The Irish Football Association has launched a new app to help players, fans, clubs and match officials to keep up to date with the action in matches across Northern Ireland.
The free Football NI app will provide users with information about fixtures, results, team line-ups, match events and other statistics for all affiliated football in the country.
The app, which is now available to download, can be used to track teams, players, matches and competitions. It enables players to check their individual profiles and users to receive notifications whenever match events related to their chosen favourites are recorded in the Irish FA’s Comet football management system.
This app is a genuine first for football in Northern Ireland. The Irish FA is embracing technology in a way that is aiding the football community here. It will provide greater access to results and match information whilst games are taking place
Once referees complete their post-match administration the app will automatically populate the relevant information, however there is also functionality available to enable clubs to update match events in ‘real time’ during fixtures.
Find out more about Football NI
Clubs will have the ability to insert goalscorers, substitutions and yellow or red cards, however it will remain the responsibility of the referee to complete the reasons for any disciplinary sanctions.
Appointed referees will also be responsible for checking that any match information inputted by clubs concurs with their own records before declaring the status of the match as ‘played’.
Andrew Johnston, Head of Competitions and Player Status at the Irish FA, said: “This app is a genuine first for football in Northern Ireland. The Irish FA is embracing technology in a way that is aiding the football community here. It will provide greater access to results and match information whilst games are taking place.
“The launch of Football NI reaffirms the association’s commitment to being a digital first organisation as outlined in A Roadmap for Football, its current corporate strategy.”
Tracey Scott, Football Management System (FMS) Operations Manager with the association, added: “The app is aimed at anyone who is actively involved in or has an interest in the game in Northern Ireland, from supporters to managers and everyone in between. It really is for everyone and we see it as a tool to aid people’s enjoyment of football in Northern Ireland.
“We have communicated with more than 5000 existing Comet users, across leagues, divisional associations, clubs and referees, inviting them to training webinars to demonstrate the functionality within the app and will continue to offer these webinars throughout November.”
The new application for mobile devices has been developed by the Irish FA in conjunction with Analyticom, a state-of-the-art, market-leading solution for management and automation of key operations in sports associations and leagues.
Football NI will host statistics for every football competition affiliated to the Irish FA within Northern Ireland.
The Irish FA has provided training webinars for leagues, divisional associations, clubs and match officials as part of the app launch process.
Football NI can be downloaded now by visiting the App Store or Google Play.
