New Zealand Hockey partners with locally developed sports app

New Zealand Hockey has announced a partnership with a new smartphone app designed by Kiwis.

The app, which gives fans access to sports news, highlights, in-game commentary and match scores in one location is called Tribe, and will be available on both iPhone and Android.

The app differs from other competitors in that it gives sports teams a digital presence, instead of just providing news and scores.

A spokesperson from New Zealand Hockey, John Whiting, said the partnership would help engage fans more with the sport.

“Anything we can do to further our fan offering is a good thing, especially in the digital space,” Mr Whiting said.

“We put out a huge amount of great content so the main challenge is providing a vehicle for people to see that content.”

Mr Whiting also said social media was becoming a normal vehicle for sports teams delivering content, and that was a big factor in agreeing to partner with Tribe.

“Social is a massive space for use, while Tribe gives yet another strong offering and hopefully we can utilise it even more going forward as technologies adapt,” he said.

“The main objective for us is to provide a better experience for our fans and supporters.”

Founder and developer of Tribe, Edwin Darlow, said he got the idea for the app when he became tired of having to surf the internet for his sports news.

“I’ve always had the attitude of ‘Solve your own problem’,” Mr Darlow said.

“One of the big problems for me was having 20 different sports apps on my phone.”

Mr Darlow said there was also the problem of a “fragmented market”.

“Right now, people go to one place to get the scores, then they go to multiple other places to engage with the teams, then they go somewhere else for tickets and merchandise, and somewhere else to chat to their mates about it,” he said.

“What we’re wanting to do is make a single destination where you should be able to get a score in the same place that you engage with the team, in the same place you buy a ticket and in the same place you talk to your mates about it.”

Mr Darlow said the social aspect of sport is yet to be captured by the mainstream market.

The app would also provide Kiwi sports teams, like New Zealand Hockey, with higher visibility.

“If you look at how fans and teams interact, it’s extremely fragmented right now,” Mr Darlow said.

“If you go to any scoring app, you get the scores but the teams themselves have no presence.”

Part of this also came down to a lack of coverage for minor sports in New Zealand.

It is Mr Darlow's hope that more teams like New Zealand Hockey will get on board, and soon Tribe would become a “hub” for sports fans across the globe.

iOS App: http://bit.ly/tribefyi

(Test) Android App: http://bit.ly/tribealpha