Match fees for the games that were played
The final whistle goes, the kit bag gets zipped up, and the manager stands by the car with a tin. Three players have paid. Two say they will bring it Tuesday. One has already driven off. The sub who came on for the last five minutes wants to know if they have to pay the full amount, and nobody is quite sure.
By the time the manager gets home, the tin has some coins in it, a note that was meant to be a fiver, and no record of who paid what. That tin is where most match fee problems start.
Why the car park count goes wrong
Match fees are the hardest money a club collects, because they change every week. Subs are the same amount on the same day. A match fee depends on who played, and that is only known once the game is over, which is the worst moment to ask anyone for money.
So clubs fall back on memory. The manager remembers who played, mostly. The treasurer gets a list a week later, sometimes. Games get called off on the Saturday morning and some parents have already paid for them. Then somebody has to work out a refund, or a credit, or just let it go.
None of this is anyone being careless. It is a system that relies on one person being organised in a car park, every week, for a whole season.
What a sane setup looks like
The fix is not a better tin. It is taking the counting away from the car park altogether.
- The fee is only owed for a game that was played. If the game is called off, nobody is charged, so there is nothing to refund.
- It is worked out from who actually played, written down once by the manager, and never from somebody's memory on a Tuesday.
- A player who travelled but didn't get on the pitch is not charged. Decide that as a club, once, and stop arguing it every week.
- The money goes to the club's bank account, not to a manager who then has to hand it over.
When it works like this, the manager's only job is to record the team, which they were doing anyway.
Three things to do this week
- Write down the club's match fee rules in two sentences: what the fee is, and who pays it. Include the sub who doesn't get on and the game that is called off. Send it to every manager.
- Ask each manager how they collect now, and how the money gets to the treasurer. You will probably get as many answers as you have teams. That is worth knowing.
- Pick one team and check last month. Compare the games played with the money received. The gap tells you how much the tin is costing the club.
From launch, The Full Squad only charges match fees for games that were played. A cancelled game just isn't charged, and a child who didn't get on the pitch is never charged a match fee. The money goes straight into the club's own bank account at a published rate. See how subs and match fees work, and the pricing page for what it costs. If the tin is still doing the rounds at your club, put your name down.
Worth a read next: subs without the chasing, which splits club money into the three things it really is.