CLOSE- Client:
Bridgend Port Talbot Football League - Category:
Charity/ Not-for-Profit - Date:
Overview:
Following years of discussion regarding the amalgamation of the Bridgend & District Football League and Port Talbot & District Football League, the new league merger was agreed in early 2019 in order to focus on trying to grow the game for juniors within the area.
The Bridgend Port Talbot Junior Football League is the newest league within Welsh Football, hosting 32 clubs and various cup competitions with age groups from Under 7’s to Under 16’s.
The creation of the new league aims to increase the participation of football within the local area, and add to the existing history of its predecessors.
League Requirements:
Bridgend Port Talbot Football League needed a professional image which honoured its’ predecessor’s rich history whilst incorporating a bright, modern and fresh image to appeal to its’ target audience. They required the following services:
Logo design
A full, dynamic and professional email signature
Website design & build
Social Media Management
Office 365 for all league officers to give them a professional platform and appearance
ITCS Solutions:
Logo Design:
The logo redesign needed to merge the two predecessors’ logos, and also incorporate the original league colours – blue for Bridgend and red for Port Talbot. There also needed to be a clear message of the two leagues moving forward together.
Five designs were created by ITCS incorporating the league’s design requirements. Research was also undertaken to come up with the strapline ‘Onward with Confidence’ – this is the strapline on the Bridgend Town Crest. Elements of the Port Talbot town crest were also used. These five designs were submitted to be voted on by league members and the community, and the final decision was made by them.
Website:
The BPTFL website was designed and built to act as a brand ambassador and showcase for the league, highlighting the exciting merge between Bridgend & Port Talbot with an emphasis on eye-catching visuals and large banner images. The website needed to cover everything any club would need to know in a Junior Football League including real time fixtures, results and league table. In addition to this, it needed to include a profile page for each club.
The front end needed to be bright, fresh, user-friendly and welcoming for all members of the public to be able to use.
Parents and players are able to see results and league tables as well as where upcoming matches are being played – with directions available to venues.
There is also a club directory available. When each club is selected, you are taken to a club profile with club details and contact information.
There is also a search function to find all the clubs in the league that have teams at different age groups.
For clubs, we included a login portal for submission of results, as well as an admin area for use by the league officials for allocating fixture details and referees, as well as authorising submitted results.
Once the site’s design was finalised, the team could get to work on building the functionality of the back end. The aim of this was to streamline the processes of organising league fixtures as much as possible, and make everything accessible across all devices.
A bespoke CMS system was built into the site that would allow admins to see and add clubs and club information, as well as seeing the league tables for each age group. The system also allows users to organise fixtures and tournaments and to allocate referees to games – as well as seeing information on how many games each referee has been assigned to.
Each club is given a login to the Fulltime system and after each game, each club uploads their match results to the system. Once verified, these are displayed on the front-end of the website.
Office 365 and Exclaimer:
With a new, fresh, professional image comes the need for a professional email presence. The sporting crest of any football club or league is an integral part of its identity, needing to appear on anything relating to said organisation, from the football kits, club merchandise and official marketing communications. This also relates to the email signatures that are used by its employees. It makes no sense for a club or league to leave email signature management to every single end user, just as it would not for any other professional organisation.
We provided the league with Exclaimer, with Office 365 integration. This provides league officers with a professional email platform that can be used anywhere, as well as ensuring brand consistency through their email signatures.
Client Feedback:
“The league are delighted with the end result. Not only does the new site give us access to our league tables and lots of other information, it gives all of our clubs their own internal information pages to promote their key club details and contact information. Some clubs are actually linking back to their profiles on this website instead of creating their own individual websites! We were very impressed with the level of work and detail that has gone into the design – especially getting the logos of all clubs onto the website. The feedback we have received from the clubs and communities is all very positive. This new website was a perfect way to show off our new league”.
John Phillips, League Chairman
