How Raven Controls are evolving event safety management standards

Avatar
Raven Controls
Image provided by Raven Controls

Developed by resilience experts, Raven Controls is a digital management system which provides powerful real-time situational awareness that aims to ensure reassurance for all stakeholders and venue management involved in an event.

Event safety management standards have undoubtedly shifted overtime due in no small part to the changing nature of how live events are attended and consumed. Football has no doubt seen a major change in the behaviour of fans over the past few decades with specific standards of compliance needing to be adhered to, especially at multinational tournaments such as the World Cup and EUROS.

The reality of event safety management standards is that often improvements are driven in response to major disasters such as the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985 and the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. Both of these were massive catalysts for changing safety management standards and influenced global recognition of the need to make improvements.

The approach from then on was dominated by a European approach which aimed at preventing and managing violence – as was dictated by the European Convention on Spectator Violence and Misbehaviour at Sports Events. 2016 saw The Council of Europe Convention on Integral Safety, Security and Service Approach at Football introduced to add to the work that has been done since the adoption of the European Convention on Spectator Violence in 1985. The new convention advocated for cooperation between all public and private stakeholders involved in making events welcoming, safe and secure.

In a contemporary sporting landscape, Raven Controls is well positioned to suit the modern demands of event safety and security management and also meet the challenges created by the integrated approach being demanded by the new European Convention.

Raven Controls’ method of digital information logging (which is based on integrated emergency management principles) precisely highlights information flow and supports real-time notification alerts and subsequent escalation processes. Moreover, in terms of accountable decision-making, Raven Controls assures that policy decisions are recorded in real-time highlighting the justification and rationale for critical decisions.

Customers who utilise Raven Controls are assured not just a safe and successful event, but a comprehensive variety of accessible tools designed to assist in the smooth running of live events. It includes features such as the in-control dashboard which provides real-time critical information that is readily usable and can identify what is happening in an instant; Digital Logging to intuitively capture essential information; Checklists to provide staff with clarity; and instant notification alerts.

In addition, the Inter-Account Working component allows agencies and event stakeholders to maximise interoperability through Raven’s multi-agency situational awareness, whilst Raven Eye allows fans seeking to report issues happening during the event to get into contact with Raven through instant SMS messaging. Finally, Raven Mobile provides a guide to an event’s operations team through a remote setup aimed to provide consistency and staff reassurance.

The UEFA EURO 2020 tournament saw Raven Controls playing a central part in the coordination and communication aspects of the month-long event. Raven successfully coordinated real-time shared situational awareness across the 51 matches and 11 host cities and stadiums at EURO 2020, all the while streaming directly to the UEFA command centre in Switzerland.

Raven Controls consistently displayed a capability for capturing integral information and providing a direct link from the stadium and host city to UEFA HQ. The software available to Raven Controls at the time ensured that many policies, protocols and procedures in place were able to be effectively met and complied with.

Major tournaments such as EURO 2020 often offer a challenging adjustment period for newly-implemented technologies, however Raven’s intuitive and user-friendly system benefitted the intricacies and complexities of the tournament. Considering the tournament unfolded over 11 different countries – which subsequently included a variety of cultures, languages and customs – Raven Controls were able to consistently ensure that UEFA’s digitally embedded checklists were adhered to and that information was accurately reported and communicated.

In a live footballing event setting, Raven Controls no doubt provides a guarantee of maintaining consistent safety standards and assurance for venue management and workers. It will be fascinating to see if the technology is included as part of the organisation of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar later this year.

Previous ArticleNext Article

Tottenham modernises stadium technology with major IT overhaul

Avatar
Image credit: Yau Ming Low / Shutterstock.com

Tottenham Hotspur has completed a major upgrade of the digital infrastructure that underpins its stadium operations, highlighting the growing importance of technology away from the pitch.

The Premier League club has partnered with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to modernise its IT environment, replacing legacy systems while introducing new networking, automation and connectivity capabilities across Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The project also reduced the club’s virtualisation licensing costs by more than 85 per cent following its migration from VMware to HPE Morpheus software.

While cost savings were one outcome, the wider objective was to simplify how the stadium’s technology is managed.

The upgrade brings networking, servers, storage and virtual infrastructure under a single operating platform. Tottenham is also introducing Wi-Fi 7 throughout the venue, supporting everything from digital ticketing and cashless payments to mobile services and high-density fan connectivity on event days.

The investment reflects the changing role of football stadiums.

Modern venues increasingly serve purposes beyond football. Tottenham Hotspur Stadium stages NFL games, concerts and other large-scale events throughout the year, placing increasing pressure on the technology that supports daily operations. Reliable digital infrastructure has become as important as physical infrastructure in delivering those experiences.

