New rugby website: yes or no? what should it contain?
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@gollum said in New rugby website: yes or no? what should it contain?:
You could probably get really good clicks by having a banner with a countdown to when the test team is named
Then hook it into google etc so folks can go "Siri, when's the AB team named" & your countdown comes up.
Because no fecker seems to get that one...
Other thing I'd like to see & would actually be useful is a team sheet with the squad & a list of the injured guys, the suspended & the time they are expected to be out.
IE THE ABs are on tour in France, you click on "team news" you get the squad, in playing order not alphabetical, with "injured - 2 weeks" next to anyone crocked, & the banner saying "team named in 27 hours 15 minutes 32 seconds"
Excellent ideas - I have no end of trouble trying to find out/remember who is on the injured list from week to week plus when they are due to return and status updates, especially in SR. Also a countdown clock to test team AND actual match day would be good = fun and because of the time difference, I wouldn't have to check 10 different websites to find out what time the game is televised.
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@Bones said in New rugby website: yes or no? what should it contain?:
Also if possible would be very useful - a spot where you can see coverage of matches, I.e. where they are being broadcast in what country and what time.
That would be a good oportunity to get some cash for clicks too, like you have NZ, SA, Aussie, UK & then a dropdown where you select your country if its somewhere else & you get a "Sky Sports / Sentanta / BBC" etc & a link to their site, so in the case of paid streams you are directing people to the site (surely that generates cash if the person directed then pays?)
Lets face it, all people want is one page with team, time & how do I watch.
Post game throw in "anywhere showing replay?"
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Unless you want it to be a pure nz rugby website make sure anyone writing on the NH actually watches the games up there.
Can't stand nz mainstream rugby sites with sycophantic articles about the all blacks and skin deep minimal knowledge outside the sanzaar teams.
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@gollum said in New rugby website: yes or no? what should it contain?:
You could probably get really good clicks by having a banner with a countdown to when the test team is named
Then hook it into google etc so folks can go "Siri, when's the AB team named" & your countdown comes up.
Because no fecker seems to get that one...
Other thing I'd like to see & would actually be useful is a team sheet with the squad & a list of the injured guys, the suspended & the time they are expected to be out.
IE THE ABs are on tour in France, you click on "team news" you get the squad, in playing order not alphabetical, with "injured - 2 weeks" next to anyone crocked, & the banner saying "team named in 27 hours 15 minutes 32 seconds"
That'd straight out cut 200 posts from every Fern thread pre match
The team is named Thursday...
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For things I'd be interested in, I'd love a schedule that included everything in it, both NH and SH internationals and top level provincial/club rugby and automatically converted the times based on your IP address. Usually I have to look through a few different websites to get that info and then manually convert the times, which is a pain in the ass.
It's be a monumental effort but my ideal site would basically just be a rugby equivalent of Cricinfo. I know there's ESPN Scrum but it's a mess and is missing so much info it's not funny.
And yeah, actual rugby journalism would be nice. Not the lazy recaps and opinion pieces we get from the NZ media.
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A site that accurately lists the players stats would be great. I've been dying to know how tall Ardie Savea is but all I can find is a picture of him doing a handstand.
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Thank you to everyone who has responded! My mates have read the comments and I talked to one of them. She said there were some great suggestions that they will definitely take on board. However, getting some ex-players/coaches (or referees) or good rugby journos to write articles with good analysis for the site would probably have financial implications that they would not be able to meet, unless they would be ensured of some stable income from the site right from the start. That's assuming those ex-players etc would not write for free. They see it as something they could add at a later stage though and it is definitely something they're interested in, although they have questions about who those writers could be as they've also noted the lack of good analysis in the NZ media ...
In the mean time, they're considering adding a "good read" page, where they could link to good articles published elsewhere. That wouldn't solve the lack of good NZ content, however.
Anyway, they're now pondering about a good name for the site. It's not that easy, because - for copyright reasons - they need a name that isn't already in use for a website or other publication (no matter how minor that website or publication may be). For the time being, they have given it the working title 'Kick, Chase!', but that may well change.
My own impression is that my mates are taking on a job that may well be bigger than they are anticipating. I think it will be quite time-consuming to keep the site up-to-date. As it is something done by some rugby die-hards, who work in completely different fields, it's more like a hobby that could get well out of hand. They are not clued up yet on generating income from a website (nor am I, so I couldn't advise them), so it will be a huge learning curve. Having said that, they are very motivated and smart, and are aware of the challenges, so they may come with something really good. I'll keep you in the loop.
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Stats!!
I love stats, having access to a better and full range of stats than the run of the mill ones we get from Sky and then a few more from haka....The stats that are available on American Sports is phenomenal, I am sure the coaches have access to a huge range of stats and data, why cant this be available for fans?
I mean a simple one was highlighted on the EOYT, would be interesting to know the variance in penalties awarded vs those that are given advantage but a team plays through and isnt awarded.
With those players who have the GPS trackers, why cant we see this data as well, how far, how fast etc.
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@taniwharugby said in New rugby website: yes or no? what should it contain?:
Stats!!
I love stats, having access to a better and full range of stats than the run of the mill ones we get from Sky and then a few more from haka....The stats that are available on American Sports is phenomenal, I am sure the coaches have access to a huge range of stats and data, why cant this be available for fans?
I mean a simple one was highlighted on the EOYT, would be interesting to know the variance in penalties awarded vs those that are given advantage but a team plays through and isnt awarded.
With those players who have the GPS trackers, why cant we see this data as well, how far, how fast etc.
Thing about stats is that these guys probably wouldn't be able to record them. You really need a large professional organisation to collect stats like that.
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@MajorRage said in New rugby website: yes or no? what should it contain?:
Great idea. I'd recommend a referee's corner, when a top ref
(probably needs to be retired to comment) offers insight on rulings, situations etc.Trouble with that is the precedent that Kaplan set. When he retired and started his blog he went from someone that had outwardly shown a reasonable thought process to a knee jerk reactionary.
The referees corner thing has been done for some time on http://www.sareferees.co.za/ and can be quite good at times with current refs providing their pov on questions posed by the public.
NZ referees appear to be split into separate provincial websites and shy away from comment or analysis.
Don't rely on one person's pov would be my suggestion. Try and work with the NZRRA to get a panel going.
You only need to read boards like RugbyRefs to see that, just like the rest of us, they have wildly different opinions and arguments.
