An electronic scoreboard is an LED display with a small computer inside it. The scorer runs the game from a phone or tablet, using a scoreboard app or a web browser, and the board shows the score, the clock and anything else you send it. Nobody climbs up to hang numbers, and everyone around the ground sees the same score at the same time.
The board
The board is made of LED panels in a sturdy frame, and outdoor boards are built for sun, wind and rain. Each panel is covered in small LED lights, and the board switches them on and off to draw numbers, team names and pictures. There are two kinds:
- Single colour boards show clear red scores and messages, at a lower cost than full colour.
- Full colour boards add photos and video, so the board can show team logos and sponsor ads during breaks.
A board can be any size, from a club board to a stadium screen. Calingiri Sporting Club in WA’s Wheatbelt has a 4 × 5 m full colour screen with 800 × 640 pixels.
The controller
Inside the board is the controller, a small computer that keeps the clock, draws the scoreboard and plays sponsor ads and video. Your phone or tablet talks to it. On a board running Olympyx, the controller also:
- runs its own Wi-Fi network, so the ground needs no internet. Your phone or tablet joins the board’s network.
- boots straight to the scoreboard when you switch it on at the wall.
- loses nothing in a power cut, so the scores are still there when the power comes back.
- sounds the siren by itself at 0:00, for 4 to 15 seconds, and loads the next quarter.
We supply and install the siren with the board.
Basic: the iCatcher Scoreboard app
Basic is the simplest way to run an LED scoreboard. You run the board from the iCatcher Scoreboard app on an iPhone, iPad or Android device, which joins the board’s own Wi-Fi network. It works with full colour and single colour boards.
- Ten sports: AFL, soccer, cricket, rugby, hockey, basketball, netball, volleyball, futsal and water polo.
- A game clock, with a shot clock for basketball and hockey.
- Sponsor ads between plays, up to 8 per upload.
- Sign Mode, which turns the board into a sign for your own messages.
- Brightness set by hand or on a schedule.
Advanced: Olympyx
Olympyx is our own software for full colour screens, and it comes installed on the scoreboard. You run it in a web browser on an iPad, an Android tablet, a phone or a laptop, with nothing to install on the device.
- Nine sports built in: Aussie Rules, soccer, netball, basketball, hockey, rugby league, rugby union, baseball and cricket. A general mode keeps score for virtually any other sport.
- The automatic siren.
- Sponsor ads and videos at every break.
- Team logos beside the scores, and a summary of every quarter’s score at the end of the game.
- Theatre Mode, which mirrors a laptop’s screen on the board for presentations and movie nights.
You can try both in your browser before you decide. The demos are on our Products page.
What scoring looks like
Each sport has its own layout and buttons:
- AFL and footy: goals, behinds and totals, and a siren that sounds by itself at 0:00.
- Cricket: runs, wickets and overs, with no number tins to hang.
- Basketball and netball: a game clock, plus quick +1, +2 and +3 buttons, fouls, timeouts and a shot clock for basketball.
- Soccer, rugby and hockey: a game clock, team logos and a hockey shot clock.
Types of scoreboards
The oldest scoreboards use number tins or flip numbers changed by hand. Electronic boards do the same job from a phone, and they come in three main builds:
- Portable scoreboards roll out for game day and pack away after. They suit clubs that share a ground or play on school ovals. Dianella Morley AFC uses a full colour scoreboard on wheels running Olympyx, and Aquinas College uses our mobile scoreboards.
- Trailer scoreboards sit on their own trailer, for clubs and associations that move between venues during a season.
- Built-in scoreboards stay up all season and can be much bigger, like the Calingiri screen or the full colour scoreboard on the clubroom at Pinjarra.
Our guide to portable or built-in scoreboards helps you choose. A fixed board may need council approval, and we help with that at no extra cost.
Hire or buy
For a carnival, a tournament or a school sports day, you can hire a portable scoreboard in Perth and WA. See scoreboard hire in Perth. If you play most weekends, buying usually works out better. Our guide to buying or hiring an LED scoreboard sets out the difference. If your club is looking for funding, our guide to scoreboard grants for sports clubs covers what each state funds.
Ask us
We design and build every scoreboard at our Welshpool workshop in Perth. When you buy a board, we install it anywhere in Australia and train your volunteers to run it. Tell us your sport, your ground and roughly where the board will go. To plan the budget, read what affects the cost of an electronic scoreboard.
Get a free quote, or call Aaron on 0416 053 335 or the office on (08) 9335 7944.
