COACH Case Study: RIP Rugby
COACH: It’s how we play.
TLDR Version.
Rugby is in danger of becoming a lost sport.
COACH aimed to revive the game in three broad areas.
- Digitalise and democratise, making how to play accessible to everyone.
- De-risk by creating multiple versions of the game and increasing participation.
- Focus on experience and enjoyment to increase coaches and players.
It was co-created with a Premiership player, championed by two rugby club CEOs, and supported by a leading UK MAT and several companies capable of building and operating the platform.
We held support discussions with Government bodies, World Rugby, England RFU, Premiership Clubs, International Clubs, Unions and Players. (Tacit acknowledgement of a worldwide issue with the game?)
We spent four years refining, reshaping, and rebounding, but alas, no funding and no first takers to prototype, pilot, and change the way we all play the fantastic game of rugby.
We love the game.
We thought the game needed something to protect and grow it.
We had some enlightened and well-networked experts championing COACH.
We thought it was original, commercially viable and wanted by guardians of the game.
But it didn’t quite land and grow as we hoped.
Why did such an original idea fail to succeed?
COACH: It’s how we play.
Full Version.
Grassroots rugby has been trying to solve the same problem for years: how to help people play the game better, rather than relying on a conveyor belt of more drills, more tactics, more structure and more parents helping resuscitate the game they played as children and grew to love.
COACH starts from a different place. It asks a more fundamental question, not how to play the game but how to enjoy playing it. Without enjoyment, participation drops. Confidence fades. And the future of sport quietly shrinks.
That reframing marked the beginning of COACH’s originality.
The Original Insight
Most competitors in sports education and coaching focus on performance outcomes.
COACH recognised that this misses the real blocker: experience.
When people enjoy learning and playing, everything else follows: skill development, confidence, commitment, and long-term participation. When they don’t, even the best coaching frameworks struggle to stick. COACH’s belief is simple yet powerful:
Play is not a reward for learning; it is how learning happens.
What COACH promised
COACH was designed for edutaining. A democratised eco-system of edutainment. Blending human expertise with technology to make learning through play accessible to everyone. Instead of centralising authority in one coach or one setting, it:
- Democratises access to elite-level coaching and insights
- Uses gamification to sustain motivation and enjoyment.
- Builds emotional intelligence alongside physical capability
- Creates a connected ecosystem of players, peers, parents, teachers, schools and clubs
The result is not just a product but a system, designed to grow participation, not filter it.
The Features of COACH
COACH combines several elements that are rarely brought together in a single sports-learning platform:
- On-demand digital learning: Skills, tactics, rules and playbooks demonstrated by world-class players, coaches and peers.
- Gamified engagement: Challenges, rewards and shared learning cycles that feel motivating rather than intimidating.
- User-centred development: Shaped by teachers, psychologists, academics, performance experts and designers, not just technologists.
- Importantly, COACH is designed to evolve. New sports, new content, and new learning pathways are built into the model, making it a multi-sport, multi-market design: Built to scale across sports, education systems and geographies.
If we could help make rugby simpler and more engaging, we could do the same for any sport. We did have introductory conversations with another sports body, also deserving of a foot-up in the world of play, profile and investment.
Who would benefit from COACH?
COACH works because it recognises that sport is a shared experience.
- Players gain confidence, skills and enjoyment through personalised learning journeys.
- Peers learn together, co-coach and stay connected through play.
- Parents gain visibility and reassurance, without needing to be experts.
- Teachers and schools gain structure, consistency and measurable outcomes across multiple sports.
- Clubs and governing bodies benefit from better-prepared players, increased participation and a stronger long-term pipeline.
As more people play, more people watch. As more people watch, the game grows in quality, reach and relevance.
We believed we were Original.
We believed COACH was original, not because it used technology, but because of what it chose to prioritise.
Instead of optimising performance first, it optimised enjoyment.
Instead of narrowing access, it widened it.
Instead of separating education, wellness, and community, it connected them.
That decision shaped everything that followed: the product, the partnerships, the business model, and the social impact.
The Bigger Picture
We positioned COACH as both a business opportunity and a social one. Its purpose-led model addresses education, wellness, mindfulness and community while building a scalable, sustainable platform for the future of sport.
Its vision is clear: Everyone wins with COACH in their life.
And that clarity was what we believed made it an Original.
Read more from the Originals Series, or take a closer look at our work for COACH.
