SPONSORED EDITORIAL
Are you a football fan unhappy with the direction your club is heading? Are Ground Pies a Real Scam? Is the left-back the slowest in the championship?
With the free PitchDMM mobile phone app, your voice will now be heard in the right place at the right time. And that’s not all.
Fans can also choose their own squad and lineup on a match-by-match basis, and compare friends’ picks in a familiar ‘fantasy football‘ style setting.
The app gives an overview of what fans really think about their club.
“Gamification of the app is a lot of fun and allows football fans to have a voice in how their club is run,†said company founder Susannah Schofield.
But the focus of this latest footballing innovation goes beyond a simple desire to provide fans with another forum for engagement when it comes to making things happen.
Data (or fan feedback) is collected from the app and then transmitted to clubs. In other words, these voices will be heard and not simply evaporated in cyberspace.
“Too often you will see rants on social media and these will be largely ignored by the powers that be at a football club,” said Susannah, based in Sevenoaks.
“A common complaint from football fans is that their club just doesn’t care about their opinion. We aim to change that by giving them one place to give their opinion in an easy to use way that produces statistical results to drive the change.
“This business data is vital for clubs, who have been intrigued to hear about our app.”
By providing them with hard data, as opposed to page after page frenzy, we hope to get them to listen. “
It’s not just the clubs that benefit. The data can also be turned into interesting information and figures, suitable for broadcasters and other sports media.
“Experts can also use the newsletters we produce each week to debate the real facts and discuss the issues that matter to fans.”
“It can also be used on a larger scale by the media to compare club stats in the same way they would compare assists or clean sheets.”
The app’s new “FanTime” feature should also hit the bottom of the net. Footballers, managers or even members of the public can simply register by asking a topical football related question. Fans can then respond as video, audio, or text.
“We have the opportunity to share the responses on social media and think it’s another way for fans to really feel like they are part of the football world,” added Susannah.
PitchDMM is championed by former Westerham-born England international John Salako and is the app’s official ambassador. There are also plans to embark on other areas of sport outside of football, including cricket, rugby, the NFL and Formula 1.
At the moment, the app only covers the Premier League and the Championship although the console site (accessible through the app) allows all football teams to share their information.
There are also plans to set up a registered charity called “Pitch-in†which will raise funds to help fund grassroots football and the welfare of academies.
“Fans are very receptive to anything that could give them a voice,†concluded Susannah.
“We had a great response. “
