I used to analyse matches.
Now I’m trying to solve a different problem.
For a long time, I wrote about sports by looking backwards.
I analysed matches using data — possession, shots, goalkeeping decisions — and tried to explain why a game ended the way it did.
One of my last posts here was about the UEFA Women’s EURO final and how England trusted their goalkeeper.
I still enjoy that kind of analysis.
But at some point, I realised I was personally stuck with a much simpler, more practical problem.
Living in the UK made something obvious
I live in the UK, where sports events happen constantly.
Football, rugby, tennis, horse racing — almost every day, something is going on somewhere.
And yet, as someone who isn’t a die-hard fan of one specific team, I kept asking myself:
“Is there anything actually happening near me right now?”
“Is there a match tonight that’s worth just going to?”
Surprisingly, this was hard to answer.
Sports information is everywhere — but it’s fragmented:
- team websites
- league schedules
- broadcasters
- ticketing platforms
All of them assume you already know what you’re looking for.
What they don’t answer well is:
“Today. Now. Near here.”
I tried building a platform. That was a mistake.
When I first decided to build something, I did what many people do.
I added:
- user accounts
- feeds
- chat rooms
- team pages
- meetups
On paper, it looked like a “proper platform”.
In reality, it completely missed the point.
The product became about staying, scrolling, and engaging —
when the original problem was about making a quick decision and leaving.
So I did something uncomfortable.
I deleted almost everything.
What’s left is just a map
The current version is intentionally small.
No login.
No social features.
No feeds.
No following teams or leagues.
Just:
- a map
- sports events shown only by location and time
- simple signals like LIVE or starting soon
The idea is not to keep people inside the product.
It’s a checking tool — something you open for a few seconds to decide:
“Should I go out or not?”
If someone opens it, gets an answer, and closes it immediately — that’s success.
This is still an experiment
I don’t know if this becomes a business.
I don’t even know how people should pay for something like this yet.
Right now, I’m trying to answer a simpler question:
Do people actually find this useful?
Not fans.
Not analysts.
Just people deciding what to do with their evening.
If you’re curious, this is what the project looks like now:
👉 sportsive.vercel.app
I’m still learning, and I’m very open to feedback — especially if this sounds like a problem you’ve felt too.
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