Across football, clubs are increasingly viewing technology as an operational asset rather than simply an IT requirement. Investments in automation, connectivity and cloud-based management can improve efficiency behind the scenes while enhancing the experience for supporters inside the stadium.

For Tottenham, the latest upgrade is another step in positioning its stadium as a multi-purpose entertainment venue. It also reflects a broader trend across elite sport, where digital infrastructure is becoming central to matchday operations, commercial activity and long-term venue management.

The Spreadsheet Is Dead: Majestri’s Fix for How Clubs Actually Assess Players

Avatar
If you’ve ever sat through a club’s end-of-season review, you’ll know the drill. A coach pulls out a folder of notes, someone half-remembers what a player was like back in Round 3 and a parent quietly wonders what they actually got for their rego fees beyond a team photo. Football club platform Majestri says it has a fix for that, and it’s built directly into its Player Assessment module.

Why clubs bother assessing players in the first place

According to Majestri, clubs run player assessments for one of three reasons – usually more than one at once. Some are chasing genuine development, using the data to lift the level across their high-performance squads. Others are after a fairer way to pick teams, putting every player on the same measurable scale so selection is based on evidence rather than a coach’s gut feel about who “looks the part.” And for clubs operating under a Football Australia or state federation licence, assessments at set intervals often aren’t optional – they’re a compliance requirement, with the paperwork to prove it when asked.

Whatever the motivation, Majestri’s pitch is the same: don’t let that assessment data die in a spreadsheet on someone’s laptop.

Build your own assessment, your way

There’s no one-size-fits-all template here. The Assessment Designer lets technical directors set their own criteria, sort them into whatever categories their coaching staff already use – think core skills, possession, defending, attacking – and decide what each point on the rating scale actually means. Crucially, every criterion also gets a comment field, because a bare number rarely tells the full story of a player’s development.

The Assessment Module Builder for an NPL Juniors assessment
The Assessment Module Builder, showing an NPL Juniors assessment with a 1-10 rating scale banded from under performing through to excelling and role-specific criteria grouped into core skills, possession, defending and attacking. Source: Majestri.

Build it once and it’s reusable every time that assessment cycle comes around, so every player and every coach – is working off the same yardstick.

Something for the parents to actually take home

One of the more relatable pain points Majestri is targeting: most families never see much tangible return from a season of fees beyond a team photo. Player Assessment addresses that with report cards – colour-coded against the same scale coaches used, grouped by category with averages calculated automatically, and delivered as a PDF or an interactive web page a parent can read without needing a coaching badge themselves.

A player report card for an under-15 player
A report card for an under-15 player, colour-coded from under performing to excelling, with a score for every criterion and a group average across core skills, possession, defending and attacking. Source: Majestri.

 

Turning the numbers into something useful

The real value, though, sits in what Majestri calls the Player Analysis Lab. This is where clubs can plot a player against their team-mates or an entire age group across two categories at once, spotting clusters and outliers at a glance. Every score gets read against the group average – so a “7” actually means something in context – and clubs can report at the broad category level or drill into individual fields underneath. The results can be filtered down and exported for selection meetings or grading purposes.

The Player Analysis Lab comparing players in an under-15 and under-16 squad
The Player Analysis Lab comparing seven players across under-15 and under-16 squads, with a scatter plot, a sortable table of scores against the player average, and controls for choosing which categories and fields to report on. Source: Majestri.

The admin side nobody enjoys, made easier

Beyond the flashy analytics, there’s a practical layer built for the volunteers actually running the process:

  • Sweep monitoring – a quick view of which assessments are done and which are still outstanding, organised into defined assessment periods so progress can be tracked against peers.
  • Individual development plans – every player gets a personalised plan, and clubs can group common improvement areas to run cross-team training sessions that lift the whole club rather than just one squad.
  • Access control – coaches and technical staff can only see assessments for the teams they’re responsible for, and completed assessments are only visible to people linked to that player’s registration.
“Hard numbers to draw on when you review coaching staff and curriculum – and something tangible for the players and parents who pay the fees.” – Majestri

 

The bigger picture

Majestri frames all of this as sitting on top of the club’s own data – assessment results live on each player’s profile inside the platform rather than in a spreadsheet that walks out the door when a technical director moves on. For committees, it also means hard numbers to lean on when reviewing coaching staff or curriculum, rather than relying on anecdote.

It’s a fairly clear read on where club administration software is heading: less about digitising paperwork for its own sake, and more about making the data clubs already collect actually work for player development, team selection and compliance  without adding to the workload of the volunteers who run the show.

For more information on Majestri’s Player Assessment module, visit majestri.com.au/player-assessment.

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks

Send this to a friend