless networks to provide the optimum bandwidth for all users.
Figgins says, "The Wi-Fi equipment is based on the 802.11g standard, which in theory offers data transfer speeds of 64mbps. But in reality this comes down a bit, and if you have got a mixed 802.11b and 802.11g client environment this brings it down a bit further. So you are effectively looking at something like a 10mbps hub.
"In Centre Court, for example, you have three access points all on different channels. We make all that available, so there is no clash in interference, and try to optimise it. By adding in the wired network and sharing out bandwidth, it lengthens the life of that particular system."
But the press are not the only users of the wireless system. As time went by, the club received requests for network access from users who were working in temporary huts and marquees that were being erected beyond the courts. As no cabling was in place, and because the tennis courts could not be disturbed, extending the wireless system was an attractive alternative. Eventually, these locations will be wired, says Figgins, as this will offer a more robust and reliable network link.
More recently, IBM started demonstrating PDA technology over the wireless network, giving handhelds to hospitality guests to show off its Pocket Wimbledon information system. The system includes a database of scores and statistics, biographies and history videos, as well as live streaming video from the matches.
IBM is currently extending the wireless network to run an application for Group 4 Security, which escorts the players to and from courts. Group 4 staff will use handheld devices to enable them to know when matches are starting and finishing.
For Wimbledon 2006, the security team on the gates located at the far points of the Wimbledon compound started using the wireless network. Sending data to the central IBM DB2 database from Symbol PPT800 handheld ID badge scanners via wireless links enabled them to confirm the identity of contractors and full-time and temporary staff in real time as they entered the grounds.
The system requires all workers to present an accreditation badge to security staff, who scan it to ensure it matches the photographic records held on the Club CRM system, Aegis (All England Global Information Systems), developed by First Sports International. There are links to the police intelligence system.
This year, the system will also cover ticket retail. "In the old days, people used to put their tickets in the bin, and every so often someone would go around and empty the bins and resell the tickets. This year, people will have their ticket scanned, and the system will reprint it up at the top of Henman Hill," says Figgins. As a result, visitors will be able to keep their tickets as a souvenir, he says, and the Lawn Tennis Association will be able to reduce fraud.
Wirelessly enabling the far-flung kiosks did pose some challenges, says Figgins, because they needed power to be cabled down to them.
"At the very back of the site is a little hut in the middle of a field, which is an entrance. We needed to get scanning facilities and an access point to there, so the club's cabling and electrical teams had to dig a trench 200 yards through the field to put in cabling for an access point in this little hut."
Another physical problem that the IT team faces is the growth of trees and bushes, which can emerge during the year between the access points and user sites, restricting wireless access.
The building works, which began in 2006 to refurbish Centre Court and build a new roof, have also provided another challenge. The project will last three years and building work continues throughout the year except for the two tournament weeks.
The IT team wants to install wireless access points in the building to cover the courts, restaurants and other areas.
Most of the fixed network elements were tested five weeks ago, but, to a large extent, Figgins had to wait until the temporary cabins and marquees had been installed before he could configure and install the last access points, ensuring they could be managed from the central Cisco Works console.
This tool gives a visual overview of the whole Cisco switched Ethernet infrastructure, a fibre-based backbone network across the whole site, which has dual or triple routes everywhere. The IT system incorporates about 30 different Cisco switches in racks around the site, and more than 70 Cisco Aironet 1200 series 802.11g access points.
"Cisco Works gives us a map on the screen, and we can get an alert to tell us exactly what part of the site has a problem, and what device it is. That could be anything from a switch to a PC, a server or an access point, and it is not just the wireless network that is covered: it is the whole network," says Figgins.
The IT system underwent two major tests in March and April, focusing on the referee system, the scoring system and the radar system.
Two weeks before the tournament started, the applications team arrived to test their various applications. A few days later, the internet team came in straight from the French Open at Roland Garros to ensure the various web technologies were up and running.
The final "dress rehearsal" test took place last Friday, three days before Wimbledon opened. This test brought together Figgins' team of 160 IBM personnel, which includes IT architects, systems builders, technical specialists, the internet support team, 80 data-entry staff who input data at the Show Courts and Centre Court, the Lawn Tennis Association's IT group, and BBC technical staff and producers.
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CRM kicks soccer in the right direction - Computerworld, August 9, 2006
Australia's football governing body, Football Federation Australia (FFA), is in the early stages of rolling out a
national CRM system to redress problems left by the previous administration and to give a needed cash-kick to grassroots clubs.
Over the next five years, the federation plans to deploy a software suite, developed by UK-based First-Sports,
to all tiers of football administration in Australia.
The solution will enable the federation to build a national database of its 700,000 registered players, which will
then be used as a competition management platform to streamline communication across the sport's state federations,
zones, districts, associations and clubs that will manage the administration of participants, fans and volunteers.
