What the membership software leaves out
Running a team: the other half of the job.
Licences, subscriptions and accounts already have their software. What is left on the volunteers' shoulders is everything else.
Written by Clément Fabiani
Let us be clear about what Bob is not
Bob does not handle licences, memberships or club accounts. That software exists, it is good at what it does, and there is no reason to replace it.
What Bob covers is the part none of it takes on: day to day communication and on the ground organisation, which today rest on group chats and on what the volunteers happen to remember.
A week in a club, seen from the committee
- Monday. The call-up for the weekend goes out. Replies trickle in over four days.
- Wednesday. Someone counts the players, chases the silent ones and hunts for whoever has the speaker.
- Thursday. Carpooling is arranged in private messages, and two players end up without a lift.
- Friday. The refreshment stand is still two volunteers short.
- Saturday. Everything goes well, and nobody knows who left with the shirts.
Every one of those steps is already a list or a count. The only change is that it stops being rebuilt by hand every week.
What sits in one place instead of five
- Call-ups and attendance. Who is coming on Saturday, who is not, without scrolling back through a hundred messages.
- Carpooling. Who drives, how many seats, who rides with whom.
- Kit and equipment. Balls, shirts, the speaker, the trailer: who has them, since when, and when they come back.
- Volunteers. Slots for the refreshment stand, the tournament or the end of season party, with sign-ups everyone can see.
- Conversation. Encrypted messaging with calls and video, per team or per group.
Three of those pieces have a page of their own: the shared calendar for fixtures, the event planning and RSVP list for tournaments, and the WhatsApp alternative for the group itself.
Fifteen members or three hundred
Around fifteen
One group is enough. The immediate gain is the attendance count and the kit tracking, two things a chat thread cannot hold.
Three teams, fifty players
One group per team plus one for the committee. Call-ups stop going to everybody, and parents only get what concerns them.
A large club
Bob sits next to the membership software, not in its place. It takes communication and on the ground organisation.
A group with no pitch
A parent association, a social club, a residents' committee: same logic, with volunteer slots instead of call-ups.
Starting in a week, with no meeting
Switching fails when everybody is asked to change everything on the same day. It works when one use moves across and proves itself.
- Monday. Create the group for one team, the keenest one. Leave the others where they are.
- Tuesday. Post the call-up for the weekend, with replies. That is the first automatic count the coach will have seen.
- Thursday. Open carpooling on the same event, one line per car.
- Saturday. Log the kit taken out of the store, and who has it. That is the feature that convinces the treasurer.
- The following week. The other teams ask to move across, or they do not. Nothing breaks if they wait.
What changes for each person
- The coach stops counting attendance by hand on Wednesday night.
- The treasurer finally knows where the shirts and the speaker are, and since when.
- Parents only get messages for their own child's team, with the time and place in the same place as the reply.
- Volunteers pick their own slot instead of being assigned one, which changes the response rate a great deal.
- The committee keeps a record, even when the person who knew everything hands over.
Handing over when someone steps down
This is the biggest unwritten weakness in volunteering. One person has done the rota for years, knows every number, knows where the keys are, and eventually stops.
Whatever lived in a private chat leaves with them. Whatever lives in a club group stays: the fixtures, the replies, the kit list and the question of who has what. That is not a technical argument, it is the reason small clubs lose knowledge.
Parents, coach, committee: who needs what
Parents
Time, place, finish time, lift. Nothing else, and certainly not the committee's discussions.
The coach
Who is coming on Saturday. A number, early enough to pick a side.
The treasurer
Where the kit is. Not out of suspicion, but because replacing it costs money.
The committee
A record, so the next person does not start from nothing.
Separate groups solve most of that without anyone having to administer anything.
Frequently asked questions
Does Bob replace club membership software?
No. Bob does not handle licences, memberships or accounts. It takes on communication and on the ground organisation, which that software does not cover.
How much does it cost for a club?
Nothing. It is free on iOS and on Android, with no subscription and no tier based on the number of members.
Can teams and committees be kept separate?
Yes. Conversations and events are organised per group, so call-ups stop going to everybody.
How is borrowed equipment tracked?
Each item is logged with the person who has it and an expected return date, and reminders go out automatically.
Do all the volunteers have to install the app?
To reply to call-ups and sign up for slots, yes. Installing is free and takes two minutes.
How small a club is it worth it for?
From around fifteen members, for the attendance count and the kit tracking. Above fifty, separating teams is what changes the committee's life the most.
How do we start without upsetting the whole club?
By moving one team and one use across: the weekend call-up. The others stay where they are and decide later.
What happens when the person who does everything steps down?
Whatever lived in a private chat leaves with them. Whatever lives in a club group stays: fixtures, replies, kit list. It is the most common way small clubs lose knowledge.
Do parents get all the committee's messages?
No, when groups are separate. Parents need time, place, finish time and lifts, not the committee's discussions.
Page updated on 17 September 2026.
