- ClubCall
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ClubCall has been providing football coverage since 1986.
ClubCall 
URL http://www.clubcall.com Slogan Football News Since 1986 Type of site Sports News Registration Optional Owner ICS Ltd Launched 1986 Revenue Advertisement Current status online Contents
History
ClubCall was launched as a club-by-club telephone service by BT Supercall (1983–87), the UK's first audiotext business set up by Kieran Levis following deregulation of the telecoms industry,[1]which for the first time allowed fans to listen to a telephone news service dedicated to their team[2].
Leading clubs in the then First Division (Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton, Newcastle United, Sheffield Wednesday and Liverpool) were among the first raft of teams signed up on a revenue share basis, whereby they received a percentage of income from the calls to their official information line which quickly proved popular among fans who could hear club news, interviews and commentary on the telephone by ringing an 0898 prefixed number. The success of the new service saw ClubCall expand to cover 72 teams in England and Scotland as club’s scrambled to be part of a new and significant revenue stream.
Local reporters, dedicated to a particular club, provided an at the ground news gathering service, which was fed back to ClubCall’s headquarters at Downham Road, Dalston, London where it was updated by a team of editors. One of the first appointed editors was radio reporter Ian Holding[3], one of the current owners of the ClubCall business.
In 1991, BT sold ClubCall to bookmaker Ladbrokes at a time when the premium rate telephone market was flourishing. Ladbrokes saw it as an opportunity to develop relationships with football clubs and to associate its brand with football which was becoming an increasingly important betting medium. The company operated ClubCall at a time when interest in football was heightened by the formation of the Premier League in 1992.
It became famed for breaking big stories such as player transfers and managerial changes and was a regular source of news for local and national media.
By 1999 ClubCall was in the hands of Scottish Telecom, later Thus plc, who wanted additional call minutes for its network.
Under long-serving Managing Editor Eamonn Watson[4], ClubCall extended its coverage to all major football tournaments in 14 countries and uniquely offered, at that time, the only match commentary service for supporters of many teams.
However, by the turn of the millennium, many premium rate information services were in a period of decline as the popularity of the internet began to take hold. In 2001, Glasgow-based Thus plc wanted to focus on building sales of phone and internet services to the corporate sector and sold ClubCall and its other consumer brands (RaceCall and WeatherCall) to mobile media firm iTouch as part of a £3.5 million disposal.[5][6]
iTouch took a conscious decision not to cannibalise the ClubCall telephone customer base and offered a minimal web presence. In contrast, competitor Teamtalk (launched as an independent telephone service in 1992 by ex ClubCall editor Ian Holding) was attracting a huge internet audience and was listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 2000 at the height of the tech-stock boom.
iTouch changed its emphasis in 2004 and began tapping into its reporter base to create a web version of stories. In 2008 the ClubCall and RaceCall telephony and web services were sold to ICS Ltd, owned by Holding, as a service for mobile and the web in addition to telephone.
The telephone and mobile publishing is now promoted via networks, bookmakers and media partners such as The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian Newspapers.
ClubCall Cards
An example of the ClubCall card from the late 1980s
Supercall issued ClubCall wallet cards team colours and featuring the official club badge to remind fans of their team’s 0898 number. They were first issued shortly after launch in 1986, as part of the initial marketing push with distribution help from the clubs on match days,
The attractiveness of the cards appealed to kids who would often adorn their bedroom walls with them in a show of club support while others looked to create a full collection of all teams and playground swaps were common place in the late 1980s.
This was not the original intention for a BT operated premium rate service, which needed the bill payers authorisation and was aimed at a more mature customer base, but it helped to spawn general interest in the service.
Fixtures were later added to the reverse side of the cards to assist with retention value among fans and over the years they have become collector’s items which often pop up on auction sites and offered on club message boards.
ClubCall Old Boys
Many well known reporters and broadcasters from television, radio and print have worked for ClubCall over the years as the service operated with a large team of staff and freelance reporters.
It became a perfect grounding for young reporters looking to get into football reporting with a chance to interview their heroes and report on matches alongside the established media of newspapers, radio and television.
With a direct revenue benefit from calls to the clubs, the ClubCall representative was often afforded privileged access to players and management and were often handed exclusives on a plate.
BBC commentator Jonathan Pearce, known for his exuberant style and for Robot Wars (TV series), worked for the company as a club reporter working out of Downham Road with colleagues such as Tony Incenzo, himself a familiar voice on commercial radio with talkSPORT.
The BBC’s lead World Cup commentator at South Africa 2010 Guy Mowbray also cut his teeth as a ClubCall reporter as did his fellow Match Of The Day commentator John Roder. A number of reporters familiar to BBC Radio Five Live including Johnny Gould and Gideon Coe are also ClubCall old boys while more recently the channel’s presenter George Riley was a contributor to ClubCall whilst working at Leeds-based sports content specialists ICS ltd.
Business model
ClubCall.com creates revenue from its many free users through advertisement. Adverts are displayed on all of the sites webpages, clearly visible to anyone who accesses the site.
References
- ^ "Scottish Telecom is planning to transfer all its premium rate, content driven audio services to a free Internet service". Incisive Media v3.co.uk. 22 August 1999. http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/1973489/clubcall-football-news-internet.
- ^ "Before the advent of the internet publishing there used to be a service called 'ClubCall'". BBC 606. 9 April 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A49705095.
- ^ "Ian Holding was appointed Sports Director of TEAMtalk Media Group PLC". Bloomberg Business Week. 9 February 2000. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=8412147&privcapId=681061&previousCapId=681061&previousTitle=TEAMtalk%20Media%20Group%20Ltd..
- ^ "Eamonn’s role was to balance client PR sensitivities with the need for exclusive content to maximise revenue and generate wider exposure for the brand". Linkedin profile. 9 March 1989. http://www.linkedin.com/in/eamonnwatson.
- ^ "iTouch buys voice services from Thus". Irish Independent News. 31 October 2001. http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/itouch-buys-thus-arm-for-stgpound35m-330930.html.
- ^ "Thus incorporates premium-rate football service ClubCall". The Guardian. 15 May 2002. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2002/may/15/newmedia.
External links
Categories:- Football media in the United Kingdom
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