Football (Soccer) Game Day Planning Guide

It's 7:50 on a Saturday morning and the under-6 MiniRoos are supposed to start at eight. There are 40 kids and their parents milling around a field that has no goals set up, no cones marking the mini pitches, and no bibs sorted into team colours. The coordinator is on the phone to someone who was supposed to bring the portable goals but hasn't arrived. Meanwhile, over on the main pitch, the under-14s have a 9am kick-off and the nets aren't up because the clips are missing from the storeroom. Three fields need to run simultaneously and there's one person trying to manage all of them.

By 10am, it'll sort itself out. It always does. But those first two chaotic hours set the tone for every family who arrived expecting organisation and found a scramble. The mum who drove 20 minutes to MiniRoos and stood around for 15 minutes watching adults panic isn't thinking about whether her kid had fun - she's thinking about whether this club knows what it's doing.

This is the planning guide for community football clubs - the logistics of running a multi-pitch, multi-age-group Saturday from first kick to last whistle. For the atmosphere and experience side, see our football game day experience guide.

Why football planning is uniquely complex

Community football clubs typically run more games on a single Saturday than any other sport. A mid-sized club might have:

• MiniRoos (under-6 to under-11): four to six age groups, often running simultaneously on half-pitches
• Junior competition (under-12 to under-16): three or four teams playing sequentially or on separate pitches
• Senior men's and women's: two to four teams

That's eight to fourteen games in a single day, potentially across three or four pitches. No other community sport matches this volume, and it means the planning overhead is proportionally larger.

The other complication is field setup. MiniRoos uses small goals on quarter or half pitches. Under-12s use reduced-size goals on a smaller field. Seniors use full-size goals on a full pitch. The equipment changes between every age group, and if you haven't planned the transitions, you'll lose 20 minutes between games while people figure out which goals go where.

The week-before timeline

Wednesday - confirm everything

Fixture map: Create (or update) a document showing every game on Saturday: which team, which pitch, what time, what goal size. Include warm-up windows. Print it and distribute it to every volunteer, coach, and team manager. The opposition shouldn't have to ask where they're playing.

Volunteer roster: Confirm every role. For a multi-pitch football Saturday, you need more volunteers than a single-game sport:

• Ground setup crew (3–4 people - you're setting up multiple pitches)
• Canteen volunteers (two shifts minimum, three for a 10-hour day)
• Gate/welcome volunteer
• First aid officer (one person, not rostered elsewhere)
• Referee coordinator (someone who knows which referees are coming and ensures they get to the right pitch)
• MiniRoos coordinator (if running - manages the small-sided setup, bibs, and parent volunteers)
• Pack-down crew

Referee confirmation: This is the single most common point of failure in community football. Confirm every referee appointment individually. Know which referees are covering which games, what time they're arriving, and what the fee is for each game (fees vary by grade and competition). For junior games where no official referee is appointed, confirm which parent or coach is refereeing and make sure they have a whistle.

Opposition teams: Confirm all visiting teams - numbers, arrival times, any special needs. If you're running six games with six different opponents, that's six points of contact.

Thursday - supplies and weather

Canteen stock: A 10-hour canteen operation with 200 to 400 people moving through the ground across the day needs serious stock. Coffee (this is non-negotiable - parents arriving at 7:30am for MiniRoos need coffee), pies, sausage rolls, hot chips if you have a fryer, sandwiches, drinks, snacks, ice creams for the afternoon. Do a stock count Thursday and order Friday delivery for anything missing.

Weather check: Football in Australia often runs on council grounds, and many councils have their own ground closure policies triggered by rain. Check your council's process - some use a hotline updated by 7am on Saturday, others use an online system. If the council closes the ground, the game doesn't go ahead regardless of how playable the surface looks. Know the process before Saturday morning.

Equipment audit: Walk the storeroom. Goals - full-size and portable small goals for MiniRoos. Nets - do they all have clips or ties? Corner flags. Captain's armbands. Match balls (multiple sizes - Size 3 for MiniRoos, Size 4 for juniors, Size 5 for seniors). First aid kit. Defibrillator. Cones (you need dozens for MiniRoos field marking). Bibs (sorted by colour and size).

