AusLeisure

Football NSW is using SAS analytics to help it in retaining players and finding sponsorship opportunities.

Having began working with New Zealand-based SAS Visual Analytics in 2014, the governing body for football in NSW has been able to gain a deeper understanding of its clubs, players, coaches and referees so it can enhance the value of the services it provides to them.

The driver behind this was an ongoing participation growth, with the association having 227,000 registered players, including 20,000 who play summer football, 12,500 registered coaches and 4,500 referees.

Each registration is made through the MyFootball Club portal and includes details such as name, date of birth, address and where they play football.

Football NSW Chief Executive Eddie Moore says football is about creating a positive experience for all members, commenting “gaining an in-depth understanding of our members and their involvement with the football community can help us better engage with them.”

While Football NSW had access to its comprehensive participant data, it needed a tool to analyse and provide it with insights. So it replaced the Excel spreadsheets it had been using for many years with Visual Analytics from SAS.

Since installing SAS Visual Analytics, Football NSW has already addressed an issue it had with referee churn.

Moore explains “we now know 30% of our referees are in the 12 to 16 age bracket and drop out once they become teenagers.

“(As a result) we have since introduced a marketing initiative to help combat this.”

The greater insights are also helping Football NSW attract and retain members.

Moore says previously, it would have taken months to work through the registration data and contact the players who hadn’t returned to convince them to come back, but now, he adds “if you play in a winter competition, your details are geocoded and we can let you know there is a summer competition taking place near you.”

SAS Visual Analytics also reveals where members are located against available facilities. Football NSW produces a graphical representation of this information for local councils and state and federal government representatives so they can easily see where the hotspots are.

Moore advises “we can zoom right down to postcode, street or the individual and show why investing in better lights or irrigation at the local oval will help their community as well as the players who use the facility.”

Commercial partners and sponsors are provided with a more compelling narrative as it shows them where their stores are in relation to large clusters of players or where the newest members are located.

Here Moore explains “we can pull out an iPad and show a sponsor the location of any person involved in the game, with detailed search criteria such as specific age, gender and profile.

“This helps them refine any communication they want to send to those members. For example, a new player might be offered a discount to purchase their footy boots from a sportswear shop at their local mall. This not only adds commercial value for that partner but also enhances the welcome experience for our new member.”

Moore adds that SAS Visual Analytics is also very easy to learn, continuing “you don’t need to have technical skills to be able to use it.

“Within minutes of its implementation, we were able to produce a visual representation of the analysis.”

Moore believes that SAS Visual Analytics will be part of helping football become the largest and most popular sport in the country, concluding “having this type of data available, and then being able to take it to our audience, whether it is a government official, sponsor or our own members, is very powerful.”

SAS Visual Analytics can be used by a range of sports, facilities and venues.

Click here to contact SAS Visual Analytics via their entry in the Australasian Leisure Management Supplier Directory.

Images: Bankstown City FC Under 18s competing in the PlayStation 4 FNSW NPL 2 NSW Men's competition (top) and Eddie Moore (middle).

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