Discover how New Zealand Cricket unified its national safety management with ecoPortal, empowering everyone from grassroots volunteers to stadium staff to report risks in real-time.
A National Passion, A Diverse Risk Profile
In New Zealand, cricket isn't just a sport; it's a core part of the national identity. From the roar of the crowd watching the Black Caps and White Ferns take on the world, to the quiet focus of six-year-olds playing their first game on a Saturday morning, the sport connects communities across the country.
For New Zealand Cricket (NZC), the national governing body for the sport, this broad reach presents an equally broad and incredibly complex risk landscape. “Health and safety is a key aspect for me as a leader of New Zealand cricket,” explains Scott Weenink, CEO, NZC.
“We need to ensure that our people and also people involved in cricket are kept safe in our environment. We want everyone, whether they're participating in the game or attending the game... to be safe.” — Scott Weenink, CEO, NZC.
This responsibility is enormous. It spans from managing the high-level safety of professional players to ensuring the well-being of thousands of spectators in packed stadiums. More uniquely, it extends to the hundreds of community clubs, fields, and volunteer-run games that happen every weekend. This created a significant challenge: how do you manage health and safety across such a diverse, geographically scattered, and largely volunteer-based network?
We need to ensure that our people and also people involved in cricket are kept safe in our environment. We want everyone, whether they're participating in the game or attending the game... to be safe.
The Challenge of Diverse and Disconnected Risks
The risks NZC has to manage are incredibly varied. At the professional level, you have the obvious on-field player risks. “You don't get the big impact of injuries of rugby, but you get a lot of injuries with the balls hitting hands hard,” says Mike Sandle, Manager, Blackcaps. “You get split webbing in your hands, dislocations in your fingers, breaks in your fingers.” Then there’s the crowd. “One of my biggest concerns is what we call ball strike, and that's a ball hitting someone in the crowd,” explains Andrew Love, Head of Health and Safety, New Zealand Cricket.
Beyond the game itself, major matches involve complex event management.
“We’re doing a pre-game assessment ahead of every single match. We’re looking at whether all the scaffold is safe, and making sure all cables are either covered or aren’t a trip hazard. We also use a drone from a broadcast point of view, so we ensure the drone pathway is safe.” — Anthony Bowler, Head of Events, NZC
But the biggest challenge lies at the community level. How do you get timely, accurate information from a local club or a parent at a park? Historically, the barriers were too high.
“Historically, a club would need a login,” explains Andrew Love. This friction meant that hazards went unreported and valuable data was lost. Without a single, accessible system, NZC had no way to identify national trends or share critical learnings effectively. They needed “one source for across the entire network” to ensure that when a risk was identified, “the whole of the network” could be made aware of it immediately.
A 'Game Changer' for Centralised, Real-Time Reporting
New Zealand Cricket’s partnership with ecoPortal provided the solution, fundamentally transforming its ability to manage risk across the entire sport. The first step was centralisation. “It's one source for across the entire network,” Scott Weenink shares. “That ensures that there's good knowledge transfer and that if there are risks, they are identified immediately.”
This central hub of data became a powerful tool for proactive management. “The most important thing that I'm looking for is trend analysis and, more specifically, more reporting. And that's what we've seen over the last five years: more and more reporting happening.” This data provides NZC with a clear, nationwide risk profile.
"I can now tell our board where most of our injuries are happening, who they're happening to, and what province or what part of New Zealand where the most injuries are happening." — Andrew Love.
The real breakthrough, however, came from ecoPortal's mobile-friendly reporting system and Public Forms that can be launched from scanning a QR code. "When ecoPortal approached us about the QR code, it was like a game changer for us," Andrew states. The barrier of needing a "login" was instantly removed. "You could be at your son’s cricket on a Saturday morning, and the club has a QR code on the gear bag or in the clubrooms. A parent can scan it right there and then, complete an incident report, and it’s done in, you know, ninety seconds.”
This ease of use has been key to driving adoption. As Scott Weenink, CEO of NZC, notes, the system’s "real-time functionality... is incredibly important to help drive engagement. It’s mobile, it’s with you, and it’s so simple to use."
This capability is essential in a fast-paced event environment. During pre-game checks, staff can move through the app to record information and capture photos on the spot. If a piece of equipment hasn’t been tagged and tested, they can simply take a photo and log it directly in the system, ensuring everything is completed then and there.
A Safer Sport for Everyone
By implementing ecoPortal, New Zealand Cricket has successfully bridged the gap between its professional operations and its community grassroots. They now have a single, unified risk management solution that empowers everyone, from parents and volunteers to stadium staff, to be an active participant in safety.
This move from a fragmented, high-friction system to a simple, mobile-first platform has been pivotal. It has fostered a culture where people feel comfortable reporting and know their concerns are taken seriously.
"We want to try and make sure that the sport is as safe as possible," Andrew Love concludes. The goal is that people "want to play cricket, and if they are talking about cricket, they know that New Zealand cricket and the cricket network itself take health and safety very seriously."
With ecoPortal as a partner, NZC has the data, the engagement, and the tools to make that vision a reality, ensuring the national sport is safe and enjoyable for all Kiwis, from the pitch to the stands.
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