No shows, late drop outs and the money
The two problems that end friendly games are somebody cancelling at seven and somebody owing forty euros. Both are solvable, and neither is solved by a rule about punishment.
Nobody starts a weekly game expecting to spend their Tuesdays chasing eight adults for twelve euros. It happens to almost every group, and it is the reason a surprising number of them stop.
The instinct is to write a rule with a penalty in it. That rarely works, because the person you are trying to influence is a friend, and enforcement against a friend costs more than the twelve euros.
What works is changing the situation so the problem does not arise. Four things, in order of how much they help.
Charge everybody, every week, whether they play or not
This is the one that fixes the money, and most groups arrive at it eventually after trying everything else.
The pitch costs the same whether nine people come or twelve. If the cost is split between whoever turned up, the regulars subsidise the occasional players, and the person who comes every week is paying more per season than the person who comes twice a month. That is backwards.
A fixed monthly amount from everybody on the list converts a weekly negotiation into a standing order. It also converts the roster into a real commitment: people who are not going to play do not pay, and the list becomes accurate.
It feels harsh for about three weeks and then feels obviously correct.
If you must charge per session, collect on the pitch
Money collected later is money collected never. The moment everybody is standing in one place with their phones out, at the end of the game, is the only reliable collection point.
One person pays the venue and everybody sends them their share before they leave. Not that evening, not tomorrow. Before they leave.
A running total that anybody can see removes the awkwardness entirely, because nobody has to be told they owe money. They can see it.
Set a cancellation deadline, tied to the booking
The problem with a late drop out is not the person, it is that at seven o'clock there is no time to find a replacement, so ten becomes nine and the game gets worse.
Pick a deadline that gives you time to fill the place. Midday on match day is usually enough for a group with a reserve list. Before the deadline, cancelling is free and requires no explanation. After it, the person is expected to find their own replacement.
Notice what that rule does. It does not punish anybody, it transfers a task. The person who cannot come is the person best placed to ask a friend, and it takes them one message.
Keep a reserve list and use it without ceremony
Three or four people who want an occasional game and are not expecting one every week are the most valuable thing a group can have.
They fill the gap at short notice, they are pleased to be asked, and they gradually become regulars when somebody moves away. Ask them in a fixed order so nobody thinks they are the last resort.
A reserve who plays does pay for that session, under any of the money arrangements above.
The rules that do not work
What the record does about it
A per player table handles absence honestly without anybody having to police it. If you did not play, you did not play, and your row does not move.
That is worth more than a punishment, because it is automatic and impersonal. Nobody has to say anything to anybody. At the end of a season the table shows who was there, and it does it as a side effect of recording football rather than as an accusation.
This is also the argument for one point per loss, if attendance is what your group struggles with. It makes turning up score something, and it does it without a rule.
Charge everybody monthly, set a cancellation deadline that hands the person a task instead of a fine, and let the table record attendance without comment.
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