Part 2 into my investigation of the top official sporting clubs and individuals on twitter, sees county cricket, basketball, ice hockey, speedway teams and snooker players given a low down.

Previously I had looked into the top official sporting clubs in Football, Rugby League, Rugby Union, whilst I’ve also done the top 5 ranking male and female players in Golf, Tennis and Formula 1 drivers. See here

Highest Ranking LV County Championship Cricket Teams On Twitter

Cricket Team	Twitter Username	No. of Followers	Ranking
Durham	@durhamcricket	4,864	4
Lancashire	@LancsCCC	8,747	1
Middlesex	@middlesexccc	1,370	9
Nottinghamshire	@TrentBridge	4,710	5
Somerset	@SomersetCCC	5,374	3
Surrey	@surreycricket	7,371	2
Sussex	@sussexccc	4,432	6
Warwickshire	@cricketingbears	1,643	8
Worcestershire	@worcsccc	2,442	7

As a sport, Cricket is growing in popularity with recent Ashes wins for England over Australia and the 20/20 league system being introduced. However Cricket isn’t a big player in the sporting industry, in which the number of followers for each teams proves this.

The most popular cricket team on Twitter is Lancashire County Cricket Club, it has 8,748 followers, which infact has over 1,500 followers more than second placed Sussex County Cricket Club.

All County Championship Cricket teams have a Twitter account, which is encouraging for the game, meaning that clubs can post the latest news, results, fixture announcements, international player call ups and more.

Highest Ranking BBL Championship Basketball Teams On Twitter

Basketball Team	Twitter Username	No. of Followers	Ranking
Cheshire Jets	@CheshireJets	1,579	1
Durham Wildcats	@DurhamWildcats	405	11
Glasgow Rocks	@rocksglasgow	1,342	3
Guildford Heat	@guildfordheat	1,126	5
Leicester Riders	@ridersbball	796	8
Mersey Tigers	@merseytigers	1,372	2
MK Lions	@MK_Lions	498	10
Newcastle Eagles	@NewcastleEagle	972	7
Plymouth Raiders	@officialraiders	1,183	4
Sheffield Sharks	@SheffieldSharks	1,077	6
Worcester Wolves	@BBLWolves	715	9

Basketball is a minority sport in England, in which not many people either watch or participate., it is a shame that Basketball doesn’t have the popularity that it does have in the US.

The popularity of the game may significantly increase in the Summer months, when the Olympics will be in full swing, this hopefully will see the twitter popularity of the Basketball teams increase also.

At the moment, the leading Championship Basketball team on Twitter is Cheshire Jets, with only 1,579 followers. This is 200 more than second placed Mersey Tigers.

All Championship Basketball teams in the UK have a Twitter presence, in which in particular I like the simple, but effective approach that Mersey Tigers have gone for. Simply using the club colours as the background colour and regularly updating the feed with news, information, statistics, results and fixtures.

Highest Ranking Ice Hockey Premier League Teams On Twitter

Ice Hockey Team	Twitter Username	No. of Followers	Ranking
Belfast Giants	@BelfastGiants	4,589	3
Braehead Clan	@braehead_clan	2,955	6
Cardiff Devils	@cardiffdevils	4,969	2
Coventry Blaze	@covblazehockey	3,607	4
Dundee Stars	@dundeestars	1,686	9
Edinburgh Capitals	@edcapitals	2,325	7
Fife Flyers	@FifeFlyers	2,192	8
Hull Stingrays	@hullstingrays	3,023	5
Nottingham Panthers	@GMBPanthers	2,829	10
Sheffield Steelers	@steelershockey	5,738	1

Ice Hockey is a fast, dangerous and thrilling sport, popular in countries such as USA, Canada and Czech Republic, but not so much in the UK. With a 10 team Premier League, it seems that it roughly has the same number of followers as Super League teams.

The number 1 team on Twitter is Sheffield Steelers, having 5,738 followers. 800 more followers than Cardiff Devils who have 4,969 followers.

Identifying these as a market leader on Twitter, Sheffield seemed to understand the importance of using Twitter to keep their fans and sponsors in the loop. On a daily basis we see The Steelers engaging with it’s followers by retweeting, replying and writing status’ about there team and players.

Highest Ranking Speedway Teams On Twitter

Speedway Team	Twitter Username	No. of Followers	Ranking
Belle Vue	@TheAces	1,828	2
Coventry	@OfficialCovBees	1,029	6
Eastbourne	@EliteEagles	894	7
Kings Lynn	@officialKLstars	470	9
Lakeside	@lakesidehammers	1,383	3
Poole	@poolespeedway	3,044	1
Peterborough Panthers	@PboroPanthers	1,214	4
Swindon Robins	@swindonspeedway	687	8
Wolverhampton	@WolvesSpeedway	1,122	5

Speedway is a minority sport in the UK, with very few followers on Twitter, with the most popular team, Poole, only having 3,044 folllowers. This is 1,200 more followers than second placed Belle Vue who have 1,828.

With Poole being the leading team in the UK Speedway league, they regularly tweet and engage with followers, having tweeted nearly 4,500 times. They could improve their Twitter image, by doing the following:

• Team logo with a better resolution
• More description in the bio
• Capatilisation in Name (poole speedway at present)
• Use club colours for backgrounds, text etc

These are only basic steps, but would help improve their image.

Highest Ranking Snooker Players On Twitter

Snooker Player	Twitter Username	No. of Followers	Ranking
Mark Selby	@markjesterselby	13,792	2
Mark Williams	@markwil147	12,579	4
Neil Robertson	@nr147	13,315	3
John Higgins	@john_higgins	5,432	5
Judd Trump	@judd147t	78,591	1

The most popular ranked player is Judd Trump, who was a finalist in the recent Masters Tournament. Judd has an incredible number of followers in comparison with fellow snooker players, with 78,591 followers. this 65,000 followers more than second players Mark Selby who has 13,792 followers.

Additional Information

The follower number is exact for the date of 25/01/2012 at 10:40am, so the figures will have increased or decreased if you are looking at a later date.

If your team / club are interested in Social Media and want it professionally run, then give Blueclaw a call to arrange a quote.

Next month will see me look into The Top Sporting Governing Bodies On Twitter.

Posted In:

Fun, Twitter