From the Touchline to the App Store

Today, Rugby Matchmaker went live on the App Store. It is the culmination of two years of thinking, four months of building, and forty years of loving this sport. This is how it happened.

The idea that wouldn't go away

It started about two years ago with a feeling rather than a plan. I'd spent decades in rugby — as a player, a coach, a Director of Rugby — and I knew the pain of the lost fixture better than most. You look forward to the game all week. Thursday night comes around and the opposition cry off. Your mood drops through the floor. You spend your Friday morning chasing around for a replacement, and more often than not, you come up empty.

Someone needed to build a fixture exchange app. I just didn't think it was going to be me. I had never touched a line of code in my life.

A client of mine who was developing his own app gave me a window into the right tools and approaches. That conversation was the turning point. Within weeks I was building. And I wasn't going to stop.

Rugby is in the family

What I lacked in technical knowledge, I made up for in rugby knowledge. I've been in and around the game my entire life. My Dad coached me from Under 6s all the way to the first team — via the 5th XV for my senior debut, which was, let's say, a character-building introduction to what senior rugby is all about. My first scrum half involvement at Dunstablians was getting pulled into a maul and greeted with a few uppercuts and a voice that said: "Welcome to senior rugby, young man."

I played a lot of rugby with my brother at Tring. My Mum organised many of the club tournaments. And my Mum's partner — who has never missed a match and has been a sounding board for Rugby Matchmaker from the very beginning — has been one of my most consistent sources of encouragement throughout this journey. I met my wife at the rugby club — where else? Her father was treasurer for 25 years. I played alongside her brother. Now my own children play at the club, and I'm head coach of my son's team. I still pull on the boots myself, albeit a little slower and a little more painfully than before.

Rugby has given my family everything. I've seen it save people, forge friendships, and create bonds that never break. Grassroots rugby has been struggling, and if Rugby Matchmaker can play even a small part in getting more games played, more people involved, and more revenue flowing into clubs — then I am very proud of that.

Building something I'd never built before

The early building was actually fine — energising, even. What nearly broke me was the final stretch: getting the app to a state that Apple and Google would actually approve. There were 1am nights when I'd broken something that had been working perfectly the day before. There were weekends lost to debugging. There were moments where a simpler person would have walked away.

There were tough moments, but I so deeply believed in it that the drive kept me going. Much like a rugby match, it isn't always plain sailing — but rugby has taught me resilience, competitiveness, calmness and drive. Those qualities don't stay on the pitch.

The thing that gave me an edge wasn't technical ability. It was the fact that I knew exactly what this app had to feel like. It had to make the life of fixture secretaries, team managers and captains genuinely easier. One of the things I pride myself on is making the complex simple. That's how the app was designed — not by a developer who'd read about the problem, but by someone who has lived it.

The people who made it real

I am not a shy person when it comes to asking for help. I learnt that early in my career and it has served me well. I got some great advice, and some not-so-great advice, and I'm grateful for all of it.

I have an unbelievable network at Huel Tring Rugby. I put together a focus group and nearly 50 testers who helped shape what the app became. They were honest with me — I asked them to be — and they delivered. I cannot thank them enough.

My family were with me every step of the way. My wife — a smart business woman who would absolutely have told me if this was a bad idea — was supportive and encouraging from day one. That meant everything.

Launch day

Today was weirdly emotional. Not something I say often. But when Tring RFC appeared in the database as the first real club on Rugby Matchmaker, it felt like a significant moment. I am proud. My family say they are proud.

And I'm sure my Dad would be too. We lost him in 2005. He was a great rugby man, and I know he would have loved the why behind this.

I'll be even more proud when this gets more people playing rugby.