How Play Netball doubled revenue and halved admin time

The League

Play Netball, part of Play Sports Leagues Ltd, is one of the UK’s largest netball league providers. Established in 2015, the organisation now manages 120+ leagues, 1,200+ teams, 37,000+ players, and 1,800+ match officials nationwide.

Alongside netball, Play Sports Leagues also operate football leagues under Play 5-a-side, rounders leagues under Play Rounders, and are launching Play Badminton — all managed through Magic Sports.

With rapid growth across multiple sports and regions, Play Netball needed a system that could scale without increasing operational overhead.

The Challenge

In the early days, Play Netball managed everything using Excel spreadsheets.

Registrations, payments, fixtures, communications, and reporting were all handled manually. This meant hours of data entry, constant cross-checking, and a high risk of errors that were easy to miss and difficult to recover.

“Everything was managed in Excel. That meant a lot of manual data entry, which was not only time-consuming, but also created a lot of opportunity for error.”

Payments were particularly painful. Admin staff manually checked bank statements every day, matched payments to players, handled incorrect references, and reconciled cash collected by coordinators.

“There was so much room for error, and it was almost impossible to figure out where things had gone wrong.”

As Play Netball grew, the system that once “worked well enough” became completely unmanageable — limiting visibility, slowing decision-making, and holding back growth.

Our Solution

After trialling multiple tools and even combining different platforms, the Play Netball team realised the problem wasn’t execution, it was fragmentation.

They needed one system that could handle everything: registrations, payments, fixtures, communications, officials, and reporting — all in one searchable, reliable platform.

Magic Sports replaced spreadsheets, manual bank reconciliation, and disconnected communication tools with a single, scalable league management system built specifically for league providers.

“More than anything, we wanted one system that offered as many features as possible in one place. Magic Sports was just what we were after.”

A seamless transition 

Play Netball opted for a staggered transition at the end of the season to ensure a smooth experience for players and teams.

The move allowed them to clean up legacy data and introduce self-registration, reducing admin while improving the player experience.

“Overall, the transition was basically stress-free. The interface is user-friendly and required minimal staff training.”

Crucially, the system scaled naturally whether managing one league or hundreds, without adding complexity.

The Results

The operational impact was immediate and measurable. Before Magic Sports, one admin staff member managed around 20 leagues. Now, one person manages over 70 leagues.

More than 100 admin hours are saved every week, allowing the team to focus on strategy, growth, and player engagement instead of manual admin.

Revenue doubled without increasing admin headcount, and unrecoverable debt dropped significantly thanks to automated payments, reminders, and shared team payment functionality.

“We’ve been able to scale up hugely without having to grow the admin team, saving hours of admin time along the way.”

The Impact

For Play Netball, Magic Sports didn’t just save time, it unlocked a more sustainable way of operating.

With fewer errors, better financial visibility, improved communication, and fully automated workflows, the team gained confidence to grow without fear that admin would become a bottleneck.

“Had we invested in this system from the start, we could have grown so much quicker.”

Key Outcomes

🔥 100+ admin hours saved every week

💸 Revenue doubled without increasing admin spend

📊 Improved financial control and fewer missed payments

📈 1 admin managing 70+ leagues (up from 20)

🎯 A scalable system supporting long-term growth

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How Totally Netball cut 6+ hours of daily admin

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I can schedule fixtures for 25 leagues in a single afternoon. That used to take me two weeks!

See How You Can Save Time Too

If you’re still using spreadsheets, emails, and guesswork to run your league, you’re wasting time you could be using to grow.