"One of the interesting aspects of sport is that it is not a one-to-one relationship in terms of an organization and a customer,
which a traditional CRM covers," FFA Online manager, Paul Templeman said.
"[The software] has the traditional CRM elements -contact management and marketing, but it also has sport-specific
modules such as player registration, coaching accreditation and referee registration, which makes it perfect for us."
The system will be built from the ground up, because under Australia's previous football governing body
(the now-defunct Soccer Australia), there was no national database of registered players; there was also an outdated online system.
The rollout will be in line with the introduction of new FFA national regulations which will take effect from January 1, 2007.
These regulations require all players in Australia to register with the FFA and the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).
Previously, players only had to register with their respective state bodies.
Templeman said the critical factor in using the First-Sports system was its ability to create a 360-degree view of each participant,
highlighting multiple roles and interactions within the football community in Australia. This would allow for coordinated marketing campaigns,
better communication and player accountability, he said.
"For the past 18 months, since the federation liquidated Soccer Australia, we've been trying to unite the tribes," Templeman said.
"The old NSL [National Soccer League] clubs were ethnically aligned and their fan bases were just as fragmented, but we're on our way to changing that."
This fragmentation posed a number of problems for the game's administration in Australia, particularly in regard to the funding of grassroots clubs.
The absence of player data meant Australian football clubs could not qualify for financial compensation through a FIFA-sponsored claims system,
which provisions a downward flow of funds to grassroots clubs as players move through the ranks of professional football.
"FIFA requires national football associations to prove a player's playing history, which was completely impossible under the bedraggled system
of the old Soccer Australia," Templeman said.
He added that meeting FIFA regulations, securing funding for grassroots clubs and managing the flow of data from each respective state football association,
were among the main reasons for using the CRM suite.
"Ultimately, the process is going to be dependant on how each of the state football bodies decide to roll it out," Templeman said. "We'll be there for support,
but how they decide to roll out the registration process is up to them."
Although the task of rolling out the system to every football club in Australia would be a daunting one, its completion would provide harmony to the disparate
sets of rules and regulations that govern each respective state body and association, Templeman said.
"At the moment it is difficult to quickly gather detailed statistics of players and teams and therefore ground allocations," he said, adding
that the solution will allow the combination of demographic information.
"It places us in a much better position to lobby councils and local governments for more support and ground allocation," he said.
The federation will bear the bulk of the infrastructure cost and is looking to invest "seven-figure sums" for the overall
implementation. At most, the state and district football associations would only need to pay for licensing costs of the system, Templeman said.
"It's a massive rollout and we don't expect to get it right the first time or have everyone using it next week," he said. "We will be taking our
time to do it properly, and although there will be pent-up demand, we'll manage it."
First-Sports' experience in the sporting world is varied with clients like the English Football Association, Wimbledon and Rugby Football Union in England.
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Project Trafalgar puts rugby union out in front, Touchline - May 2006 Issue 79
The most modern administration system in British sport is being implemented by the RFU. Project Trafalgar is a game-wide internet-based tool to help run rugby at all levels, with the details of more than one million coaches, referees, players and volunteers held on a single system.
The project has taken three years to develop by First Sports International, a leading provider of sports software technology solutions, and will be fully operational for the RFU and Rugby Football Union for Women by the start of next season in August.
Nick Bunting, RFU Head of Planning, Funding and Resources, said, "Project Trafalgar will put rugby union at the cutting edge of sports administration for a national governing body.
"We are replacing the plethora of current ageing IT systems with a single system. This will reduce the time taken to enter information, eliminate lots of different databases, and provides a more secure one that is regularly backed up. The system will not only be integral to the daily running of the sport but it will provide robust data about the health of the game, such as the number of qualified referees and coaches. We will use the information to see if the standards are improving and to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of programmes."
Users, from youth player registrars to club coaching co-ordinators, will be able to access and update information - known as a Rugby Passport - using a secure log-in. Access will be restricted so that only the person with the authority and valid CRB checks can update the information relevant to their role.
Bob Morrison, administrator for league rugby in the south west, added, "We register about 10,000 players every season and this new system has made it so much easier. For a start it’s internet-based so we are not having to dial up to a central computer and once a player is registered at youth level we are not having to duplicate their details. The next phase will be for league secretaries to be able to access the database and ultimately clubs, obviously with controlled access."
Clare Sharpe, Youth Registrar for Northumberland Rugby Union, said, "I input about 700 registrations a year for the 17 clubs in Northumberland who have junior sections and it’s made things so much easier. Players are categorised by age groups, gender, clubs and schools so you are not having to trawl through hundreds of names. I can now e-mail every youth coach an up to date list of all their players and any queries or amendments can be dealt with very quickly."
Enquiries regarding Project Trafalgar should be directed to Rob Mackmurdie on0208 8316580 or at robmackmurdie@rfu.com.
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14th JUNE 2005
First Sports International launches worldwide operations
Wembley Case Study
