A MANCHESTER software company is giving amateur sports clubs the technology to be 21st century winners.

QMTech director Dan Quirk saw a gap in the team management market after he became a member of Brooklands Cricket Club in Sale.

He joined last year and soon realised the system of sending out weekly text messages to organise teams wasn't working.

Dan and business partner Patrick McEvoy applied their expertise as web-based software specialists and came up with Clubhouse, an online social network for sports clubs.

He said: "There are 85 people and five teams at Brooklands. Some people would forget to reply, and you could only see availability one week in advance. Getting 11 people to the same place, at the same time on a Saturday or Sunday, was a difficult job!"

With Clubhouse, players can log their availability and teams are then selected online.

Brooklands' selector Roy Higginbottom admits he was cynical when he first heard the idea. But he said: "We have players aged 13 to 75 and even our oldest player has embraced the new system.

"From the admin side, it has speeded up the whole selection process and makes it easy to organise teams and matches online - even for a technophobe like me.

"The website has also generated a lot of communication between the players; those selected for a team can chat online about the upcoming game, creating a great vibe, and we can tell people about all our events."

Patrick and Dan say it is the immediacy of Clubhouse which encourages members to use it just like social networking sites such as Facebook.

It is free to sign up, and members regularly log on to see what is happening with the club.

Patrick added: "Amateur sporting societies are institutions in their communities, but members are at a distance most of the time. Clubhouse provides them with an opportunity to stay actively involved - when they aren't at the club, they can log on to Clubhouse."

QMTech now plans to take Clubhouse to local leagues and university sports societies.