Every pre-season, someone on the committee opens last year's spreadsheet and starts moving teams around. Under 9s want Tuesdays, the seniors want lights, the girls' teams have nowhere to go, and two coaches turn up for the same pitch in week one.
Here's a method that's fair, explainable to coaches and easy to repeat next year.
1. Write down what you really have
Start with capacity, not teams.
- Every pitch and its size. Note which pitches are full size and which are small.
- Halves and quarters. A full pitch can host two or four small-sided junior sessions at once. Count each section as space you can give out.
- Hours and lights. When each pitch is open, and when the lights are on. A pitch without lights is a daylight-only pitch from late autumn.
Small-sided formats are what make this work. Under Football Australia's MiniRoos pathway, the youngest players play 4v4, under 8s and 9s play 7v7 and under 10s and 11s play 9v9, before moving to 11v11. Exact ages vary a little between associations, so check yours.
2. Write down what each team needs
Ask every coach the same four questions:
- How many sessions a week?
- How long is each session?
- What size of pitch?
- Which nights work, and how early or late can you start?
Get the answers in writing before you allocate. It ends most arguments before they start.
3. Share it out in rounds
The fairest rule is simple: every team gets its first session before any team gets a second. Then:
- Spread each team's nights. Tuesday and Thursday beats Tuesday and Wednesday.
- Match the size. Give a team the right size first, a step bigger if you must, and never smaller.
- Juniors early, seniors late. Little ones finish before dinner. Seniors can use the lights.
- Use sections before whole pitches. If a half will do, keep the full pitch free for the teams that need it.
- Big-pitch teams pick first. They have the fewest options, so place them before the teams that fit anywhere.
4. Decide your wet-weather plan now
Closures will happen. Agree before the season starts:
- Who makes the call, and by what time.
- Whether a closure covers the whole ground or one pitch.
- How players and parents are told, so nobody drives out to a locked gate.
5. Measure it
At the end of each month, look at hours booked against hours available for each pitch, which teams still don't have a regular slot, and how many nights were lost to closures. Those numbers make next season's plan easier, and they're the evidence your council needs when you ask for lights or another pitch.
Doing it in Sportdify
Sportdify works this way out of the box.
- Pitches, halves and quarters. Set each pitch's size, opening hours and lights. Booking a whole pitch blocks its sections, and the other way round.
- A season plan. Enter each team's sessions a week, length, pitch size and preferred nights, and Sportdify drafts the weekly plan using the rules above.
- Pitch suggestions and clash warnings. When you add a session, Sportdify suggests free pitches of the right size for the team's age group and flags any clash before you save.
- Closures. Close a pitch or the whole ground for wet weather, see which sessions it hits and send a push to the teams affected.
- Pitch use. Hours booked against hours open, busy hours and the teams still without a pitch.
See venues and pitches, or read a week at a 700-player club.