Get a referee to a game

Seed article

The structure and the worked example below are settled. The product owner writes the rest. Anything marked TODO needs a real answer before this page ships.

Referees are the part of a league that most software forgets, so this page is longer than the others. Two things to know before you start:

• A referee does not need a Kordnate account. They get a link for each game and that link works on its own.
• Referee scheduling is an add-on. If you cannot see Officials in the sidebar, your plan does not include it — see Billing.

Add your referees

1. Open Officials in the sidebar — your referees and umpires.
2. Choose New.
3. Add their name, email, and phone number.
4. Add what they can referee: which age groups, and which level.

Add everyone once, at the start of the season. Assigning is quick after that; adding people one game at a time is not.

Assign one to a game

1. Open Games. Open the game.
2. Find Referees.
3. Choose Assign, and pick from the list.
4. Save.

They get a message with the date, the time, the field, and both teams. They do not have to sign in to read it.

They can’t make it

1. Open the game.
2. Remove them.
3. Assign someone else.

Do this as early as you can. A game with no referee at kick-off is the one thing families remember about a season.

TODO — product owner to confirm whether a referee can decline from their own link or whether they have to phone you.

Paying them

Kordnate records who worked which game. It does not pay them.

Export the list at the end of the month and pay them the way you already do.

TODO — product owner to confirm where the export is and what is in it.

How many, and what it costs

Worked example. A U12 league plays 8 games every Saturday for 10 weeks. Your rules say two referees for U12, at $35 each.

• 8 games × 2 referees = 16 slots a week.
• 16 × $35 = $560 a week.
• Over 10 weeks that is $5,600.

With 120 players that is about $47 a player for the season, before anything else. If your fee is $180, referees are a quarter of it. Work this out before you set the fee, not after — it is the number leagues most often get wrong, and it comes out of the same money as the fields.

Common mistakes

• Assigning the same person to two games at the same time. Kordnate will let you. Check the time before you save.
• Assigning a referee to their own child’s game. Nobody wins that argument. Note who is related to whom when you add them.
• Leaving assignments to the week of the game. Referees take other work. Assign a month out and you keep the good ones.