Hello everyone
Things have been rather hectic so firstly apologies it’s been a while since my last note. There’s been a lot going on behind the scenes, but not so much by way of visible changes, though that will not be the case over the next few months, so read on for more info…
Before that though, welcome to new members who are receiving an update for the first time. We’ve had plenty of people joining through the website, so thanks to all those that are supporting our work – it’s really appreciated. Hopefully everyone (new members and old) is managing to navigate their way around the website, but any problems, drop me a note and we’ll soon sort you out.
Off-season focus
The combination of cold, dark days, no live games, and a lack of in-season commitments to distract us (no programmes to edit or articles to write), we’ve an opportunity to power ahead on a number of fronts in the next few months.
Here’s what we’re gunning for, and what you can expect to see updates on soon:
- 2020 & 2021 seasons: the data is being loaded to the database as I type this, and will be available on the website soon. I make no apologies for repeating my thanks for Chris Heinitz & Martin McDonough for their outstanding work here. We also need your help too though please! We will very shortly have player summary charts available for all clubs for both these seasons, and need these checking against individuals’ own records & other sources as a vital cross-check to ensure accuracy. Club experts that have supported in the past can expect a mail on this shortly (you lucky things), but we’ve a number of overseas / lower league clubs where we’re reliant on the support of an enthusiastic volunteer – please mail me back if you can help with a bit of work here please
- Summer era rep games: a small, but necessary step to completing the data for summer is in loading 40 ‘representative’ games which don’t involve a member club, and aren’t a Full International (think Lancashire V. Yorkshire, or England V Combined Nations). Again, the data’s all gathered, and is being checked for accuracy, and will be available online soon.
- International matches: this is the big one! International Rugby League will announce soon the final list of Full Internationals which they recognise. I’ve been working closely with them, alongside fellow RKC members Tony Collins & Andrew Ferguson plus others to help agree this. We’re in the process of loading all the data for these matches too, but still have a bit of stuff which needs typing and sourcing here. I’ll send a separate note in the next month or so on what info we’re missing, but right now we’re in the market for a handful of people to help type up the final bits of info here – again, ping me a mail if you can help.
- Website update: the look and feel of the website will be refreshed. Predominantly driven by a need to change the structures to allow for faster loading of data, this will also allow all the new info above to be easily accessible (thanks Chris Line & Martin again for this).
2022 live running
We will take a major and exciting step forward in our long term ambitions at the start of next season with the launch of live loading of games. With the above updates this will mean that full UK career records will be available for all current players. We are pretty much there with a process for this (credit Martin again!).
To make this work though, we again need volunteers to support the inputting of data! If you have a particular passion for a certain club, or want to help with one of the ones we don’t have a RKC expect for, please shout – full training will be given (though it’s pretty intuitive). Please don’t be offended if you volunteer for a specific club but don’t end up with the gig! In some instances we’ve already lined folk up based on previous work they’ve done (or I’ll be getting in touch soon!); hopefully we can find a role for everyone that wants to assist, as it’s only through the help of a wide group of people that we will avoid this being too much of a burden for too small a group.
The plan is to bed in this live running in the early part of next season, and then to coincide with the completion of all summer era data (club, rep & internationals) open the website to the public to make the information freely available to all, which has always been the intention here.
Upcoming updates and announcements
Whilst it’s been a while between my last note and this, expect them to come thick and fast over the winter! My next note should be a major announcement of something that’s been simmering in the background for a while that we will be able to talk more about very soon. And at the end of the month, memberships will be due for a host of folk who signed up prior to the website launch, so I’ll clarify the process for people looking to renew, as well as sharing our accounts for the year.
I’ll also update everyone on the release of the data that’s in progress and website updates that’s referred to above, as we get this information live.
Until then, stay safe and please give me a shout on any of the requests for help above if you want something to help keep you busy until the rugby returns next spring!
All the best
Neil
