How to set referee assignment rules

Referee rules guide Ref assignments, which puts referees and teams on all your games in one go (see how to assign referees automatically). They live in the Ref Assignment Rules tab of your event’s settings. Saving a rule changes no game: it applies the next time you assign referees automatically. Referees you put on a game yourself don’t have to follow it.

Without any rule, automatic assignment gives each game one referee from your list and one refereeing team, and, unless a rule allows it, never gives anyone it picks two games that start at the same time. Referees and teams you put on a game yourself count too: they aren’t given another game at that time, and their games count toward the rules below. Teams are taken from the game’s division, or from a division that shares its phase of the blueprint and plays with the same ball type. There’s no setting for how many referees a game needs: to add more, put them on the game yourself (see how to put a referee or staff member on a game). Teams referee only when you assign team refs or put a team on a game; to choose which teams, add an Allowed Teams Reffing rule.

Before you start

• You need to manage the event, its schedule or its referees.
• If referees are locked, the rules are locked too. See how to lock parts of your event.

Steps

The steps add an Allowed Teams Reffing rule, so that only the teams you choose referee. Every rule type is added the same way.

1. In your event’s planner, click Settings at the bottom of the sidebar.

   

2. Open the Ref Assignment Rules tab.

   

3. Under Hard Rules, click Add Rule. For a soft preference instead, use Add Preference under Soft Preferences.

   

4. Choose Allowed Teams Reffing. The new rule opens.

   

5. Under Team, pick the teams that may referee. The summary at the top of the rule says what it does.

   

6. Click Save All Settings Changes.

   

To describe your rules in plain words instead, click Generate with AI beside Add Rule, then review the rules it writes before you save.

Hard rules and soft preferences

• Hard Rules must be met. Assignment skips anyone who would break one, and a game nobody can take is left without that referee.
• Soft Preferences only rank who goes first, and never leave a game without a referee. Each has a weight slider for how much it counts. Four types can be soft preferences: Same Court Preference, Balanced Workload, Ref/Team Exclusion and Custom Condition.

In most rules, Applies To picks who it covers: All Referees, Officials Only (the referees on your list) or Teams Only. Game Type keeps it to Round Robin Only or Playoffs Only. Where a rule below follows Scope, Specific division covers the games of the divisions you pick, Specific team the teams you pick, and Specific Referee the referees you pick from your list; with none picked, it covers no one. Every rule has a switch to turn it off without deleting it, and a bin to delete it. Click a rule’s title to open or close it.

Max Concurrent Reffing

For teams. Sets under Max Concurrent Courts how many games a team can referee at the same time, on different courts. Without it, a team referees one game at a time. A referee from your list always gets one game at a time.

Max Consecutive Assignments

Limits how many time slots in a row a referee or team works, to the number under Max Consecutive Games (3 if you leave it empty). Sitting out one time slot, a break on the schedule included, or starting a new day begins the count again; the minutes between games don’t matter. A team that plays in between has sat out too. Games you put them on yourself count. Follows Scope.

Allowed Teams Reffing

Only the teams you pick under Team referee. Without it, any team can.

Division Refs Own Division

Teams only referee games of the division they play in. A game with no free team in its own division gets no team referee rather than one from another division.

Division Assignment

The teams you pick under Teams only referee games of the divisions under Allowed Divisions. While this rule is on, the teams it doesn’t list can be given games in any division too.

Group Refs Group

For divisions split into groups. Under How groups are matched:

• Each group refs the groups I choose: for each group you list, pick under Can referee the groups its teams may referee. Groups you don’t list are left free.
• A set of groups that only ref each other: the teams of the groups you pick only referee those groups’ games. Also keep every other group out of these groups’ games also keeps every other team off them.

Only group play is affected: playoff games belong to no group.

Can’t Ref After Loss

For playoffs. The loser of a game never referees the next game of the team that beat it. When the loser of the previous game on the court would, automatic assignment gives the game to a team already knocked out, or to a seed that isn’t playing, instead. Round robin games aren’t affected.

Follows Scope, but which team fills a playoff place isn’t known yet when referees are assigned, so only Global (All) and Specific division do anything here.

Can’t Ref Match Before Playing

For teams. A team doesn’t referee a round robin game of the team it plays next, nor a playoff game whose winner or loser it may play next, such as a seed with a bye refereeing the game that decides its opponent. Automatic assignment gives the game to another team or place instead.

Follows Scope. On playoff places, only Global (All) and Specific division apply, for the same reason as above.

Ref/Team Exclusion

Keeps a referee or a team off the games of the teams you pick. Set Scope to Specific Referee or Specific team and pick who, then list under Excluded Teams the teams they shouldn’t referee.

Referee Blackout

Keeps referees off games that start during a time window: pick a Day or All Days, then a Start Time and an End Time. A day without times blocks that whole day. To block one referee or one team, set Scope to Specific Referee or Specific team and pick them.

Ball Type Certification

Gives a referee from your list only the games of divisions that play with one of their Ball Types (see how to add referees). A referee with no ball types can take any game.

Minimum Referee Level

For referees from your list. Only referees at or above the level under Minimum Level get the games it covers. From lowest to highest: Trainee, Junior, Certified, Senior, Head.

A referee’s level is the Referee Level you set when adding them to the event (see how to add referees). Left on Default, the level on their referee profile counts. A referee with no level at all gets none of these games.

To cover only some playoff games, pick their stages under Playoff Stages (Optional). Left empty, the rule covers every game Game Type allows. Follows Scope.

Balanced Workload

As a soft preference, favours the referees and teams with the fewest games so far. Even without it, those with the fewest games are tried first.

As a hard rule, nobody gets more than one game ahead of whoever has the fewest: among all the referees on your list, or among the teams that could referee the game. Someone who can’t take games for a while, blacked out or playing, holds the others back, so some games can be left without a referee. Follows Scope.

Same Court Preference

As a soft preference, favours keeping a referee or team on the court of the last game they refereed. As a hard rule, a referee or team stays all day on the court of their first game that day. Follows Scope.

Custom Condition

Builds your own IF/THEN rule. WHEN narrows the games and referees it looks at. THEN says whether they Must match or Must not match the conditions you add there. Conditions can look at the referee’s type (official or team) and the game’s court, round, type or playoff stage.