In what has become a defining moment for the Frankston Football Club, the Saturday night clash against Collingwood in 2025 wasn’t just a blockbuster on the field — it was a masterclass in digital ticketing, operational readiness, data-driven decision-making, and fan-first engagement. With a final crowd of 5,561, every single person was through the gates by 5mins into the first quarter — and over 4,000 in the 30 minutes before the opening bounce.
But this wasn’t the result of a last-minute scramble. This was the culmination of three seasons of structured, strategic transformation led by Frankston and powered by the INTIX platform.
Quote from Frankston President, Steven Finocchiaro
"In the lead up to our largest ever home and away crowd, the INTIX system allowed the Frankston Football Club to track patronage and scale our operations to respond
accordingly. The ease of functionality at the point of entry also allowed quick
ingress and a satisfactory experience for our members, fans and visitors. INTIX
is a wonderful system that has made a marked difference to the operations of
the Frankston Football Club and has been a key factor in the Club’s rapid
growth."
The Starting Point: Fragmented Communication and No Data
When Frankston began working with INTIX in 2022, it was working from a low base, their membership database sat at just 1,200 records. Fan communication consisted solely of a fortnightly PDF newsletter emailed during the season. Match attendance wasn’t tracked. Member scanning didn’t exist. Even more crucially, there was no visibility on the thousands of supporters (home and opposition) who came through the gates at Kinetic Stadium each year.
Given Frankston’s unique geographical position and the structure of the VFL competition, this was a major missed opportunity. Fans across the Mornington Peninsula often follow both their AFL club and Frankston in the VFL. For many, their first touchpoint with the Frankston Football Club is when their AFL side plays at Kinetic Stadium — especially a powerhouse like Collingwood. The club saw this crossover potential and recognised the value in transforming passive visitors into long-term, active supporters.
Phase One: Building the Infrastructure (2023)
In 2023, the foundation was laid. The club introduced barcoded membership cards, both physical and digital. Understanding the club’s demographic was essential — older members preferred physical cards, so these were provided.. This allowed the creation of an express entry lane for members, immediately improving the game-day experience by reducing queue times and providing a sense of priority access.
The next innovation was the introduction of pre-sale tickets. Those who pre-purchased were given access to the express lane, creating two positive outcomes:
- A more efficient gate experience, as the crowd was segmented between scanning and door sales.
- The ability to capture data from general attendees, including casual fans and opposition supporters.
From that point, a fan could now engage digitally, receive communications from the club, and be invited back for future games — even if their first visit was as a Collingwood supporter.
Small Tweaks, Big Gains
For high-traffic matches, the team implemented a ‘scan and go’ strategy. QR codes were placed on perimeter fencing, directing fans in the queue to purchase tickets instantly from their phones via guest checkout — a key frictionless feature of the INTIX system. An operations team member would walk the line and actively direct fans to skip the wait by going digital.
Suddenly, what used to be a static entry process became dynamic and adaptable. The club was no longer relying on one entry point or hoping walk-ups wouldn’t overwhelm staff. It became a self-regulating crowd model.
Phase Two: Behaviour Change and Early Wins (2024)
By 2024, fans were adapting to the new processes. Pre-sale ticketing had jumped from around 10 per game to over 100 per game — a tenfold increase. More importantly, Frankston discovered that only 30% of its members attended each match, meaning that approximately 70% of the people in the stadium were not being tracked — until now.
The club took its next bold step by actively partnering with opposition clubs to market individual matches. When Collingwood was scheduled to play, Frankston engaged their marketing team, providing tailored collateral:
- Match graphics and social assets
- Site maps
- QR code ticketing
- Half-price ticket offers for Collingwood members
- Express lane access to enhance the away supporter experience
The results were significant:
- 380 Collingwood fans pre-purchased tickets
- Total crowd of 3,587
- Post-match data showed that 20% of those Collingwood fans attended another Frankston game later that season
The club had officially cracked the code: opposition fans were no longer one-off visitors — they were now part of the pipeline.
Game Week 2025: Everything Comes Together
Frankston vs. Collingwood. Saturday night. Two teams fighting for top-four. From the moment the fixture was announced, the club knew it would be big — but thanks to its systems, they were ready. The club had already experienced a lift with average home attendances up by 500 year on year, however, this was a major.
