Running a grassroots football tournament on the day

The short version

The risk assessment becomes the plan

The safeguarding risk assessment you prepared for sanction is not a filing exercise. It already names the people responsible for the event and records the emergency arrangements: where the nearest defibrillator is, who fetches it, how an ambulance gets in, and the route from pitch to ambulance.

• Make sure the people named in the plan can access it on the day.
• Brief everyone with a role, including volunteers who arrive on the morning.
• Make sure more than one person knows the emergency arrangements.
• Check the access route and any barrier keys on the morning rather than assuming.
• Agree how people contact each other across the site.

Match officials, and the rules that affect the rota and the day

Officiating has specific rules attached, and three age rules matter before you allocate anybody to a pitch.

Young referees can only officiate certain age groups

Three rules apply, and you need all three before you build a rota.

• Individuals under 14 must not take part as a referee or assistant referee in a Competition Match.
• Referees aged 14 or 15 can only officiate where the players' age band is at least one year younger than they are. A 15-year-old referee may only referee where the age banding is Under 14 or younger.
• Individuals under 16 must not take part as a referee or assistant referee in an open-age competition.

For a tournament running several age groups on one site, that is a scheduling constraint rather than a detail. A young referee cannot simply be moved to cover an older age group because somebody has not turned up.

If clubs are supplying assistant referees, check the age, qualification and eligibility requirements in your sanctioned tournament rules or with your County FA rather than assuming the same rule applies everywhere.

Referees in youth football need the right checks

For youth football, check registration and safeguarding status before you build the rota, not on the morning. Current FA safeguarding guidance lists referees working in under-18 football among the roles requiring an FA Enhanced DBS check for those aged 16 or over, and leagues and clubs are responsible for making sure anyone who needs one holds an in-date FA-accepted disclosure. FA Education guidance also requires referees to hold the appropriate in-date safeguarding qualification on their FAN in order to re-register. If you are unsure about an official, check with your County FA Referee Development Officer.

Where to find match officials

• Your County FA referee department or Referee Development Officer.
• Local leagues and their referee appointment contacts.
• Referees already known to your club.
• Your own club's qualified referees, if you have any, remembering the age rules above.

Check your County FA or sanctioned tournament rules for the current match-official fees and expenses. Whatever applies, tell officials in advance what they will be paid and how.

If clubs are providing referees rather than you appointing them, say so in the entry information and be clear about any qualification or eligibility requirements in your sanctioned rules.

First aid and the medical plan

Your medical emergency action plan is part of the risk assessment, and it asks for the practical things: who the first-aiders are and their mobile numbers, where the first-aid kit and defibrillator are, the access routes for an ambulance, and the nearest hospital with an emergency department along with the journey time.

• Have first-aid provision appropriate to the size and layout of your event, and know who is covering which part of the site.
• Make sure every team knows where first aid is before its first game.
• Check the defibrillator is where the plan says it is, and that whoever is named as the runner knows it.
• Keep emergency contact details for participants accessible to the people who might need them.

England Football runs football-specific first-aid courses including Introduction to First Aid in Football and Emergency First Aid in Football. What your event needs is a question for your County FA and whoever is providing your medical cover; do not assume that naming a course here sets a universal minimum qualification or number of first-aiders.

Head injuries and suspected concussion

If a player is suspected of having concussion, remove them from play immediately. England Football guidance says they must not return to activity that day, even if they later say they feel better. Make sure managers and first-aiders know the warning signs that require urgent medical assessment and follow the current concussion guidance rather than using the next fixture as a test.

Current guidance: England Football concussion guidance (opens in a new tab)

Safeguarding that a visiting parent can actually find

You put a safeguarding or welfare contact in place for the event as part of sanction. Depending on your County FA that may involve the Designated Safeguarding Person role in the Competition Portal, a named tournament welfare officer, or both. On the day the question is different: can a parent from a visiting club find that person quickly?

• Put the name and a contact number on signage, in the entry pack and in the managers' briefing.
• Make sure that person is on site and reachable throughout, and that somebody covers them if they leave.
• Tell managers how to raise a concern and who to raise it with.
• Brief volunteers that a safeguarding concern goes to the safeguarding or welfare contact rather than being investigated informally.

Your photography arrangements sit here too. If you agreed a discreet identification arrangement with a manager at entry, make sure any official photographer knows about it before the first game. If you are using an official photographer, make sure they have been briefed, are identifiable, know where photography is prohibited - including changing, toilet and first-aid areas - and do not have unsupervised one-to-one access to children.

