Hi everyone
Status update
Today marks 3 months since the official re-launch of the Record Keepers’ Club, which seems at appropriate point to give an update on our progress.
I have been genuinely blown away by what we have got through in such a short space of time, and cannot thank enough the many people who have made this happen. We have had over 40 people helping type up information, and statisticians from 17 clubs have selflessly put their work at our disposal. Chris Heinitz has provided access & a ton of support importing his summer era records, and Martin McDonough has carried on his excellent work with the database, and continues to display the required patience when dealing with my many varied queries and requests!
The upshot of all this is that we now have 3,437 seasons of club records in electronic form, out of the 3,700 we need, which I find simply astonishing in the time we’ve been working on these. We have complete winter era records for all but 3 clubs now, 2 of which will be completed within a week, and the other in a fortnight or so. And we only need 200 seasons or so of the summer era records to complete the full set. I hope everyone involved is as proud of our achievements as I am, and hopefully enjoyed it as much too. I know for many it has provided a welcome distraction and something positive to focus on in these difficult times.
Of course, we still have much to do as this information is merely the foundation of what is to come, but we have already started to transition to the next phases of our work. We have over 500 seasons of summer era records in the database, together with full records for 4 clubs, and all this information is now being checked for accuracy; a further 22 clubs are in the process of being loaded into the database. 3 clubs (Swinton, Warrington & Featherstone) are fully loaded and checked.
We are also just starting our work collating the records for representative games, as well as non-member clubs (i.e. amateurs and overseas) who have competed in first-class games.
I won’t make any bold predictions as to where we will get to at any particular point in the future, but I know that with the continued support of those involved so far, and hopefully some new faces as well, we will continue to make rapid progress towards our lofty ambitions.
Website launch
The other main piece of news is that today (in fact 5 minutes ago!) I have launched the official RKC website, www.rugbyleaguerecords.com
We are still some way from actually releasing anything in the way of records, so the initial launch is about publicising what we are doing, and clarifying the principles of RL record keeping.
In time, more information will be added, even whilst we work on the main records, and future developments will likely include top scorers/appearance charts, honours information charting the history of competitions, and a comprehensive set of league tables. Quite deliberately I decided to go for a softer launch at this stage, to continue to spread the word about what we are doing, rather than spend more time behind the scenes on this, and risk slowing the pace of our other activities. Now that this is up and running, it will be easy to add incremental bits as time permits.
My ask is that you all promote the new site, and encourage people to keep an eye on this so they can watch it grow over time. Any feedback on the new site is also very much welcomed.
I’ll wrap up there, rather than waffle on any more! But not before a quick appeal for anyone who wants to get involved in typing up information about representative clubs, or support on the data validation to give me a shout; and if anyone has any records for rep teams, in paper or electronic form, it would be great to hear from you too.
All the best
Neil
