After the game, in the changing room
Your adult teams play on Saturdays. Each player owes a match fee, which covers the referee or umpires, pitch hire and the tea. The captain collects it after the game. Some players hand over a note, some promise to pay next week, one only has a card, and the second team's captain is fifteen short and cannot tell who has paid. The IOUs are written on the back of the team sheet, which then goes through the wash.
The tins reach the treasurer at the end of the month, if they reach the treasurer at all. Students and occasional players have long moved on before anyone notices they owe several weeks. The captain, who also picked the side, arranged the lifts and phoned the referee, now has the added job of debt collector.
Why cash match fees never add up
- Collection happens in a rush after the game, often in the bar.
- Nobody links who played to who paid, because the team sheet and the cash are separate.
- Rates differ for students, juniors playing up, and players who are also paid-up members, and captains apply them from memory.
- Cash is held by captains for days or weeks before it reaches the club account.
- Debts are recorded on scraps of paper, if at all.
What the missing match fees cost
The club pays the referee, the pitch and the tea regardless. When match fees fall short, the gap comes out of bar profits or subs, which means members who pay are covering those who do not. Captains get fed up and step back, and finding captains is already hard.
Holding club cash in a kit bag is not ideal either, and your treasurer will know that the bank and your accounts need a proper record of what came in.
Match fees charged from the team sheet
As with subs, we start by checking whether a club app you can subscribe to already does this. Several let captains charge a match fee to selected players. Where you need your own rates, club balances or a link to the bar till, we build around it.
- Team selection is recorded in one place, the app or a simple team sheet page, and that becomes the list of who played.
- After the game, each selected player is charged the right match fee for their category (full, student, junior playing up) from the rules you set.
- Players pay by card or Apple Pay or Google Pay from a link, or the fee is taken from a prepaid club balance they top up.
- Unpaid fees roll forward on the player's account, with a gentle reminder before the next match, so the captain does not have to ask.
- A cash option remains for anyone who needs it: the captain records the cash against the player, and the treasurer sees the amount to bank.
- The treasurer sees match fee income by team and week, and the total owed by each player.
| Player type | How the fee is set | How they pay |
|---|---|---|
| Full playing member | Standard match fee | Card link or club balance |
| Student or unwaged | Reduced fee | Card link or club balance |
| Junior playing up in adult side | Your junior rate or none | Parent pays through their account |
| Guest or trialist | Guest fee | Card link on the day |
| Paid in cash | Standard or reduced | Captain records it; treasurer banks it |
Saturday evening, with fees handled
The captain posts the team, plays the game and has a drink. The fees go out automatically once the match is marked as played. Players pay from the bar on their phones. The treasurer can see which teams are up to date without waiting for a tin. And at the end of the season, nobody is owed for weeks of games by someone who has moved to another city.
Recognise the match fee tin?
- Captains collect cash in the changing room.
- IOUs are written on team sheets.
- Cash reaches the treasurer weeks after the game.
- Nobody can list which players owe fees.
- Captains have stepped down partly because of chasing money.