England Rugby
Introducing the RFU
The Rugby Football Union is the governing body of Rugby Union in England. It covers over 1,900 autonomous clubs across the country. The RFU’s core objectives are to organise and support rugby activity at all levels including financial, administrative and at volunteer level. As the leading body of Rugby Union the RFU is expected to be a high quality source of information to clubs and fans alike.
The challenge
The RFU commissioned Other Media to design an iPhone App that focuses on the England rugby enthusiast. The App needs to be a destination point that provides quality live coverage of all England fixtures before, during and after the matches. As with any iPhone App, quality of user-experience was of great importance. The RFU knew that they had to deliver a world-class first App in order to maintain authority and recognition as England rugby’s governing body.
What we did
The free-to-download, stylishly designed App provides in-depth England Rugby content; particularly unique live match commentary for all England matches plus live games stats and team line-ups. Coverage is available post-match through an easy-to-use ‘time line’ function, meaning rugby fans can always replay coverage. Outside match time the App delivers a rich source of news, team information, stats and access to digital content available exclusively from the RFU. The RFU Fanzone is an essential tool for Twickenham novices and die-hard fans alike, covering ticketing, stadium seating plans, Twickenham information (meeting places, transport, food), Facebook and Twitter access, wallpapers and England Supporter’s Club information.
The results
The App was an instant App Store success. It was the #1 free sports App in the iTunes App store within 10 days and was immediately within the Top 100 worldwide Apps. The App is currently user-rated 4+ (out of 5) which is testiment to our superb delivery. One user’s App Store feedback is: “Genuinely a very good App. Well worth the download, and for free too?! Top marks to the RFU”. The Sunday Times has featured the App in their ‘World’s 500 best Apps’ list in February 2011. With the 6 Nations event at the end of February and the Rugby World Cup in Summer 2011, we have delivered the exciting must-have App for a keen England rugby audience.
The RFU iPhone application is free and is available from the iTunes App store.