How Man City tackled digital exclusion

For many of us, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. No, not the festive period, but the start of a new football season! For match-going fans, the anticipation had never been sweeter. While the usual break of a few weeks in the summer can seem interminable to avid match-goers, the enforced break from the terraces (the longest since the Second World War) had been particularly wrenching.

 

As the summer drew to a close, and fans began to prepare for the new season, a number of clubs made high-profile announcements outlining plans to move to a new digital ticketing system.

 

It was a good plan. There is no better time for a clean start than a new season. But because the stakes were so high (with fans returning after such a long time away), patience for the initiative was low. The rollout of new digital ticketing initiatives has been widely criticised.

 

That raises an interesting discussion for charities – many of whom have been at the forefront of discussions around digital exclusion for many years. Critics of the initiative have claimed that it excludes those who do not have access to digital technology.

 

The wider parallels of the situation are unlikely to be lost on charities. For generations, football clubs have been at the heart of working-class communities in the UK. The age of oligarchs and state ownership of clubs has brought plenty of spectacle to English football, but the loss of clubs as community hubs has been keenly felt and widely decried.

 

For many digital-skeptic football fans, a well-meaning gesture like digital tickets comes with overtones of a wider change – of a new age of European Super Leagues and popcorn in the stands – that is taking the game away from the people who have made it so popular.

 

The clubs behind the change will face a tough task in turning these traditional fans into digital believers: a struggle that will resonate with many charity workers.

 

While clubs up and down the pyramid are experiencing these teething issues, nowhere are they more pronounced than the champions of England – Manchester City.

 

In this article, we explore the situation and examine the lessons charities can learn from The Cityzens.

 

 

What did Manchester City do?

 

Manchester City Football Club introduced a new digital ticketing system at the start of the 2021/2022 Premier League season. The new system primarily focuses on digital tickets hosted on smartphone devices.

 

The club was met with criticism, with those opposed to the measures claiming that the club’s actions had put some sections of the fanbase at risk of digital exclusion.

 

 

What is digital exclusion?

 

Digital exclusion occurs when a section of the population experiences unequal access and capacity to use digital technology. This could be in terms of a lack of hardware, a lack of internet access, or a lack of skills.

 

 

How big of a problem is digital exclusion?

 

It is easy to think of digital exclusion as a niche issue, effecting a relatively small number of people. This is not the case.

 

Many people in the UK do not have access to digital technology. According to NHS Digital data, 11.9 million people do not have the necessary digital skills for modern life in the UK. This figure represents 22% of the population – by no means a small number.

 

In addition, 4% of households in the UK do not have internet access, according to the Office for National Statistics. When it comes to households with at least one adult aged 65 years and over, however, that figure increases to 20%.

 

A 2021 study published by the University of Cambridge found that the pandemic has actually widened the gap between the digitally included and the digitally excluded.

 

 

What are people’s concerns?

 

The question of digital exclusion around football puts the real-life implications of digital exclusion into perspective.

 

Digital methods of staying connected have become the default in many ways since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. As we ease restrictions and introduce so-called ‘vaccine passports’, we run the risk of increasing the isolation of those who are already most at risk.

 

Digital exclusion affects many different kinds of people. This includes older people, people living with disabilities who may have trouble accessing specially-tailored digital technology, and people who lack digital skills training. There are also people who simply do not want to engage with digital technology.

 

Much of our society’s recent shift to digital-first solutions has been the result of short-term fixes to the challenges of the pandemic. While these changes have been designed to accommodate as many people as possible, there is always a danger that people will slip through the cracks and be excluded.