Anyone who’s done referee match day coaching will know the routine.
You turn up with a notebook and a pencil, find a quiet spot on the touchline, and start observing the game. The aim is simple: watch the referee, capture key moments, and use those notes to have a constructive conversation with them afterwards.
In theory, it’s straightforward.
In practice, at least for me... it isn’t.
The Notebook Problem
The first issue is attention.
Every time you write something down, someone notices.
A decision goes against one of the benches and suddenly you hear:
“Write that one down then!”
“Hope you got that one!”
Now instead of quietly observing the referee, you’ve accidentally become part of the sideline commentary.
The second problem is handwriting.
Mine looks like a bag of smashed spiders. By the end of the match I often find myself staring at my own notes trying to remember what on earth I meant.
And then there’s the weather.
Not long ago I was observing a game in the rain. By halfway through the first half the notebook was soaked and the pencil was tearing holes in the page. By full time I had a damp pile of scribbles that barely resembled notes.
Trying to turn that into a structured referee report later on was… optimistic.
That was the moment I thought: there has to be a better way.
Building Something Simple
Rather than fighting with notebooks every week, I started building a small mobile app designed specifically for referee match day coaching.
The aim wasn’t to build anything flashy. It just needed to solve the basic problems:
- capture notes quickly
- avoid drawing attention on the touchline
- keep observations organised so they’re useful afterwards
Instead of writing paragraphs during the game, the notes are structured around the main areas you’d typically discuss with a referee after the match.
Things like:
- application of law
- communication
- advantage
- positioning and movement
- player management
These act as quick prompts so when something happens you can categorise it straight away. It means the notes you collect during the match are already organised for the post-match discussion.
Keeping Your Eyes on the Game
One of the big challenges with observing referees is that you don’t want to miss what happens next while you’re busy writing about the last incident.
So the app also allows quick dictation. You can speak a short note and it converts it to text automatically.
That means you can keep your eyes on the referee and the game while still capturing the moment you want to come back to later.
It sounds like a small thing, but during a fast-moving match it makes a big difference.
From Notes to Reports
Capturing the information is only half the job.
After the match you still need to turn those notes into a referee report covering strengths, development opportunities and overall performance.
To help with that, I built a Referee Reports project in ChatGPT.
The project has access to the IFAB Laws of the Game, which means it can analyse the notes against the laws and the typical areas used in referee development.
When I feed the match notes into the system, it analyses them and suggests:
- potential strengths
- possible development points
- structured feedback themes
The output isn’t the final report. It’s a structured starting point.
From there I can review it, adjust the wording and make sure it reflects the actual coaching conversation with the referee.
The Workflow Now
The process now looks something like this:
During the match
Capture quick notes using structured prompts in the Ref Coach app.
After the match
Feed those notes into the Referee Reports project.
Final step
Review and refine the draft report before submitting it.
The result is much less time wrestling with messy notes and much more time focusing on the actual coaching conversation.
Why It Matters
Between refereeing myself, coaching, playing and running a business, spare time isn’t exactly something I have a lot of.
Writing detailed referee feedback is important, but spending hours turning messy notes into a report just isn’t realistic every week.
This approach means I can capture good quality notes during the game and turn them into a structured report in under ten minutes.
That makes match day coaching far more practical to do regularly, without it turning into a massive admin job afterwards.
It also means the feedback is still fresh from the game, which usually leads to a much better conversation with the referee.
Ultimately the goal isn’t technology for the sake of it. It’s just about making the process easier so the focus stays where it should be — helping referees improve.
And ideally doing it without two benches shouting commentary every time you pick up a pencil.
Projects like this are a good reminder that automation doesn’t have to be huge or complicated to make a real difference. Sometimes it’s just about spotting a repetitive task, structuring the information properly and letting software handle the heavy lifting. Whether that’s analysing referee observations, organising reports, or streamlining processes inside a business, the same principles apply. If you’ve got something in your workflow that feels manual, slow or unnecessarily repetitive, it’s often possible to automate or at least simplify it. That’s the sort of work we do at Bollabo — helping organisations build practical tools that remove friction from the way they operate. If you think something in your business could work smarter, it’s always worth a conversation.