Friday - stage and prepare

Equipment staging: Lay out everything by pitch. Group the MiniRoos gear together (portable goals, cones, bibs, Size 3 balls). Group the junior gear (mid-size goals or nets, Size 4 balls, corner flags). Group the senior gear (full nets, Size 5 balls, corner flags, team benches). Saturday morning setup should be a matter of carrying pre-sorted gear to the right pitch.

Ground marking: If your club handles line marking (many council grounds are marked by council, but not always), Friday afternoon is the time. Multiple pitches means multiple sets of lines. Allow three to four hours if you're marking two full pitches and a MiniRoos area.

Referee packs: Prepare an envelope for each referee: match fee (cash), team sheet template, and a note with the pitch number and kick-off time. Having these ready on Friday means Saturday morning is a handshake and an envelope, not a scramble for change.

The Saturday timeline

6:30am - ground crew arrives

Three to four people. This is more than most sports because you're setting up multiple pitches.

• Unlock the ground, change rooms, canteen, storeroom, and toilets
• Ground inspection: walk every pitch. Glass, holes, exposed sprinkler heads, dog waste, uneven surfaces. Check the goal mouths - they take the most wear and are often the muddiest patches on the field
• Set up goals on every pitch. Full-size nets on the main pitch. Portable small goals for MiniRoos (check they're weighted or pegged - unsecured goals are a serious safety hazard)
• Corner flags on all competition pitches
• MiniRoos area: lay out cones for mini pitches, sort bibs by team colour, set out Size 3 balls
• Wayfinding signage: which pitch is where, where's parking, where's the canteen

7:15am - canteen and facilities

• Canteen opens: coffee machine on (give it 20 minutes), urn boiled, pie warmer warming, float in till
• Toilets checked and stocked
• First aid station set up: kit accessible, defibrillator in visible signed location
• Change rooms open, clean, lights on

7:45am - MiniRoos volunteers arrive

• MiniRoos coordinator briefs parent volunteers (each age group typically has parent helpers)
• Bibs distributed
• Quick safety brief: no jewellery, shin pads on, mouthguards if required

8:00am - MiniRoos kick-off

• Multiple simultaneous games on mini pitches
• Canteen serving the morning coffee rush (this is your busiest canteen window until lunchtime)
• Parent volunteers refereeing or coordinating each mini pitch

9:30am - MiniRoos finishes, junior transition

• MiniRoos equipment collected: portable goals moved or reconfigured for junior sizes, cones collected
• Junior pitch setup: correct goal sizes, nets checked, corner flags
• Quick MiniRoos presentations if applicable (keep it brief - a sticker or certificate for each kid, done in two minutes)
• Junior warm-ups begin

10:00am–1:00pm - junior games

• Sequential or simultaneous depending on your pitch availability
• Scoreboard operated
• Referee coordination: confirm each referee is at their pitch 15 minutes before kick-off
• Canteen operating through the lunch window (this is the revenue peak)
• Change rooms turned over between games if multiple teams are sharing

1:00pm–2:00pm - transition to seniors

• Junior games finish, equipment checked and adjusted for senior games
• Nets replaced if junior games used smaller goals
• Senior warm-ups begin
• Canteen restocks for the afternoon

2:00pm - senior kick-off (adjust to your league)

• Peak match day operations. Canteen, bar (if applicable), PA, sponsor signage
• Club photographer or social media volunteer
• If running men's and women's seniors, schedule them sequentially with 30-minute gaps for warm-ups

5:00pm (approx) - post-match

• Presentations
• Social - bar or BBQ
• Progressive pack-down of equipment not needed

6:30pm - full pack-down

• All goals taken down and stored (or locked to the ground if permanent)
• Nets removed and stored (leaving nets up overnight leads to damage from weather and vandalism)
• Portable MiniRoos goals stored securely
• Corner flags collected
• Cones, bibs, and spare balls accounted for and stored
• Canteen cleaned, cash reconciled
• Change rooms checked and locked
• Ground walk: rubbish collected, equipment accounted for
• All buildings locked, gates secured

Multi-pitch scheduling

The fixture map is your most important planning document. It should show:

| Time | Pitch 1 (Main) | Pitch 2 | MiniRoos Area | |------|----------------|---------|---------------| | 8:00–9:15 | - | - | U6, U7, U8, U9 | | 9:30–10:30 | U12 | U14 | U10, U11 | | 10:45–11:45 | U16 | - | - | | 12:00–12:30 | Warm-up (Reserves) | Warm-up (Women's) | - | | 12:30–2:15 | Reserves | Women's First Grade | - | | 2:30–3:00 | Warm-up (Men's First Grade) | - | - | | 3:00–4:45 | Men's First Grade | - | - |

