Case Study - Rugby Football Union Tries Big Data

MANAGEMENT
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
UNIT - 1
CASE STUDY
RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION

TRIES BIG DATA
Rugby Football Union Tries Big Data
• In 1871, twenty-one English clubs decided that
their sport, officially called rugby union but
commonly referred to simply as rugby, needed an
administrative body.
• The clubs formed The Rugby Football Union

(RFU), which today manages the English national
team (England Rugby) in partnership with Premier
Rugby Limited.
Rugby Football Union Tries Big Data
• Responsible for the promotion of rugby at all
levels, the RFU organizes the Six Nations
Championship, the unofficial northern
hemisphere championship featuring teams from
England, Scotland, Wales, Italy, Ireland, and
France, and the Heineken Cup, its club-level
counterpart.
Contd…
• Owned by its member clubs, the RFU’s mission is
to maximize profits from international ticket sales
and vending so that it can support the more than
60,000 volunteers who organize matches and
seminars, help secure loans and insurance
policies, fundraise, write grant proposals, provide
medical advice and support, and perform the
clerical duties that keep the lower-level clubs
operating.
Contd…
• To succeed in this complicated mission, the RFU
entered into a five-year deal with IBM to capture
and analyze Big Data that will be useful to both
fans, and later—it is hoped— the players
themselves.
• The system is called TryTracker.
• In rugby, a try, worth five points, is the highest
scoring opportunity.
• Teams get possession of the ball through a scrum,
a contest for the ball where eight players bind
together and push against eight players from the
other team.
Contd…
• The outcome determines who can control the
ball.
• To score a try, a team must break through the
opposition’s defenses, move into their in-goal
area, and “ground” the ball. This is done in one of
two ways.
• A player can either hold the ball in one or both
hands or arms and then touch it to the ground in
the in-goal area, or exert downward pressure on a
ball already on the ground using one or both
hands or arms or the upper front of the body
(from the neck to the waistline).
Contd…
• The IBM TryTracker does not just track tries,
however.
• It uses predictive analytics to track three categories
of data: keys to the game, momentum, and key
players.
• TryTracker uses over 8,000 measures of
performance.
• Traditional rugby statistics on team and individual
performance as well as live text commentary
complement the TryTracker data.
• The keys to the game are determined ahead of a
specific contest by analyzing a historical database of
past matchups between a pair.
Contd…
• For example, in 2015 England’s key was to
average at least 3.2 meters per carry in the
forwards; attempt an offload from 10 percent of
opposition tackles; and make more than 66
percent of total line-breaks in the match.
• Fans can use their mobile devices to keep track of
how their favorite team is faring, concentrating on
game elements that will increase its winning
chances.
• Key players for each team are selected after the
game by comparing a single score compiled using
different criteria for each position.
Contd…
• Goal scoring is currently excluded so as not to
overvalue kickers and undervalue players who
contribute to creating scoring opportunities.
• Like the IBM SlamTracker used at the Grand Slam
tennis tournaments, the goal of TryTracker is to
provide data visualization and real-time statistics
to draw in fans.
• To compete with more popular sports such as
Premier League football, the RFU hopes that
enhanced communication will increase fan
engagement.
Contd…
• In 2015, IBM TryTracker was an ever-present
fixture of EnglandRugby.com’s extensive match
coverage.
• As their understanding of game mechanics and
emotional investment in what their team needs to
do in order to prevail grows, casual fans will
become dedicated fans who return again and
again.
• Beyond marketing strategy, the long-term
potential of predictive analysis is that it may
provide tactical insights to players and coaches
that will improve match play and thus the overall
product offered to fans.
Contd…
• In 2016 IBM has deployed the same predictive
analytics technology to the Australian New South
Wales Waratahs Rugby team with an emphasis on
predicting player injuries based on their general
health, and performance data on the field
generated from GPS sensors that players wear.
Discussion
• The challenges facing the RFU demonstrate why
information systems are so essential today.
• The RFU is classified as a “Friendly Society,”
somewhere between a true company and a
charity.
• It receives both government support and
corporate sponsorship money.
• But it must maximize revenues from ticket
sales, hospitality and catering, television rights,
and its travel company in order to support both
grassroots and elite rugby in England.
Contd…
Contd…
• The RFU entered into a strategic partnership with

IBM to educate and engage fans.
• Using the data collected by sports data company
Opta and the analytics developed by IBM, it may
also be able to improve coaching and game
performance as an additional way of cultivating
customers.
• IBM is also helping the RFU to develop a customer
relationship management (CRM) system
integrated with its Web site.
Questions for Further Discussion
• What role does technology play in the

RFU’s success as the administrative
head of rugby union in England?
• Assess the contributions which these

systems make to the future of RFU.
WISH YOU ALL THE BEST

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MANAGEMENT

RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION

• The clubs formed The Rugby Football Union

• The RFU entered into a strategic partnership with

• What role does technology play in the

• Assess the contributions which these

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