A decade of digital platforms for The FA and England Football.
We have been developing projects for The FA / England Football alongside The Media Group (TMG) since 2016.
What began with an FA bursary platform has grown into a long-running relationship spanning substantial web applications, training platforms, national campaigns, annual awards and public-facing digital experiences.
Some projects exist around a particular campaign or season. Others have become established platforms that continue to evolve year after year.
Behind each is a different combination of users, data, administration, integrations and technical requirements.
Working together since
2016
Platform
Custom Laravel
Relationship
Ongoing development
Work
eLearning · Applications · APIs · Campaigns
England Football Programme Training · COMETS
The relationship
A long-running collaboration
Our work with The FA mostly comes through our long-standing relationship with The Media Group (TMG).
TMG brings considerable creative expertise to the work - particularly the outstanding video production that features across many of the campaigns we've built together.
TRS develops the creatives and provides the technical expertise behind the digital platforms: helping shape functionality, developing the applications and websites, building administration systems, integrating external services and supporting them as they evolve.
It's a collaboration that has now produced digital work for The FA and England Football across a decade.
Training platform
England Football Programme Training
One of the largest platforms we have developed together is England Football Programme Training - the online training system supporting programmes including Wildcats, Squad, Comets and Just Play.
Rather than creating separate training websites for each programme, we built a single Laravel application capable of supporting them all.
Providers create an account, securely login and complete the training relevant to the programme they will be delivering. Courses are broken into manageable sections, with progress saved automatically so somebody can leave part-way through and return later without starting again.
Once training is completed, users can access certificates and supporting programme resources.
But an important part of the project sits behind that learning experience.
England Football Programme Training · Wildcats, Squad, Comets and Just Play
The platform provides The FA with its own administration tools for reviewing users and training activity, alongside an API that allows completion data to flow into The FA's internal systems.
That means EFP doesn't exist as an isolated training website. The FA can use the information generated within it as part of its wider programme management processes.
As new programmes and requirements have emerged, the same underlying platform has been extended rather than starting again.
Application platform
FA Apply
FA Apply began as a replacement for a collection of application processes being managed through tools such as spreadsheets and online forms.
We built a central platform through which applicants can create an account, complete relevant applications and return to see their history.
Integration with FA data allows the platform to identify applicants and use existing information, including qualifications, when determining whether they meet requirements for particular applications.
System flow
How FA Apply identifies applicants, checks eligibility and supports administration
Applicant journey
01Applicant
02FA identity / SSO
03Existing details + qualifications
04Eligibility
05Complete application
06
Submission
Administration
07Submission received
08FA administration
09Review / weighting / status
10
Applicant outcome
Behind the public journey is a flexible administration system through which The FA can create and manage different application programmes, construct forms, review submissions, apply weighting and statuses and communicate with applicants.
What began by replacing manual processes has developed into an established platform that continues to support new application requirements today.
Further work
National campaigns and programmes
Grassroots Football Awards
The annual Grassroots Football Awards platform helps The FA recognise the volunteers, coaches, clubs and leagues.
The public-facing nomination journey has evolved over several seasons, including a more focused mobile-first process designed to make substantial nominations easier to complete.
Behind the scenes, County FA representatives and administrators can review nominations, categorise and rate entries, shortlist candidates, export information and communicate with nominees.
Each new season brings changes to dates, categories, content and branding, so the platform has been designed to be adapted rather than rebuilt each year.
Let Girls Play
Let Girls Play was an FA initiative supported by Barclays, encouraging equal access to football for girls in schools.
We built the campaign's digital platform, including an interactive search experience helping families identify local provision and functionality supporting the wider campaign.
An administration system allowed The FA to understand engagement behind the campaign rather than simply publishing a static website.
The platform later expanded to support awards and nominations recognising people helping to make girls' football more accessible.
WSL Hall of Fame
Barclays Women's Super League Hall of Fame provided a digital home celebrating significant figures from the women's game.
The experience was intentionally very visual including journey animations, combining inductee profiles, statistics, quotes, imagery, video and interactive moments from the league's history.
A CMS allowed new inductees and content to be added as the Hall of Fame developed each year.
The platform evolved through changes to league branding and partner requirements while retaining the underlying experience.
Pledge of Positivity
The Pledge of Positivity formed part of The FA's work encouraging better behaviour around grassroots football.
Visitors could make the pledge online and receive a personalised digital certificate that could be downloaded and shared.
The public experience combined TMG's campaign creative and video with the functionality needed to collect pledges, generate personalised assets and encourage social sharing.
Behind it, The FA had access to a secure dashboard for monitoring participation, exporting information and managing content.
From our side
We've had a lot of fun working on these projects over the years. No two have been quite
the same, which is one of the things we've enjoyed most about the relationship.
After around a decade working with TMG and The FA, there's a lot of shared
understanding there now, and we hope we keep adding to this list for a long time yet.
