Obviously, stewards are vital to the business of staging professional football matches - should a sufficient number not be present on match day, Health and Safety Regulations would prevent the match from being played. But managing 1000 or so volunteers/part-time employees is a time consuming business.

The Steward Management System built by Sports Fusion is essentially a “social networking” site for Arsenal stewards enabling them to inform the club of their availability, report incidents, talk to the club and their fellow stewards and receive payment. The system has received an excellent response from the stewards offering them convenience as well as enhancing their sense of community and generally improving motivation.

From the club’s perspective what was once an onerous and time-consuming task has now been simplified – the club has an instant view of match-by-match attendance, is able to quickly read and assess incident reports, can broadcast to stewards instantly via email or SMS and can make payments at the touch of button.

A real win-win.

September 2009