User guide

Last updated 1 October 2026

Installing

1. Download the installer from the home page and run it.
2. Choose Full installation to get both the Tournament App and Spectator View, or pick just the one you need.
3. Windows may show a "Windows protected your PC" warning, because the installer isn't code-signed yet. Choose More info, then Run anyway.

The apps install for your own Windows account, so you don't need an administrator password. The first time you open the Tournament App it starts on the Free plan automatically. You don't need a key to begin.

Plans and your licence key

• Free: up to 8 teams and the full scheduling engine.
• Pro: unlimited teams.
• Elite: everything in Pro, plus the live supporter and referee hub.

Pro and Elite are in beta testing, with release expected on 12 November 2026.

To activate a paid licence, open the first tab, 1. Software Config, paste your key into the licence key box and click Activate Profile. Your 12 months start the first time you activate the key, not the day you buy it. Keys arrive by email straight after purchase, so check your spam folder if yours doesn't show up.

Setting up a tournament

The tabs are numbered, but pitches come first because the schedule depends on them. This order works well.

1. Pitches (tab 8)

Enter how many pitches you have of each size. If you stock a standard FA size, it is used automatically for the matching age groups: under 7 and below play on 3v3, under 8 to 9 on 5v5, under 10 to 11 on 7v7, under 12 to 13 on 9v9, and under 14 and up on 11v11. The Small, Medium and Large boxes cover everything else, and they are handed out by age, with the youngest on the smallest. Leave any size you don't have at 0, then click Save Pitch Counts.

Below the counts you can give every pitch its own name, for example Pitch 1 to Pitch 10 to match the signs at your venue. Names must be unique. Click Save Pitch Names when you're done.

2. Tournament Configuration (tab 2)

Set your First Kickoff and Last Kickoff, and the Gap (mins) between games. Add up to six tournament days under the calendar dates, then use the division assignments to choose which day each age group plays on. You can add your own divisions with Add Custom Division. Click Save & Sync Configurations when you're finished. The other timing boxes have sensible defaults, so leave them unless you need to change them.

3. Team Registration (tab 4)

Add teams one at a time with Register Team, giving a team name and age group (you can add a contact email and team colours too). Or import a whole roster from an Excel (.xlsx) file using the bulk import option. The roster table lists every team by division.

When you add a team, the app builds a schedule for that age group as a working draft. That doubles as a sanity check on your pitches. If they are getting tight for a day it warns you, showing roughly how many you need against how many you have, and if the games can't fit it tells you what to change. Because it's only a draft while you're still adding teams, finish by running a full generation in tab 5 (see step 5). On the Free plan the limit is 8 teams.

4. Progression Control (tab 3)

For each age group, choose what happens after the group stage. By default (Auto) the app splits each age group into groups of about five teams, so 1 to 7 teams play in a single group, 8 to 12 teams in two, and so on. The top teams then go through to a Cup knockout, with a Plate as well once an age group has 24 or more teams. The other choices are Group Only (no knockouts), Cup Only and Cup + Plate.

Full Round Robin is an extra option, not the default. It only appears for age groups with 9 or fewer teams. It puts every team into one group, so everyone plays everyone once (twice if there are four teams or fewer), with no knockouts. It uses the same number of pitches the normal split would have used, where you have them spare, so games still run side by side. For 8 or 9 teams that is the main difference from the default, which splits them into two groups with a Cup knockout afterwards. This tab also shows a live check of how your pitches are being allocated.

5. Generate and check the schedule (tab 5)

Once every team is registered, click Generate / Regenerate Full Schedule. This builds the schedule for every age group together, so pitch sizes and times are worked out with the whole tournament in view. Building as you go handles one age group at a time, and adding another age group can change which pitch size the earlier ones should get, so a full generation at the end gives you the final, consistent schedule. Run it again whenever you change teams, pitches or timings.

This tab shows how many games each pitch has on each day, with totals for divisions, teams, games, pitches in use and minutes to be played.

If a schedule can't fit, for example because you don't have enough pitches or the games would run past your last kickoff, the app stops and tells you what to change. It won't produce a broken schedule.

Running the day

Results (tab 6). Type each score into the Home and Away boxes. Scores save automatically, and the standings alongside update. The Day, Division and Group filters help you find a match quickly.

Finals (tab 7). Enter scores for the knockout matches, semi-finals and finals here. Once a group stage is complete, its knockout fixtures fill in with the qualifying teams.

Printing (tab 5). Under Print Documents you can print a Team List, Referee Cards and Daily Fixtures.

The live hub (Elite)

1. In tab 1, under Advanced Settings, set your Tournament Display Name and click Save & Test.
2. Set a referee PIN and click Update PIN in Cloud.
3. Share live.grassrootstournamentsoftware.uk with supporters and referees. They choose your tournament from the list.

Supporters can follow standings and fixtures for every age group, with no app to install. Referees choose the referee option, enter the PIN, pick the day and pitch, then run the match timer, keep score with the plus and minus buttons, and submit the final score.

Scores appear on the hub within seconds of a referee submitting them. Standings tables refresh when you sync. In Results Entry, Full Cloud Sync (or Start Auto Sync) brings referee scores into the app and sends the latest standings to the hub. The hub needs an internet connection at the venue. On Elite, Set Background Logo in tab 1 also puts your tournament's logo on the hub.

Spectator View on a big screen

1. On the computer running the Tournament App, go to tab 1 and click Activate Spectator View. It shows an address such as http://192.168.0.145:8551. Note the numbers.
2. On the computer connected to the screen or projector, open Spectator View, type those numbers into the Hub IP Address box and click Connect to Hub. Both computers must be on the same network. No internet is needed.
3. If you like, choose a day, set how long each slide shows, and pick a folder of images (sponsor logos, for example) to show between the standings. Then click Launch Live View.

It rotates through the standings, latest results and next games by itself, and refreshes every 15 seconds. The text scales to fit whatever screen it's on.

Backups and recovery

The app saves your tournament on your computer as you work, and a copy is kept in the cloud when you sync. If something goes wrong, tab 1 has Crash Recovery, which lets you restore from a saved backup.

Hard Reset erases everything: teams, schedule, results and settings, including the cloud copy. It can't be undone. To stop accidental clicks it asks for a PIN, which is 0000.

Troubleshooting

Windows says it protected my PC. The installer isn't code-signed yet. Choose More info, then Run anyway.

Spectator View can't connect. Check both computers are on the same network and that you typed the address shown in tab 1. Allow the Tournament App through Windows Firewall on private networks, and set the network type to Private. Many guest and venue Wi-Fi networks stop devices from seeing each other, so a small router or a phone hotspot is the usual fix.

Spectator View says there's no schedule. Generate the schedule first. If the main app clearly has data, make sure only one copy of the Tournament App is running. A second copy can answer with empty data.

I've hit the 8-team limit. That's the Free plan. Pro and Elite remove it.

My licence email didn't arrive. Check your spam folder, then email me with the address you bought with.

If nothing here answers your question, email grassrootstournamentsoftware@gmail.com, or use the suggestions page for feature ideas. I'm one person, so I reply as quickly as I can.