Building a Sportlink integration
At many sports clubs, the member administration lives in Sportlink, while the fixtures on the website, the volunteer rotas and the bar run somewhere else. So someone retypes the fixtures every week, or the team lists in the app are no longer correct. Appfront builds integrations with Sportlink, so the data that is already in Sportlink automatically ends up where your members and volunteers need it.
What is an integration with Sportlink?
Sportlink is the system in which many Dutch sports clubs keep their member administration and match management, often because their national association works with it. Through Sportlink's Club.Dataservice, a club can retrieve data such as teams, the fixture list, results and league tables using its own key. An integration uses that data in the systems the club manages itself.
Without an integration, a lot is done by hand. The match secretary puts the fixtures on the website, the bar committee makes a rota based on the home matches, the treasurer pulls a member list for the membership fees, and the club app lags behind the team lists. Every change in Sportlink then has to be repeated in three other places, by volunteers who give up their evenings to do it.
We build custom solutions because every club uses different systems alongside Sportlink. Which website, which app, how you schedule volunteers, how the bar works and how membership fees are collected determines what the integration needs to do. If your website builder or app supplier already has an integration that does what you need, custom development is not necessary, and we will tell you so.
Always up to date
Fixtures and results.
One source
Sportlink stays leading.
Volunteers relieved
No more retyping.
How we build your integration with Sportlink
We start with your club: which data is in Sportlink, which other systems do you use, and where is data currently transferred by hand. Then we build a first integration for the part with the biggest gain, often the fixtures and results on the website or in the app. You work with it for a while. Volunteer rotas, bar and membership fees follow once that runs well. After that, we maintain the integration whenever Sportlink or your own systems change.
Data and systems.
Fixtures and results.
Rotas, bar, membership fees.
Go-live, monitoring, and maintenance when things change.
What an integration with Sportlink actually does
The components below appear in almost every Sportlink integration. Which ones you need depends on your club and your systems.
Fixtures
Matches and training sessions.
Results
Tables and results.
Teams
Team lists and coaches.
Rosters
Bar and referees.
Membership fees
Members to collection.
Log
Every synchronisation logged.
Who we build a Sportlink integration for
The integration is intended for clubs that work with Sportlink and no longer want to update their other systems by hand, and for those who build those systems for clubs.
Football clubs
Many teams, many matches.
Hockey clubs
Teams and volunteers.
Multi-sport
Multiple sports, one club.
Suppliers
Websites and apps for clubs.
Technology and integrations
This page is about integrations with Sportlink. For software for the whole club, see our page on sports club software, for the members our page on member administration software, and for collection our page on the ClubCollect integration. You can read about our approach on custom software development.
Why Appfront for your integration with Sportlink?
A fixture list that is wrong, a team in the app that has been set up differently for weeks, or a volunteer who retypes data every week for an evening: it all costs a club energy that should have gone into the sport. That is what we build on: Sportlink as the single source, with the data automatically where it is needed.
Always accurate
One change, updated everywhere.
Less work
For the volunteers.
Privacy safeguarded
What isn't public stays that way.
Security and privacy in a Sportlink integration
A membership administration contains member data, including that of children. The integration uses only what is needed for its purpose, takes into account what a member has made public in Sportlink and at the national governing body, and shows only what may be public on the website. Access is set up per role, and the club's key is stored encrypted.
The part we build runs in a European data centre, with encrypted storage and daily backups. We record the processing in a data processing agreement with the club.
Frequently asked questions about a Sportlink integration
Questions clubs ask before getting started.
Sportlink is software for membership administration and match management at sports clubs, used by several sports governing bodies. Clubs keep their members, teams and matches in it, and through the Club.Dataservice they can retrieve part of that data for their own use.
Through the Club.Dataservice this includes club details, teams, the fixture list, results and league tables, among other things. What exactly is available differs per governing body and per service, and data of members who are not public is not included. What is possible for your club, we look at in the first step.
The club receives its own key for the Club.Dataservice, usually via the Sportlink administrator within the club. The integration uses that key, and it is stored encrypted. We help you see what you need for it.
Yes. The integration retrieves the fixture list, results and league tables and puts them on your website or in your app, per team or for the whole club. A change in Sportlink then automatically appears there too.
Yes. From the home matches, the integration can work out when canteen shifts, referees or other volunteers are needed. Those shifts go into your rota system, so the committee no longer has to puzzle over the fixture list alongside it.
The integration tries again later and meanwhile shows the last known data. If it stays unavailable for longer, the administrator receives a notification, so someone can look into it in time.
For clubs with many teams and their own systems for website, app, rotas or canteen, and for suppliers who make software for clubs. If your website builder already has an integration that does what you need, you don't need your own.
Sportlink connected to the rest of your club?
Tell us which systems your club uses alongside Sportlink and what is currently done by hand. We'll show you how the integration works.