Our earlier guide explains the entry-stage photography arrangements: Should your club host a football tournament?

If a child or parent raises a safeguarding concern

Listen and stay calm. Do not investigate it yourself, and do not promise confidentiality or a particular outcome. Explain that other people will need to be involved in order to help. Pass the concern promptly to the event safeguarding contact and through the appropriate club, league, County FA or FA safeguarding route.

If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.

It is not the volunteer's job to decide whether a concern is serious enough to pass on. Passing it on promptly is the job.

Brief the managers before the first game

A short manager briefing before the first games gives every team the same operational information. Cover the same points with everyone.

• Where first aid is, and who the first-aiders are.
• Who the safeguarding or welfare contact is and how to reach them.
• How schedule changes and results will be communicated.
• What happens with late arrivals and no-shows.
• What you expect around referee respect, including from parents on the touchline.
• How you will tell everyone if the weather changes the plan, and where shelter is.

Put the same points in writing in the entry pack, because the person who attends the briefing is not always the person who needs to know.

Publishing on the day

Before you switch on a public results feed, a table or a knockout bracket, check which age groups it covers. At Under 7, results from development fixtures must not be published. At Under 8 to Under 11, results may be published only where that section is running as a permitted trophy event under the applicable rules.

Our guide to filling a tournament explains the younger-age publication position in more detail: How to fill a grassroots football tournament

Weather: know who decides and what changes

There can be different decision-makers on the same site, so set those responsibilities before the day so teams know whose decision applies.

• The standard youth competition rules give the appointed referee the decision on ground fitness for an individual match, subject to any Local Authority or ground-owner decision. Check that your sanctioned tournament rules use the same arrangement.
• The venue owner or Local Authority can close or restrict the site, and that decision must be respected.
• The organiser coordinates event-wide questions such as whether the tournament continues, how teams are told, and how the published cancellation or refund terms are applied.

Settle in advance who makes the event-wide call and by when, how you tell teams already travelling, and whether a safely shortened programme is an option under your sanctioned rules.

Thunder and lightning

FA guidance for grassroots football puts the match decision with the match official. If conditions are or become unsafe because of a thunderstorm, the fixture may need to be postponed, cancelled or abandoned, and people need to move to appropriate shelter. The pitch should be reassessed before any restart because rain, debris or surface damage may have changed the risk.

Decide before the day where appropriate shelter is for the number of people you expect and how you will tell everyone to use it.

Heat and sun

Summer tournaments can fall into the conditions covered by The FA's hot-weather guidance. Make water freely available, build sensible breaks into the day, use shade where possible and make sure volunteers and managers know the signs of heat exhaustion and heatstroke.

Current FA referee guidance also allows a cooling break where the referee expects the temperature at kick-off to reach 25°C or above. Below that, a drinks break can take place if both teams agree. That figure is guidance for drinks and cooling breaks; it is not a temperature at which football must be cancelled.

Brief referees and managers on the weather plan before play starts rather than trying to invent it once teams are already on the pitches.

Incidents and what has to be reported

Some things do not end when the last game finishes.

• Injuries: record what happened and what was done while the facts are still clear.
• Discipline: referees submit cautions, dismissals and misconduct through the FA referee-reporting process, and the County FA handles the resulting disciplinary case. Make sure appointed referees know the route and that teams and fixtures are set up so any report can identify the correct participant. If your County FA requires an additional tournament process, confirm it before the day.
• Safeguarding concerns: follow the reporting routes above and do not wait until the following week.
• Changes to the plan: record anything that forced you to change the risk assessment or operating plan so it can inform the next event.

Elsewhere in the UK

Officiating, safeguarding and medical requirements are set separately in each nation. Start with the association that covers you.

• England: The Football Association and your County FA.
• Scotland: the Scottish Football Association.
• Wales: the Football Association of Wales.
• Northern Ireland: the Irish Football Association.

List your tournament

Put your event in front of teams looking for one. Listing is free, you can manage enquiries and team status from a dashboard, and you can publish fixtures, results, tables and knockout stages where the relevant age-group and competition rules allow.

List or manage your tournament: FindMeFootball organisers

A FindMeFootball listing does not mean we have sanctioned, approved or verified the tournament. Sanction remains a matter for the relevant football association and County FA.