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 In the latest sports website profile, S&T hears from the International Rugby Board's (IRB) Seb Lauzier about how the governing body has been exploiting technology for the global sports code.
Four years ago the International Rugby Board (IRB) found itself with no coherent online strategy, no dedicated resources and a suite of sites that reflected the marginalisation of the platform in the organisation's list of priorities.
Now, with dedicated web and IT staff and technical partnerships with some of the world's biggest IT players, www.irb.com, due to be newly re-launched this year, is one of the most important rugby websites in the world. Add to this the fact that the IRB can also now boast a secure extranet, a media e-newsletter, online webmail and a plethora of websites serving the IRB's tournaments and events and a picture emerges of a world governing body using technology well.
Strategic partnerships with the likes of Microsoft, Fujitsu and Unisys have seen the quality and efficiency of the websites increase and the security and durability of the infrastructure strengthened.
As well as still offering the prerequisite information on the Game's Laws, Regulations and governing committees, the IRB's flagship website www.irb.com has grown to offer its many regular visitors - the site receives between 6m and 12m hits per month - the latest international rugby news and feature material from around the globe, an unrivalled international fixtures and results service, a valuable resource for coach and referee training, key information on the IRB's member unions, and the IRB World Rankings.
The results database includes every international to have ever been played (Scotland won the first recorded international against England 4-1), and the IRB World Rankings are now recognised as the official international rugby rankings engine. Since the database's launch on www.irb.com in October 2003 it has grown in importance and standing to now be at the forefront of rugby journalism during the busy international periods. Updated every Monday after international action, the rankings meticulously track the relative success and failure of the IRB's full member unions online.
Far from being the IRB's only web concern, however, irb.com also acts as a gateway into the many other public websites produced by the IRB web team to serve the international rugby community. rwcsevens.com - a huge success story www.rugbyworldcup.com was, of course, the official website for the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia. Built by Microsoft Consulting using MS CMS technology and hosted by Unisys, the website attracted in excess of 500m http requests and gave the latest news, views and results in a variety of means, from the traditional match report and news features to photo galleries, minute-by-minute match tracker commentary and premium audio and video content, known as Rugby World Cup Plus.
In territories where little rugby was available on television, for example the US, RWC Plus proved extremely popular at $25, with video-on-demand highlights, interviews, round-ups, delayed full-match coverage and live audio available on subscription. E-newsletters were also sent via the website to roughly 50,000 subscribers in a choice of three languages, all helping the site to achieve in excess of 22m unique users. Between Rugby World Cups the same web address is being used to cover the ongoing matter of qualification for the next World Cup in France in 2007.
With so much attention focused on rugby's possible re-introduction into the Olympic games in the form of Sevens, it is only natural that the IRB Sevens also have its own dedicated website. Newly re-designed and launched in November 2004, www.irbsevens.com is the online residence of the international Sevens game.
Offering live match-by-match score updates, photos, statistics, news and interviews, irbsevens.com is the ultimate bluffer's guide to Sevens, with former England international and renowned TV commentator Nigel Starmer-Smith giving the site that extra bit of appeal and value with regular columns. Staying with Sevens, 2005 is also the year of the fourth Rugby World Cup Sevens in Hong Kong, and www.rwcsevens.com provides all the necessary information, including a comprehensive section on Hong Kong, and will offer live match updates and enhanced statistical and news coverage from the tournament.
Other websites serving IRB properties include www.irbu21.com, the dedicated website of the IRB Under 21 World Championship, and www.awards.irb.com, the website of the annual IRB Awards ceremony, which honours past and present greats of the game. Technology behind the rugby scene As well as serving the public with information, the IRB's information platforms are also geared up to serve those ensuring the smooth operation of rugby worldwide, and also those publicising those deeds to the public through the mass media. The IRB extranet http://extranet.irb.com offers specific groups of people - for example committees and working parties - the ability to share documents, discuss topic threads and make announcements in a 'walled garden' scenario, protected by username and password technology, again drawing on Microsoft systems and built for the IRB by Fujitsu Consulting.
In its efforts to work more seamlessly with the rugby media, meanwhile, the IRB has recently launched a monthly media e-newsletter, which compliments regular press releases in informing the media of significant movements in international rugby. Moreover, the extranet is also used in another guise by the IRB as a distribution channel for media projects, for example the new Syndicated Radio News bulletins from the IRB Sevens and other events, edited and uploaded in .mp3 format by the IRB's on-location web editor for radio stations around the world to download and air free of charge. With content including daily round ups by Nigel Starmer-Smith from all IRB Sevens events plus exclusive interview material with players and coaches, this new venture looks set to take rugby to millions more pairs of ears around the world. It is also the pre-cursor to a possible online TV and radio channel, which the IRB is currently researching. www.irb.com
www.irbsevens.com
www.rwcsevens.com
www.rwc2003.irb.com
www.rugbyworldcup.com
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