Before he flew off to the East to witness a bit of World Cup action
first-hand, Ross Bentley spoke to the man in charge of the FA Web
site about how it can contribute to future footballing
greatness
While the England squad has been taking sweet revenge on the
Argentinians at the World Cup in Japan, Andrew Halstead, chief
information officer at the Football Association has been conducting
a rather different campaign.
For while the national team's players strive to win the most
revered trophy in football, Halstead is working hard to build up
the game at the grassroots. "Information technology is what I do,"
says Halstead, "but it is very much in line with an overall
initiative at the FA."
Central to the strategy is the organisation's Web site
www.theFA.com, which was launched about a month ago in time for the
World Cup. This is the third version of the FA's site in as many
years, and it represents a new dawn in its use of IT to reach the
thousands of people who regularly play football.
The first version of the Web site was simply an online explanation
of the rules of the game. The FA is generally regarded as the home
of soccer. In other parts of the world the football associations
are named for the countries they serve - the French FA or the
Japanese FA - but the English football association is known
worldwide as "the FA". Global interest is demonstrated by the fact
that 35% of visitors to the site are from outside the UK.
The second version of the site went live last August and was
expanded to include FA news and views. Halstead says the FA is the
second most-quoted organisation in the UK - sandwiched between the
Government and the Royal Family.
The latest site is backed up by a technical infrastructure that
will enable the site to grow and incorporate all the planned online
services in the future, says Halstead. It also provides a worldwide
stage on which the FA can brand its new image. No longer the stuffy
ivory tower, but a progressive organisation in touch with and
concerned about the grassroots game and the next generation of
English footballers.
Halstead is hoping that the high level of traffic visiting the site
during the World Cup tournament will kickstart and reinforce the
branding.
The site also includes a section on women's football, the fastest
growing sport in the UK. It has e-learning slots for parents
supporting their children and attending matches, information for
would-be referees and an e-commerce section where fans can buy
T-shirts and replica kit.
A digital archive area provides viewers with a selection of
highlights from England games past and present as well as
up-to-date interviews from members of the national squad. Two
members of Halstead's team, the head of new media and a Web
journalist, are out in Japan at the moment gathering news material.
The Web site is hosted by NTT/Verio. "We looked at [the company]
because it is the hosting partner for uefa.com which is a superb
site," said Halstead.
Replicated caches of servers at locations around the world will, he
said, manage the chances of being overrun with online traffic.
Halstead is ready for the peaks in activity expected to appear
around England games and at the times of important news. He has
already had some experience of the number of visitors the site can
expect. "When manager Sven Goran Ericsson was due to name the
England squad we had four million hits in two hours," he said.
The FA chose Interwoven to supply the content management system
while ETC was brought in to customise the interface. Elmwood was
contracted to carry out the design on the site as a whole.
The FA team that worked on the site was made up of people from IT,
marketing and external affairs. "As always, we had to work to
impossible timescales but our partners were really helpful in
getting us to launch on time,"he says.
Aston Villa supporter Halstead has a goalful of plans for the site,
including building personalisation functionality on. "At the moment
the site appeals to England fans, referees, local footballers both
male and female and kids. I want to be able to cross-fertilise
these groups by building up a profile of individual users - for
example, there may be England fans who are also referees. If we
have this information we will be able to personalise their home
page.
"This is my biggest challenge - to encourage people to participate
in football. I need to know who are these potential participants
and what their specific interests are," said Halstead. "This is our
version of customer relationship management and it is in line with
the business vision of developing football at the grassroots
level."
The FA has also developed a Web-orientated national football system
(Wonfas) to record the results from 2,000 affiliated local leagues
made up of more than 40,000 local teams. Already more than 700
league administrators have qualified for an FA grant to buy a
laptop computer to input results direct to Wonfas. It is hoped that
all 2,000 will have access to Wonfas by the end of next season.
Halstead hopes that the site will develop to the point where
visitors will be able to download archive footage of a Beckham free
kick alongside digital shots and match reviews from local games.
"Just imagine the encouragement young players will get from seeing
themselves on the same site as their heroes.
"This is what it is all about - building the game up from the
grassroots. Take Darius Vassell: he has just broken into the senior
team but has already played 53 times at different junior levels.
Our aim is to take more people through the system. We can play and
develop a team that is capable of winning the ultimate prize - the
World Cup - and IT has a role to play in this."
From touchline to online
The FA site:
- Provides international match information
- Provides national match information
- Provides local match information
- Provides an archive of past information
- Builds the FA brand
- Supports and develops women's football
- Helps parents to support their participating children
- Recruits and supports referees
- Sells merchandise.