Coming to watch: being there on Saturday without playing
A sprained ankle, someone who just misses out on the lineup this week, a second-year who wants to cheer their team on: they are there, but they are not playing. With only “I'm coming” and “Can't make it” those people fell between two stools — and a coach looking at eight replies assumed they had eight players.
The third answer: I'm coming to watch
Open a scheduled match and under the familiar pair — a green ✓ I'm coming and a red ✗ Can't make it — you'll now find a third button across the full width, with an eye on it: I'm coming to watch. It means exactly what it says: I'll be there, but I'm not playing. One tap and it's passed on, just like the ordinary sign-up.
Changed your mind? Tap the same button again and your answer is withdrawn; you're back under “No reply yet”. You can do that as often as you need, for as long as the match is still scheduled.
On your dashboard the eye takes the tick's place
Under Next match on your dashboard there are two buttons — there simply isn't room for three. If you chose I'm coming to watch on the match itself, the eye takes the tick's place there. So you can see at a glance that your answer landed, without being shown on your own dashboard as a player who is playing. Tapping that eye withdraws your answer and the tick comes back; the choosing happens on the match itself.
As a coach: four groups instead of three
In the Availability block the names now sit in four groups with their numbers: Coming, Coming to watch, Can't make it and No reply yet. The watchers deliberately sit straight under Coming rather than at the bottom with the drop-outs: these people are there, and for transport and for the noise along the sideline that is something else entirely than a no.
Behind every name sit three little buttons — ✓ · 👁 · ✗ — so you can enter an answer you were given in the corridor yourself. Without that middle eye a supporter would have no button lit up at all, and that reads as “hasn't replied”.
The counter counts players only — and that's the whole point
Top right you get the standing as coming/total, 8/12 for example. Only the players who will actually play are in that number. If anyone is coming to watch, a grey +3 appears behind it. So: eight players you can field, plus three people coming to watch, out of a squad of twelve.
That distinction is exactly why the feature exists. If a supporter simply counted as “coming”, you'd read 11/12 on Thursday evening and stand in the hall on Saturday with eight players — too few for a substitution and just enough for panic. The counter now tells you in one glance how many people you can put on court, and how many are standing along the line.
For the driving rota you do count
Whoever comes to watch travels along and takes up a seat in the car. So the driving rota counts supporters in full towards the number of seats needed. An away match then reads, for instance: “11 seats needed · 8 in, 3 watching, 1 out”. Transport is a question of capacity, not of selection — which is why the same three people add up there and not in the counter.
Ask for it in the app, not in the group chat. A player who drops out when they're really coming to watch costs you a seat in the car and a supporter along the line. Explaining once that there's a middle button saves you a season of misunderstandings.
Tournaments work the same way
On a tournament day you answer as a player in a block of its own at the top of the tournament screen, before the results: Sign up for this tournament, with ✓ I'm coming and ✗ Can't make it side by side and, across the full width underneath, the eye button I'm coming to watch. Exactly the same build-up as on the match screen, status line included (“You are coming to watch”). So somebody replying to a match on Monday and to a tournament on Tuesday doesn't run into two different ways of doing it.
From the calendar you can only tap I'm coming or Can't make it on a tournament; there simply isn't room for three buttons. If you chose I'm coming to watch, the eye takes the tick's place there — just as it does under Next match on your dashboard above — and tapping that eye withdraws your answer. The choosing happens on the tournament itself.
The three little buttons ✓ · 👁 · ✗ behind every name in the roster at the bottom of the tournament screen are the coach's buttons, for entering an answer they were given in person. A player and a parent see the read-only overview there, with its own icon per status — including the eye for a supporter, who doesn't look like somebody who still has to reply.
One difference with a practice or a match: a tournament doesn't ask for a reason when you drop out. And a parent has no sign-up block of their own on the tournament screen; they answer for their child through the buttons on the tournament in the calendar, and so can only choose I'm coming or Can't make it there.
“All present” leaves your watchers alone
The All present button top right marks only players without a status as present. Anyone who filled something in themselves — a drop-out, but equally an I'm coming to watch — stays exactly as they were. So you can use it freely on match day: the supporter who replied properly doesn't quietly become a player.
Frequently asked questions
What does 'I'm coming to watch' actually mean?
That you'll be there but won't be playing: you're coming as a supporter. Your coach sees you in a separate 'Coming to watch' group, apart from the players they can field that day.
Does a supporter count in the counter above the availability list?
Not in the number itself. If it says 8/12 with +3 behind it, you have eight players you can field and three people coming to watch. That way you always know how many players you'll have.
Does 'I'm coming to watch' count for the driving rota?
Yes. Whoever comes to watch travels along and needs a seat, so supporters count in full towards the seats needed — for example '11 seats needed · 8 in, 3 watching, 1 out'.
Can the coach set 'Coming to watch' themselves?
Yes. In the list an eye sits behind every name, between the tick and the cross, so you can enter an answer you were given in person yourself.
Does 'All present' overwrite my supporters?
No. That button only fills in players who had no status at all. Anyone who chose 'I'm coming to watch' stays in their own group.
Does this work for tournaments too?
Yes, with the same three answers and the same eye. As a player you pick them at the top of the tournament itself, in the 'Sign up for this tournament' block — not in the roster at the bottom: that row of buttons is the coach's. Unlike a practice or a match, a tournament doesn't ask for a reason when you drop out.
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