Get DUCK: Coming to an NPL venue near you

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Get DUCK

Fans attending the opening round of the Victorian NPL this weekend may have access to Get DUCK, a mobile food ordering system through an app set to be rolled out across local sporting venues in coming months. Supporters will be able to order food and drinks from their seat – or favoured place on the terrace -without lining up, and receive a notification when it’s ready for collection. The queue-less system is aimed at ensuring fans can keep their focus on the football for 90 minutes, while still supporting their club’s canteen in the post-Covid-19 era.Get DUCK co-founder Peter Saisanas told Soccerscene the company was born facing a conundrum familiar to many sports fans, across many levels. How do we quickly navigate queues during short breaks in play?“I’ve been a South Melbourne fan for many years, and I’d always be hit with a dilemma: to either go to the canteen and miss the last five minutes of the first half, or go at halftime and mis the first five minutes of the second,” Saisanas said.

“Whatever the decision was, you’d always miss a goal. The frustration was in going to games at South, where the canteens are tucked away from the ground, or Oakleigh, where the lines are just massive.”Fellow co-founder Rowan McNamee believes Get DUCK will not only benefit those in the stands, but those within the clubs too. As local sport looks to bounce back from the impacts of Covid-19, it is essential to find means to regenerate lost revenue. McNamee told Soccerscene the biggest deterrent to a sport club’s canteen is the queue, but with this now removed, people may be more likely to dip into their pockets once more.

“We’re of the belief that there is no reason to have a queue, and this product solves that problem. It’s also easier for the staff as they don’t have to spend time taking manual orders and manual payments, they can spend more time preparing great food and drinks,” he said.

“The issue that the actual venue has is they are losing revenue because people are making that decision to stay away, so that’s where we thought we could help.

“Then it’s also better for the fan. They don’t have to miss any of the action, they don’t have to waste time waiting at the canteen for it to be prepared, they just go grab it when it’s ready.”Get DUCK has to this point been entirely self-funded, and McNamee is confident it’s ease of implementation and low-maintenance infrastructure will see it spread without significant financial backing in the short-term.

“You just have a tablet or laptop at your canteen and bar, the orders are sent there, you then accept it with the click of a button and complete it with the click of a button. There’s no need for any new infrastructure, all you need is an internet connection and you’re right to go,” McNamee said.

“We’ve only just launched in 2021, and we’ve been trialling it at Malvern City, which is where I play personally. They’ve been very supportive, they’re a great club and they do an amazing job with their canteen.

“We’re trying to get some more validation from our first clients, we’re going to really work hard to get some more data, get some feedback from the venues and fans, and then we’ll look at raising capital a bit later on. But for now it’s trying to get the best possible product out there and get some feedback.”McNamee and Saisanas have made no secret of their ambition to grow Get DUCK across not just NPL Football, but across Victorian sport in general. A deal has been struck with a VAFA (Australian Rules) club for their upcoming season, and discussions are underway with State League soccer clubs for the coming winter.

“We’re starting in the heartland of where we’ve grown up, Victorian soccer, but we’ve also got a couple of footy clubs lined up as well, so we want to go hard in our local market. Basketball centres, netball centres, tennis clubs and golf club houses, we are very ambitious.

“Our dream is to take this overseas and have it in clubs and venues around the world, and we think it has that potential. We also want to bring more value where we’re not just mobile ordering down the line.

“We want to help sponsor activation, fan engagement, and make it a better experience for everyone that translates across all markets.”

Get DUCK requires patrons to scan a QR Code and pay for their order over the phone, which is then sent directly to canteen staff. The minimal face-to-face contact, and lack of cash payment and queuing also allows for social distancing to be observed, providing safety for customers and staff. Access to customer data also allows the vendor to track consumer habits and insights, and tailor marketing offers and events. McNamee is confident Get DUCK will be commonplace by the time winter football codes come to an end for 2022.

“We already have some State League clubs lined up too, and what’s great is there are some really forward thinking State League clubs. They’re preparing for the future, they want to go up and have as professional a setup as possible, and that’s been really encouraging.

“Even at junior clubs it’s great for parents on a Sunday morning to order their coffee and not have to miss their kid playing. It doesn’t matter what level the club is, mobile ordering is the way of the future, you don’t want to miss any action at any level.

“We’re gearing up to really launch it for round one of the NPL and we’ve got a couple of clubs ready to go, so definitely keep an eye out. You’re going to be able to use it at multiple games, and we’re excited about that.”

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Tim Cahill Backs Nardo as Startup Secures $1 Million Investment Round

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Image Credit: Ministry of Sport

Australian football icon Tim Cahill has joined sports technology platform Nardo as both an investor and strategic partner, helping the company close a $1 million pre-seed funding round aimed at accelerating international growth. The investment will support Nardo’s expansion into key markets including the United States, United Kingdom and Middle East.

