Gridiron Australia (GA), the governing body for Gridiron (American Football) and now Flag Football in Australia, recently transitioned to the Assemble Sports platform, positioning the sport for an exciting phase of growth. For the first time, the sport has united the Gridiron community under a national, cohesive platform that caters to both tackle and flag football formats. By making this transition, GA has been able to achieve greater flexibility, transparency and efficiency in managing the sport, as well as developing the foundation for a period of growth with the emergence of Flag.
"The decision to move to the Assemble platform was a commitment to our future. We are in an unprecedented phase of opportunity for our sport, and we wanted to ensure we had the foundations to support our future growth. Assemble has allowed us to quickly transition to a truly national platform that has the flexibility to deal with all formats of our sport in tackle and flag from registration to competition management and participant engagement." - Wade Kelly, CEO.
This case study explores how the Assemble Sports platform empowered Gridiron Australia to meet the demands of a growing sport, capture new opportunities, and enhance the sporting experience for all, from administrators to participants.
Customer Success: Truly National
A Truly National View of the Sport
In the past, Gridiron Australia, whilst with the one provider, was not operating as a truly national platform. Each State had its own instance, and therefore, obtaining a single view of the sport and being able to manage aspects of the sport from a National level was not possible.
Moving onto the Assemble platform provided a truly national solution, and this integrated approach has streamlined the administrator and user experience and has allowed for easy management of memberships, including renewals, payments, and communication with members. This drives increased engagement and participation within the Gridiron community.
Additionally, the platform provided GA with unparalleled visibility across the sport. It offers a comprehensive 360-degree view of participation trends and behaviours, empowering GA to conduct detailed analyses that inform strategic decisions. For the first time, Gridiron Australia had the tools to centralise data from across the country, enabling a more holistic approach to the management and development of their sport.
"As a national body administrator, having a national database that combines both tackle and flag football is a game-changer. It streamlines our processes and allows us to access player information efficiently, enhancing our ability to understand our game better - who is playing, what demographic mix we have, and to plan better to minimise any churn in targeted age groups where we experienced it historically."
The Introduction of a National Membership
As part of their strategic efforts to grow the sport and incentivise participants to engage with the sport multiple times in a given season across multiple formats, Assemble and GA discussed options to achieve this outcome. Assemble shared some experiences with other sports and how they achieved a similar objective, the introduction of a mandatory national membership. After understanding the way the Assemble platform was able to easily attach a National Membership product to the registration flow of participants - this was implemented upon launch.
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The membership structure allows members to sign up once annually with GA and enjoy the benefits for 12 months, no matter how many times they register and engage with different formats of the sport and their club or state level. This allows the simplification of the sports pricing strategy by not having to extract a national fee to cover costs like insurance on every registration. As such, members who want to register to multiple products throughout the season are not disadvantaged.
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Do it all at once - Family Accounts
The introduction of family accounts has radically reduced the time that parents in the GA community have spent registering themselves and their children in the sport. A parent or guardian can now register multiple people to multiple events or competitions within one account, one flow, and one transaction. They can register themselves to tackle, and their kids to flag all in one go.
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Improved Engagement and Participation
By embracing these diverse formats and functionalities within a unified platform, GA gained the ability to analyse the impact of flag football and leverage cross-promotional opportunities to expand participation and diversify engagement strategies.
Additionally, Assemble’s unique competition management platform empowered GA with advanced functionalities, including real-time scoring, incident management, and attendance tracking. These capabilities put GA in control of specific scoring events for both tag and tackle football, significantly enhancing administrative efficiency and elevating participant engagement.
"Thanks to the Assemble Sports platform, we have seen a significant increase in engagement. We have attracted new players and simplified the sign-up process for existing ones. The competition management and live scoring system is fully integrated and allows us to further engage our community beyond sign-up".
So What Now…
With the adoption of the Assemble Sports platform, GA has positioned itself for future growth by establishing a unified national database for both tackle and flag football. The platform's flexibility, user-friendly experience, and streamlined administration have driven increased participation in flag football and enhanced the overall efficiency in managing the sport. By leveraging the Assemble Sports platform, GA is well-prepared to capitalise on the significant growth opportunities ahead.
"Flag Football is a major growth opportunity for our sport, particularly with the upcoming inclusion of the sport in the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane. We now have a platform that enables this growth with a modern, user-friendly experience for our administrators and players." - Wade Kelly, CEO.
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