Forecasting a 4,000-strong crowd, the club began preparations early. Pre-sales would be critical, particularly with poor weather predicted (and eventuated). The INTIX system’s unlimited scalability meant Frankston could plan confidently. On-site, the setup included:
- 2 x POS devices
- 2 x ticket scanners at the main gate
- A second gate prepped and ready if needed
- Volunteers on standby via WhatsApp to step in at peak times
Contact was again made with Collingwood early in the week. Their marketing team received custom links, QR codes, segmented targeting for Bayside and the Peninsula, and were briefed on the scanning process. The messaging to fans was clear: pre-purchase, use the express lane, and avoid the queues.
By Thursday, pre-sales hit 500 — already 120 ahead of the same fixture the year before. Then, the spark: five Collingwood AFL Premiership players were named in the squad.
Where other clubs might panic, Frankston executed. INTIX’s omni-channel capabilities were activated:
- SMS
- Push notifications
All channels pushed fans toward digital engagement and pre-purchase, and messaging was updated in real-time as momentum grew. By Saturday morning, 2,000 pre-sale tickets had been sold — a record for the club.
From a tracking perspective, you can track the numbers of sales and made each day and each hour. These can be directly linked back to a variety of marketing pushes, both from Frankston and shared communications from Collingwood.
Automated INTIX Marketing:
To complement the bespoke marketing through the system, INTIX has an array of automated marketing and communication functionality.
From an event manager perspective, the automated e-mails reminding the club/organisation what they needed to do to ensure their event was properly set up were vital. Especially as the operations team were discussing 2x gates and a variety of access controls. The e-mails that are auto generated and sent by the system to the super admins or event admins steered these decisions.
From a consumer/fan perspective, 2x automated e-mails are generated in the week of the match. The first is sent to the entire database that are opted in for new event notifications. This is letting everyone know to purchase their tickets and draws on the information provided in the event details.
The second e-mail is sent to all of the ticket holders letting them know how to access their tickets, either digital or PDF. Plus all the access points to the ground and when gates open. There is also further information included as to what you can and can’t bring etc. These automated e-mails are very advantageous when clubs/organisations are short on staff and human resources.
Game Day Execution: Flawless and Agile
With real-time crowd insights, the club knew exactly when the gate would peak. When doors opened, around 200 fans were waiting — but most had pre-scanned tickets. POS staff helped scan while lines were quiet, then pivoted back when sales increased.
At the peak moment, three board members left the Presidents’ Function and joined the gate team to help scan tickets for 15 minutes — a moment that spoke to the club’s culture of “all in” on game day.
One unused option was opening a second gate. Instead, a roving volunteer moved up and down the main line, directing fans to pre-purchase online and head straight to the scanner. It worked.
By 5 minutes into the first quarter, 5,561 people were inside the ground. Over 4,000 entered in the final 30 minutes before the bounce.
With the crowd reaching capacity, utlising the Administrator App allowed Frankston to clearly make a decision of when to shut the gate and call it a sell out. If the weather had been good, this would have been even more critical as capacity may have been exceeded, this definitely would of happened without the INTIX admin tools.
The Outcome: More Than Just a Crowd
This wasn’t just about putting people in seats. It was about:
- Delivering a stress-free fan experience
- Capturing over 2,000 new data points
- Converting visiting supporters into long-term customers
- Giving fans multiple digital touchpoints to improve engagement
- Allowing the club to scale effortlessly without guesswork
From a chaotic potential scenario came a clear, precise, and joyful matchday operation. The feedback from fans and volunteers was overwhelmingly positive — and critically, no one had to wait more than a few minutes to get in, despite record crowd numbers.
What’s Next?
Frankston now has a robust, scalable system to:
- Predict and manage crowd flows
- Target and nurture fan segments
- Collaborate effectively with opposition clubs
- Activate real-time marketing campaigns
- Bring fans back again and again
The club has grown from a limited database of 1,200 to over 7,000 fan records in under three years — and it's just getting started. As more fans continue down the engagement funnel, the next challenge will be converting new data into deeper relationships — and eventually, into memberships, merchandise sales, and lifetime value.
The message is clear: nights like this don’t just happen — but with the right tools and strategy, they can become the new normal.