Warwick Greenwood Football Club to broadcast home games with SportsEdge in WA first

IN what is believed to be a WA first for this level of football, Warwick Greenwood Football Club will live broadcast all of its 2019 home games.

President Brendan Currie said the partnership with SportsEdge Media’s Footy Radio was the biggest off-field development the Metro Football League (MFL) club had made in its 15-year history.

It will involve visual and audio coverage of every home game at Percy Doyle Reserve in Duncraig streamed for free through various social media pages.

It will also include pre and post game analysis, interviews, advertising and competitions.

“The club trialled the concept at our Past Players and Supporters Day last year and was overwhelmed with the support it gained with over 4500 people viewing the game through the club’s social media platform,” he said.

Club league coach Jay Carroll said it started as a one-off opportunity to “add a bit of colour to our home game” but the response led him to work with SportsEdge to “discuss where we could take it”.

“It was being done at WAFL level but not below,” he said.

SportsEdge chief executive Tom Tapping said broadcasting created audience engagement, which created opportunities to attract sponsorship.

“Elite sport has an abundance of this where grassroots and non-broadcast sport doesn’t – until now,” he said.

“Sponsorship has not been of genuine value at this level because of a lack of exposure.

“Any funds given are really little more than donations as clubs have been unable to deliver engagement with their audience without any exposure.”

Mr Tapping said the partnership with Warwick Greenwood was a game changer, adding value to existing sponsors and attracting new ones.

“Once an agreed base figure to cover production is reached, we revenue share with the club so it becomes a source of new income,” he said.

“It will be streamed to a central mobile-friendly website and can be shared onto the social media accounts of the MFL, clubs, players, sponsors and we’ll have a media partnership with Community News.

“At this level of football, we certainly believe it’s a WA first.”

Mr Carroll said as well as benefitting the club, the broadcasting would also give exposure to the MFL, “which is often in the shadow of the WA Amateur Football League”.

“It’s an opportunity to grow the competition and bring Sunday footy back into the limelight like it was in the 1970s to 90s,” he said.

“We hope the concept will grow throughout the MFL and we are exploring ways to involve as many clubs as possible.

“There is a great deal of talent in amateur football in Perth and this will hopefully help unearth some of that talent to a bigger audience.”

Pre-season training is already underway at Warwick Greenwood Football on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

New players are welcome. Contact the club via Facebook.