The key principles:

• Build in buffer. Every game transition needs 15 to 20 minutes for warm-ups and any equipment changes. Back-to-back games with no gap mean one game starts late, which cascades all afternoon.
• MiniRoos first. Young kids and their families arrive early and leave early. Running MiniRoos first means the ground is at its busiest early (good for canteen), and families don't need to wait through hours of other games.
• Senior women's and men's on separate pitches if possible. If you have two pitches, running them simultaneously doubles attendance for the social afterwards. If you only have one pitch, schedule them sequentially with the women's game first (so the crowd builds rather than thins).

Goal safety

Unsecured goals - portable goals that aren't weighted, pegged, or anchored - have caused deaths in Australian sport. This is not an exaggeration. A portable goal tipping onto a child is one of the most preventable fatal accidents in community sport.

Every portable goal must be secured: weighted sandbags, ground pegs, or permanently anchored. Check every goal at setup, and check again after each game (goals can be pulled or pushed out of alignment during play). The Product Safety Australia guidelines on portable soccer goals are worth reading and distributing to every setup volunteer.

Full-size goals should be inspected for structural integrity at the start of each season and after any storm damage. Rusted frames, cracked welds, and loose bolts are all hazards.

Referee coordination

Referees are the most undersupplied resource in Australian community football. Football Australia and every state federation will tell you the same thing: there aren't enough referees, and the ones who do volunteer are frequently abused by parents and coaches on the sideline.

Your planning responsibilities:

• Confirm appointments by Wednesday. Know who's covering which game and what time they'll arrive.
• Prepare payment in advance. Cash in an envelope, correct amount, ready to hand over before kick-off.
• Provide a change room. A clean space with a shower, a mirror, and a cup of tea. Referees talk to each other - a club that looks after its officials gets looked after.
• Manage sideline behaviour. This is a planning item, not just a values statement. Assign someone to monitor the touchline during junior games. One parent screaming at a 16-year-old referee is enough to lose that referee permanently. Football Australia's Raise Your Game resources are worth distributing to every parent at the start of the season.

Weather contingencies

Council ground closures

This is unique to football in many areas: the council controls the ground, and the council decides whether it's playable. Most councils have a process - phone hotline, website update, or an email by 7am. Know your council's process. Check it before loading the car on Saturday morning.

If the council closes the ground, that's final. Don't play on a closed ground - you risk damage to the surface, complaints from council, and potentially losing your ground allocation.

Wet weather (ground open)

If the ground is open but conditions are wet:

• Walk every pitch before the first game. Standing water in the goal mouth? Slippery patches on the centre circle? Make a call on each pitch individually - one might be playable while another isn't.
• Adjust equipment: extra towels in change rooms, boot wash station at the door, waterproof cover for electronic scoreboard.
• Extra hot drinks in the canteen. Cold, wet parents buy more coffee.
• Communicate any delays or cancellations clearly and early.

Extreme heat

Most state federations have heat policies. Check yours - they typically trigger at 35°C or 36°C, with extended water breaks, shortened halves for juniors, and potential postponement above 40°C.

Operational response: water stations at every pitch (not just one central point - parents shouldn't have to walk 200 metres to get their kid a drink), shade for spectators, sunscreen available, ice towels for players at breaks.

Lightning

Play stops immediately. Everyone off the pitches and into shelter. 30-minute wait after the last flash before resuming. No exceptions, no debate.

