Auckland Ruby League

Project overview

Auckland Rugby League (ARL) supports dozens of local clubs across Tāmaki Makaurau, but falling enrolment numbers and inconsistent digital processes were putting many of them at risk.

We were engaged to reimagine the enrolment experience in a way that improved access, reflected community realities, and reconnected clubs with ARL support. The challenge was as much systemic as digital: low visibility, varied tech capabilities, and inequities affecting Pacific Island families who make up a significant part of the league.

Our goal was to co-design a solution that could unify, simplify, and include, across both digital and non-digital pathways.

My Role

Senior Design Strategist & UX Lead

• Led stakeholder engagement and workshop facilitation to build trust and alignment
• Conducted interviews with players, families, and club volunteers across a range of access levels
• Mapped current and future-state journeys across enrolment and support touch points
• Designed end-to-end UX flows and high-fidelity mockups for the platform
• Collaborated with engineers to ensure technical feasibility and low-friction implementation
• Advised ARL on non-digital support strategies and ongoing club enablement
• Mentored a graduate designer throughout the project, co-ideating solutions and involving them in user testing across client contexts

The Challenge

• Clubs were using inconsistent, outdated websites hosted on the Sporty platform
• Enrolment processes varied widely — often manual and difficult to access
• Families without digital access or high literacy were effectively excluded
• ARL lacked visibility and tools to support club recruitment or track engagement
• Some clubs distrusted ARL due to top-down decision-making in the past

This wasn’t just a UX problem — it was a systemic, relational, and infrastructural one.

Research & Co-Design

We led an inclusive discovery process centred around the people who keep league alive:

• Co-design workshops with ARL to align on goals, equity priorities, and constraints
• Interviews with players, parents, volunteers, and supporters from varied backgrounds
• Journey mapping of enrolment processes across club types and channels
• Identification of digital, cultural, logistical barriers impacting equitable access

What emerged was a need for both a streamlined digital funnel and offline support tools. Something flexible enough to reflect club individuality but unified enough to scale across the region.

Solution

We designed a central enrolment platform that:

• Acted as a unified digital entry point, directing players to the right club based on age, location, and preferences
• Collected standardised enrolment info and passed leads to clubs in a consistent, accessible format
• Allowed clubs to customise aspects of their profile to reflect their values (e.g. competitive vs. social focus)
• Worked alongside Sporty, not against it. This allowed to minimise training needs or cost while improving the user journey
• Introduced clear capacity indicators like “Club full” to reduce user confusion and manual follow-ups

To support families with limited digital access, we:

• Proposed community-based enrolment support via schools and local networks
• Recommended print-based alternatives and outreach materials co-branded with ARL
• Encouraged face-to-face club onboarding to rebuild trust and retention

Impact

• Player registrations increased — with some clubs reaching capacity during the pilot phase
• Clubs reported stronger support and appreciated being involved in the design process
• Trust between ARL and clubs significantly improved after years of disconnect

Reflection

This project was as much about community strategy as UX design. Navigating digital inequities, cultural dynamics, and fractured trust required systems thinking, co-design, and care.

I’m proud of how we created a platform that reflects people’s real-world needs, not just ideal flows. It’s a reminder that good design isn’t only functional; it’s relational, empowering, and shaped in partnership.

It also gave me the chance to mentor a graduate designer by guiding ideation, sharing facilitation techniques, and involving them in user testing across projects. Supporting someone else’s growth while navigating complexity reminded me that leadership is just as much about who we bring along as it is about what we deliver.