The biggest day of the club's year
Every spring your club hosts a junior festival. Teams from across the county come for a day of small-sided games in several age groups. It raises money for the club, brings in families, and the tea hut and barbecue do a roaring trade. It is also one very long day for the handful of volunteers who organise it.
Entries come in by email from January. Some clubs pay by transfer, some promise to pay on the day. Two clubs enter three teams, then withdraw one in the last week. The organiser builds the schedule in a spreadsheet late on Friday night, prints it, and pins copies to the clubhouse wall. On Saturday, one team does not show, a pitch has to close after a downpour, and the schedule is rewritten by hand while forty coaches crowd round a noticeboard asking when they play next.
Why festival days unravel
- Entries and payments are handled separately, so the list of paid, confirmed teams is never quite certain.
- The schedule is built by hand, and has to respect pitch sizes, game lengths and rest between games for each age group.
- Late withdrawals mean rebuilding the schedule.
- Changes on the day reach coaches by word of mouth.
- Results, if the format keeps them, are recorded on paper and added up at the end.
Formats, whether scores are kept for young age groups, and any sanctioning your governing body requires for a tournament are for your club and that body to decide. The system follows them.
What the chaos costs
Unpaid entries, which can be a real share of the festival's income. Coaches who have a frustrating day and do not come back next year. Games starting late and the day overrunning, which is tough on young players and on volunteers. And an organiser who does it once, and swears never again.
Entries, schedule and a live page for the day
There are tournament apps that do much of this, and for a straightforward festival one may be enough; we will tell you if so. Where your format, age groups or payment handling need something else, we build it.
- Visiting clubs enter teams online, choosing age groups, and pay the entry fee by card through Stripe, or by invoice if your committee prefers; entries are confirmed only when paid.
- Each age group's format is set up: pitch size, game length, rest time between games and how many games each team plays.
- Once entries close, a schedule generator allocates games to pitches and times, keeping each age group on suitable pitches and giving teams fair rest.
- Coaches and parents follow a live schedule page on their phones, via a QR code on posters around the ground.
- On the day, the organiser can mark a team as absent or a pitch as closed, and the schedule re-fits the remaining games, with changes shown on the live page.
- Where your format keeps results, pitch marshals enter them on a phone, and tables update; where it does not, the page just shows the next game.
| Task | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Entries | Email and a spreadsheet | Online, confirmed on payment |
| Schedule | Built by hand the night before | Generated from formats and pitches |
| Changes on the day | Rewritten on the noticeboard | Re-fitted and shown on the live page |
| Where to go next | Crowd round the noticeboard | Phone, via QR code |
| Results | Paper, added up later | Entered on a phone if your format keeps them |
Festival day, afterwards
The organiser prints the QR posters and the pitch marshals' sheets on Friday afternoon and goes to bed. On Saturday, coaches check their phones for their next game. When a pitch floods at eleven, its games are re-fitted and everyone sees the change. The treasurer knows every entry was paid before the day. And the organiser might just do it again next year.
Is your festival held together by a noticeboard?
- Tournament entries come in by email.
- Some teams pay on the day, or not at all.
- The schedule is built by hand the night before.
- Coaches crowd round a noticeboard to find their next game.
- One change on the day means rewriting the schedule.