Updated: 14th April 2010
As a sports fan I’m sure you will appreciate the scene on a busy sports morning or afternoon. There you are either watching some sport or busy playing sport yourself or maybe still stuck in the office because you couldn’t get the day off work! Well maybe modern communications can now offer an answer to that often asked question throughout the day; I wonder how the game up the road is going? Step up Twitter and take a bow.
The proposal is a simple one. Twitter could be harnessed to provide a network of ‘on the ground’ reporters (literally), giving small, quick updates on the progress of a match. Anyone with a Twitter client on their handset can update their status with a maximum of 140 characters, which is more than enough to give a basic score update. Any more would make it very laborious which makes Twitter the ideal tool for the job! You can also upload a few pictures if you so desire – say of someone who has just scored a ton for example.
Joe Doherty, Chairman, North West of Ireland Cricket Union, has discussed the concept with other officers of the NWCU. The feedback from Joe was as follows;
“I’ve looked at the idea and am delighted to endorse the new service on behalf of NWCU. Not only is it a free service, but it will also give welcome profile to the depth of NW cricket and hopefully provide additional sources of coverage for the mainstream media as well. All good stuff and all very welcome.”
The Structure
The service is for match updates only – results not commentary! It is based around reporting small, regular updates on cricket matches using Twitter. Each club would have their own Twitter feed which they would update for each of their teams from their 1st team to their Youth teams.
Updating Twitter
Each club would have their own Twitter feed which they would update for each of their teams from their 1st team to their Youth teams. All it requires is one person at a match that has an internet enabled mobile phone, laptop or pc to access the Twitter network. Setting up a Twitter account is quick and Free.
Most of the updating will probably take place via mobile phones that are internet connected. Do not worry however if you do not have that type of phone as you can also update twitter with an ordinary text message.
On your Twitter Account settings there is a tab for mobiles. In this tab you can register a mobile phone number against your account. When the number has been registered you can then send a simple text message (structured the correct way of course with competition codes etc) to the twitter number – 86444. Your update will then appear a few seconds later on your twitter account.
You could actually create a team of reporters, one for each of your teams playing, who would text their match updates (again correctly structured) to the registered mobile. The owner of the registered mobile simply forwards the message to 86444 to update the club feed – no retyping necessary! The only down side I can see at present with the text only update approach is that if you make a mistake it is not easy to delete the incorrect post. You would need to access your feed via the internet (mobile or pc) to delete the incorrect post. With practice though this should not be an issue.
Accessing the Updates
Anyone can access the results on Twitter whether they are signed up or not. Either type in the search box the Competition Short Code of the league or cup you are interested in or go directly to a Club Feed that features the match.
If you are not sure of the competition codes or Club Feeds, type nwcricket in the search box to take you to the main NW Twitter feed. There you will find the Competition Short Codes and the NW clubs that have signed up to a Twitter feed. You can view the NW feed here – www.twitter.com/nwcricket
Message Formats
In order for this system to work efficiently it does require a bit of standardisation in the format of the messages. This helps in reading the information as it is presented in a consistent manner but is also essential in making the search for results easier and work with a reasonable degree of accuracy.
Messages should be constructed in the following manner.
Competition Short Code space plus Round if a Cup competition followed by a colon (:) and a space then the teams (home team v away team) followed by a colon, a space and then your message.
Example 1:
Example 2:
Example 3:
To post a result you just insert the letters res on the end of the competition code. For example;
Results:
Competition Short Codes
It is important to use one of the following competition codes to ‘label’ your update and make it easy for others to then locate it on the Twitter network. Start your message off with the # symbol and the appropriate code for the league or cup match you are reporting. For example if reporting on an Intermediate 1 league match the Competition code would be; #nwci1 (North West Cricket – Intermediate 1).
Match Results
When reporting a result of a match remember to add the letters res after the competition code so a result in Intermediate 1 league would be #nwci1res
NW Leagues
| #nwcs1 | Senior 1 | #nwcs2 | Senior 2 |
| #nwci1 | Intermediate 1 | #nwci2 | Intermediate 2 |
| #nwci3 | Intermediate 3 | #nwci4 | Intermediate 4 |
CUPS
| #nwcsc | Northern Bank Sen Cup | #nwcsj | NW Samuel Jeffrey Cup |
| #nwcia | NW Intermediate A Cup | #nwcib | NW Intermediate B Cup |
| #nwcic | NW Intermediate C Cup | #nwcid | NW Intermediate D Cup |
| #bkisc | Bob Kerr Irish Senior Cup | #ucucc | Ulster Club Turf Cup |
| #ucusc | Ulster Shield | #ucupc | Euris Europe Ulster Plate |
NOTE:
Other competition codes to be added for Mid-week and Youth cricket.
Benefits:
Regular ‘live’ match updates across the various leagues from the top to the bottom giving true grassroots coverage.
Create interest in the leagues and cups with an interactive, constantly updated environment. Especially interesting as cups get into the latter rounds or leagues draw close to a finish.
Find out what is happening around the region without having to make several phone calls or travel around.
Alerts you to what is promising to be a very interesting finish to a match which you then might decide to go along and watch say the last 10 or 20 overs.
Gives the media, local radio stations etc. information regarding the matches which will no doubt lead to better and deeper coverage of cricket locally.
Cricket reporting by cricketers for cricketers!
These are some of the benefits but I am sure there are many more. The model is simple but potentially very powerful.
It must be noted though that this proposal does not offer an official results service and is not intended to do so. League results / score cards etc will still need to be submitted in the normal way to claim league points, cup wins etc. It is only for match updates; that is scores, results or news of any fixture changes. It is not intended for commentary or opinion surrounding cricket matches or cricket issues.
What it does offer however is a way of finding out the state of play in various matches without the need to make the numerous phone calls or travel to the various grounds. Twitter really does put the power to publish in the hands of many.
MUST – Nothing but Results!
Trevor Dalzell
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