Equipment checklist

Goals:

• ] Full-size goals (nets, clips, posts checked for damage)
• ] Mid-size junior goals (if different from senior)
• ] Portable MiniRoos goals (weighted/pegged/anchored - check security)
• ] Spare net clips

Field:

• ] Corner flags (full set for each competition pitch)
• ] Cones (50+ for MiniRoos field marking)
• ] Bibs (sorted by colour and size)
• ] Match balls: Size 3, Size 4, Size 5 (multiple of each)
• ] Captain's armbands

Safety:

• ] First aid kit (stocked)
• ] Defibrillator (charged, pads in date)
• ] Incident report forms
• ] Emergency contacts
• ] Sunscreen station (summer)

Canteen:

• ] Float ($200+ mixed - larger for a 10-hour day)
• ] Full-day stock (coffee, morning food, lunch food, afternoon snacks, drinks)
• ] EFTPOS terminal (charged)

Administration:

• ] Referee payment envelopes (one per game, correct amount)
• ] Team sheets
• ] Fixture map (printed, posted at entrance)
• ] Wayfinding signage

Volunteer roster

For a full Saturday (MiniRoos + juniors + seniors), plan for 14 to 18 volunteers:

| Role | Early morning (6:30–9:30am) | Morning (9:30am–1pm) | Afternoon (1pm–5pm) | Pack-down (5–7pm) | |------|---------------------------|---------------------|--------------------|--------------------| | Game day coordinator | All day | | | | | Ground setup | 3–4 volunteers | - | - | - | | MiniRoos coordinator | 1 volunteer | - | - | - | | Canteen | 2 volunteers | 2 volunteers | 2 volunteers | 1 volunteer | | Gate/welcome | 1 volunteer | 1 volunteer | - | - | | First aid | 1 volunteer | 1 volunteer | 1 volunteer | - | | Referee coordinator | - | 1 volunteer | 1 volunteer | - | | Bar | - | - | 1 volunteer | 1 volunteer | | Pack-down | - | - | - | 3 volunteers |

The ground setup crew has the hardest job and the earliest start - setting up three or four pitches with different goal sizes is a 90-minute task with four people. Rotate this crew aggressively. Nobody wants to do it every week.

How TidyHQ helps with game day planning

A football club running 10+ games across a Saturday has more volunteer coordination, more equipment logistics, and more parent communication than almost any other community sport. Managing it by group chat and memory is how coordinators burn out by June.

TidyHQ's event management lets you set up each home round as a recurring event with all the volunteer roles built in - MiniRoos coordinator, canteen shifts, setup crew, referee liaison. Members see available slots and claim them. Reminders go out automatically. The coordinator sees who's confirmed and who's missing by Thursday.

For the parent communication that football clubs do more of than most sports - MiniRoos schedules, ground closures, wet weather updates - TidyHQ's messaging tools let you reach the right group without maintaining separate WhatsApp chats for every age group.

Frequently asked questions

How many pitches can one person manage on game day?

One. If you're running games on three pitches simultaneously, you need a coordinator for each pitch or - at minimum - a game day manager who floats between pitches with a named volunteer at each one handling that pitch's logistics. One person trying to manage three pitches will be in the wrong place at the wrong time, guaranteed.

How do we handle the MiniRoos-to-junior transition without chaos?

Write a 15-minute transition plan and brief the volunteers on it before the season starts. MiniRoos equipment (portable goals, cones, bibs) gets collected by two named people while junior warm-ups happen on a separate area. Junior goals are set up by a second crew. The two tasks happen in parallel, not sequentially. If everyone knows their job, the transition takes 15 minutes. If nobody does, it takes 40.

What do we do when a referee doesn't show?

Have a contingency for every game. For junior games, a qualified parent or coach can referee (check your competition's rules on qualifications). For senior games, the competition may allow a club-appointed referee or may postpone the match. The worst response is standing around for 20 minutes hoping they'll arrive - make the call within 10 minutes of the scheduled kick-off and communicate it to both teams.

Community football is the most operationally complex game day in Australian sport - more games, more pitches, more age groups, and more families than any other code on a single Saturday. The clubs that run it well have one thing in common: a plan that starts on Wednesday, a fixture map that everyone can see, and named volunteers who know exactly what they're doing and when. Start there.

References

• Football Australia - The national governing body for football in Australia, including community football resources and MiniRoos programs
• Football Game Day Experience Guide - Our companion guide to creating a great match day atmosphere at community football clubs
• Football Australia - Raise Your Game - Resources for positive sideline behaviour and supporting match officials
• Product Safety Australia - Portable Soccer Goals - Safety guidelines for securing portable goals at community grounds
• Leading a Grassroots Sports Club - Book Review - Our review of Geoff Wilson's practical guide to running community sports clubs
• Australian Sports Commission - The Australian Government agency responsible for supporting and investing in sport at all levels