ROBINSON STUMPSTATS PROVING GREAT SUCCESS

Fox Lodge captain Johnny Robinson is proving he’s not just a talented performer on the field of play, but a success off it with his new StumpStats.com website which has proven incredibly popular with cricket aficionados in the early weeks of the season. He explains the motivation behind the new website.

“StumpStats actually started out of pure frustration,” said Robinson. “I just wanted a quick way to see when my own club was playing without digging through loads of other fixtures on the North-West website, so I built a simple tool to pull my own fixtures.

“It didn't take long to realize that if I found it handy, other players, fans, and club secretaries probably would too.

“Since then, the site has taken on a life of its own. I’ve now pulled in every Irish Cricket Union, so you can filter by your specific club or team in seconds. I made sure to add features that actually matter to clubs, like being able to export your schedule straight to your phone’s calendar or downloading a clean PDF to print out and put on the clubhouse noticeboard.

“Because this is a hobby project, I’ve been adding bits and pieces whenever I have a spare hour. A few things I’ve had a bit of fun with recently include the NWCU Bonus Points: I’ve automated the math for their bonus point system so it gets updated as results come in. 

“For Live Streams - If a game is being broadcast on YouTube, there’s a direct link right there in the scorecard.”

“I’ve also introduced a ‘Team of the Week’ which is a new favorite. Every week the site picks a standout XI for each Union, plus an All-Ireland team based on the latest performances and has initiated a lot of heated debate.

“In the first month alone, we’ve had a few thousand people using the site. Most of the traffic is coming from the North West at the minute, but I’m hoping to see it pick up across the rest of the unions soon.

“I’m currently running and developing StumpStats out of my own pocket. I’d love to keep building new features and making the platform better, so the goal is to eventually find a sponsor who wants to get behind local cricket. If we can get someone on board to help cover the costs, who knows what it can grow into.”

Robinson’s Fox Lodge are in Irish Senior Cup action this weekend as they face a tough challenge at NCU Premiership side Muckamore.

“They’ve started the season well and brought in a few new signings, so we’ll likely be going in as underdogs.

“Still, we’re hoping to bring a strong travelling support with a bus load heading from Ballymagorry and put in a good performance.”