Founded to simplify apparel and teamwear management for grassroots and semi-professional sporting organisations, Nardo’s platform streamlines the often-complex process of ordering, distributing and managing sportswear. The company believes its technology can reduce administrative burdens on clubs while improving efficiency across community sport.

Cahill’s involvement adds significant credibility to the venture. One of Australia’s most recognisable sporting figures, the former Socceroo has long advocated for the growth of grassroots football and community participation. His investment reflects growing confidence in sports technology solutions that address operational challenges faced by clubs and sporting organisations.

The announcement also highlights the increasing appetite for sports technology investment across Australia, with startups seeking to modernise everything from fan engagement and performance analysis to club administration and equipment management. For football in particular, where participation continues to grow nationwide, digital solutions aimed at supporting grassroots infrastructure are becoming an increasingly important part of the sport’s ecosystem.

As Nardo prepares for its next phase of expansion, Cahill’s backing provides both commercial support and industry expertise, positioning the company to pursue opportunities beyond the Australian market while maintaining a strong focus on serving community sport.

A Structural Fix or Stoppage? Will FQ’s New Referee Pipeline Solve its Shortage?

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Football Queensland‘s newly launched club referee framework is being presented as a game-changing solution to one of the most persistent operational problems in grassroots football: the chronic shortage of match officials. Will democratising and lowering the bar for entry saturate the gap, or exacerbate a skills shortage?

What the framework actually does

The core of the announcement is a free, 30-minute online module that certifies players or club members as club referees, creating a new category of match official below the formal FQ referee pathway. The stated goal is a 1 referee per team ratio within clubs, with these club-level officials intended to fill the gap at the grassroots end while the formal pathway continues operating above them.

Referee shortages at community level are not primarily caused by a lack of interest in officiating at the elite end. They are caused by the structural reality that organising and staffing fixtures for hundreds of junior and community matches each weekend requires a volume of officials that a centralised recruitment and accreditation model simply cannot generate fast enough. A club-embedded approach that lowers the barrier to entry addresses that supply problem at the point where it actually exists.

The framework’s strongest element is its acknowledgment that referee development is not a single pipeline but a layered ecosystem. By creating a supported entry point within clubs, the program recognises that people are more likely to begin something when the initial ask is modest and the environment is familiar.

The 30-minute online module removes cost and time as barriers, which are consistently among the most cited reasons people do not take up officiating. The integration with FQ’s broader resources and the explicit framing of club officiating as a stepping stone into the formal pathway is also structurally intelligent. A club referee who develops confidence and competence at the grassroots level is a more likely candidate for formal accreditation than someone approached cold by a recruiting drive.

Where the questions remain

The framework’s weaknesses are largely the weaknesses of any supply-side solution to what is partly a demand-side problem. Referee shortages exist not only because there are not enough officials but because the experience of refereeing is sufficiently unpleasant that retention rates are poor. Verbal abuse, sideline behaviour from parents and coaches, and the lack of adequate support structures mean that many referees who enter the system do not stay in it.

A 30-minute module and a club-based support structure does not directly address those conditions. If a newly certified club referee’s first experiences on the pitch involve the same patterns of behaviour that drive experienced officials out of the game, the framework risks building a pipeline that feeds into an environment that consumes referees rather than retaining them. Football Queensland’s existing Protect Our Game initiative and Three Strike Policy are relevant here, but the announcement makes no explicit connection between the new referee framework and the behavioural standards clubs will be expected to maintain around their own officials.

There is also a question of quality consistency. A 30-minute online certification, by design, provides a basic level of preparation. At the youngest junior levels, where match outcomes are secondary to development, that may be entirely adequate. But the framework’s success will depend on clubs implementing the structured learning and support it promises in practice, not just in principle. Clubs vary enormously in their administrative capacity, volunteer bandwidth and culture. A framework that works well in a well-resourced metropolitan club may deliver inconsistent results in a smaller regional association operating with a single administrator.

The broader structural implication

Perhaps the most significant question the framework raises is whether it represents a genuine investment in the referee pathway or a pressure valve designed to relieve immediate operational strain without addressing underlying conditions.

If the club referee model is understood as the entry ramp to a properly resourced and well-supported development pathway, it is genuinely valuable. Football Queensland’s 10-point referee plan, of which this forms one element, suggests the intent is systemic rather than cosmetic. The investment in Alex King as Head of Advanced Match Officials, the all-female referee courses and the appointment of Casey Reibelt as Australia’s first full-time female referee all point to an organisation that is thinking seriously about the full arc of official development.

But frameworks announced with language like “game-changing” and “record investment” carry an expectation of accountability that should be tracked. The meaningful measure of this initiative is not how many club referees are certified in its first season but how many are still officiating two and three seasons from now, and how many progress into the formal FQ pathway.

A referee pipeline is only as useful as its retention rate. That number will tell the real story.

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