“WE ARE A player short for tonight’s game.”
The dreaded text that any regular 5-a-side players will have no doubt received at least once. It results in numerous pre-booked games being cancelled needlessly, when there’s plenty of players who would join, if they had the opportunity.
A new twitter account, @Latecallup, aims to solve this problem by building a public community in Dublin of 5-a-side football subs who are ready to jump in when someone drops out.
“I wanted to create one central place for people interested in playing 5-a-side,” says Martin O’Leary, the man behind the twitter account. “So that when teams are short players or run into problems, they have a network at their disposal where they can get players very quickly.
“I only set it up a week ago and it’s got more attention than I ever expected. I work in digital marketing so it’s a side project and something that has grown organically based on solving a real problem that plagues 5-aside football.”
The page has received a lot of attention in recent days and currently has over 200 followers. Nearly 100 people have signed up to play on demand, using the sign up form available on their twitter. O’Leary says people have been contacting him all week about different 5-a-side games that are short players and in most cases, he has been able to help them out.
Big plans
Although he acknowledges that the community is in it’s early days, he has big plans taking the idea forward — including building a dedicated Hailo type app that would make it even easier to find players quickly.
“I want to continue to build the database in Dublin to start with. But then I’d like to go outside Dublin into other cities and even into other countries. The Hailo app would make things even easier and I could imagine a situation where we do a partnership with someone like Hailo or Uber.”
So would this app exactly work? Hailo uses mobile and GPS technology to match taxi drivers with passengers based on both availability and proximity. O’Leary believes his app could work in a very similar way.
You could use the app by putting in how many players you need, how much it costs and the location. People could then come back and confirm they would like to play, just like a taxi confirms it will pick you up. You accept them and then you could rate those players in terms of reliability. So the more reliable you are, the more games you are probably going to play. So it becomes a dynamic real-time on-demand type of sporting event.”
Social network
O’Leary wants @Latecallup to connect like-minded people who want to have a kick about. In that way, he believes it shares similarities with social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
If you think about it, Facebook is a network for people you know. Twitter introduces you to people that have similar interests. This could be a social network where you connect with people offline, and you can continue those relationships online.”
“Imagine sitting at home and feeling like a game of 5-a-side. You could have access to a database of 500 players or more in your area. In a couple of hours you could organise a game with a bunch of people you’ve never met. So it’s a good networking opportunity and a good way to meet people if you’re new in the city.”
It doesn’t just stop at organising 5-a-side, though. There is also the potential for it to work for other sports as well — such as tag rugby, tennis or golf.
“For people that love golf, especially those with families, it can be incredibly difficult to play when you only have a couple of hours to work with. It would make things a whole lot easier if you could scan a database for players that are free in your area and want to play.”
If you would like to get involved or you’re in need of players to make up numbers, you can get more information @Latecallup or @martinoleary. Or if you would like to register to play on demand, you can sign up here.
altogether now…….
TTTOOMMMMYYYYYY BBBOOOWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
They had a phenomenal year? They lost the six nations to Tv3? He’s deluded
@Darragh Flynn:
Is that how you evaluate achievement? By who has the most money?
No and I’m a fan of a lot of sports, but losing rights of two of the biggest sports viewer pullers (RWC & 6N) to your national rival is certainly not an achievement. They’ll miss the viewer figures when they’re gone.
But hes obviously focusing on what coverage they have delivered on (thats what he was saying was excellent), not what they were outbidded on? Im not saying they WERE excellent but thought you were aimimg at the wrong point
Ireland beating the All Blacks was the sporting highlight of the year for me …. watched on an iPad then free on Eir then had to watch a montage the next week on RTE before the Canada game including fake commentary on the historic match they didn’t show …. load of shite
RTÉ’s soccer and GAA coverage is beyond sh!te. Same tired old muppets churning out the same crap year after year. I’d rather pay to watch decent coverage.
Ahhh…God love poor Ryle, he gets upset at a little criticism. Have to agree to with @Niall, the RTE soccer pundits plus the GAA football pundits are long overdue a shake up. The hurling pundits are the best of a bad lot. As for George Hook and his rugger buggers……???
@Niall McNamara:
pay to watch jaime redknapp or micheal owen? Every station has poor pundits(or ones you disagree with) but you’re doing a blanket statement which is idiotic. Hamann is probably the best pundit out there and where is he…..RTE
George retired – Shane Horgan, ROG and Brent Pope are all excellent
When it comes to GAA and Rugbaí. TG4 are streets ahead. If I heard Hugh Cahill commentating, I’d break my own rule and watch it on a Brit channel.
We should just give the award to everybody who played sport this year! Why narrow it down to one?
@Conor Paddingto:
Well that has to be the dumbest thing I have ever read.
@Just Some Guy: sarcasm frequently appears that way to the uninitiated. 8 nominees, no one there unjustly and an endless moan about who isn’t on the list. Silliness.
Up yours Ryle
He is the worst commentator of the whole lot including sky sports!!! How he has kept the job is amazing given the amount of people that have the same opinion….oh wait he gives himself the job as head of sport. What’s his KPI’s
Congrats to all nominated and all but only 2 people who should win this are Frampton or McGregor. Won world titles. Don’t think frampton has the support in Ireland to win a vote so McGregor it is. Will he turn up. Surprised McIlroy wasn’t nominated had a pretty good year but he did win it the other year so maybe they thought if nominated he would win it again. Though boycott of Olympics would have hit his popularity in public votes
So what was the criteria then?
Agree he’s deluded and interesting to see the wide spectrum of fans who think the same. They give no support to any LOI teams in Europe – Eir Sport stepped in and gave excellent coverage to Dundalk European adventure and id love them to get hold of the LOI and stick it on free to air
The only thing good about RTE’s lack of rugby coverage is that we don’t have to listen Ryle’s poor commentary too often. Usually turn sound down and listen to Michael Corcoran.
Sully