Sporting clubs have been hit hard by COVID – reduced to no income and forced to navigate a return to sport with skeleton staff. But if you’ve ever met the people working behind the scenes in sport, you know they’re not the kind to take hits lying down. Instead, they’ve found a way to come out of the global pandemic stronger than ever.
In the Top End, the Darwin and District Cricket Competition (DDCC) supported by NT Cricket have been live streaming their matches since cricket returned in June and have completely reimagined the match day experience for their players, clubs and community. All 42 games of the Carlton Mid Premier Grade will be streamed through FrogBox, a new automated video solution, supplied to the league by InteractSport. The streams are available to view on your phone, tablet or computer via a dedicated match centre, and take volunteers almost no time at all to ‘set and forget’ on match day. Even the graphics layers over the video are automatically generated, thanks to seamless integration with the MyCricket LiveScore App.
This is where Cricket in the Top End has really come into their own. Since the FrogBox footage is automatically indexed to mark key moments in a match, players and fans can enjoy watching highlights via the match centre, and the DDCC have been able to take those moments and produce their very own highlights reel for each round – within 30 minutes of receiving the footage!
NT Cricket’s Communications and Marketing Coordinator Olivia Sherlock said having the DDCC Premier Grade games captured opened up a range of additional content for the competition and significantly increase social engagement.
“Teaming up with InteractSport and Frog Box has allowed the creation of match and player highlights from the weekend’s games, something the Darwin Cricket Competition has never had before.
“The match video is available after the match for download and using the automatically created highlights from the match centre we can then cut our own clips package highlighting particular players or events” she said
The response has been phenomenal and immediate, the livestreams attracted 18,000 views across the first two rounds. As one of the few competitions over winter, the DDCC hope by showcasing the quality of cricket,more players from other states will be attracted to continue their season in the Top End.
Darwin Cricket Management Committee Chair Lachlan Baird said it was great being able to have the games livestreamed and the quality of the stream is second to none.
“We(Darwin Cricket Management Committee) are delighted to have InteractSport as the official streaming partner of the Darwin District Cricket Competition with the live streaming of our Carlton Mid Premier Grade through the FrogBox platform.
“We are really impressed with the quality of the match centre, the automation of live score graphics and highlights along with the video capture kit that is designed to make it easy for our club volunteers on match day to manage.
“We can now capture vision and promote the game through a highly interactive match centre allowing more people to see what Cricket in the Top End is all about”, said Baird.
This match day revolution is the entire mission for FrogBox creators InteractSport, who are looking to build on their work within Australian Cricket and give other communities unprecedented access to their cricket. Last season they streamed every premier grade match in Queensland, and on the back of the success in the NT are expecting a number of progressive leagues across Australia to sign up for streaming this summer.
InteractSport’s Chief Operations Officer Rob Knee expressed his excitement for this new era of sports streaming.
“FrogBox has essentially turned these sporting organisations into a self-sufficient production company. Since most of the tasks are automated organisations with limited resources can put together professional video content, which is pretty revolutionary for sport in Australia”.
With restrictions still in place in many parts of Australia,sporting organisations allowing their community to continue to engage with their cricket in the safety of their own homes is increasingly important. To find out how your club could take advantage of digital streaming, or to purchase a FrogBox kit, check out the FrogBox website for more details.
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