YesRef & 2020

YesRef is now a little over 12 months old and what a year it’s been! While it’s been an exciting year launching innovative new products; we have certainly faced some challenges along the way, just like many other businesses, in every sector, in every corner of the world, that have been impacted by the global pandemic.

The launch of YesRef was scheduled for March 2020 when the UK (and the rest of the world) plunged into chaos and uncertainty with the beginning of lockdown due to COVID-19. After months of hard work, Olly and I were finally ready to launch our exciting #LiveGamesList; which has gone on to give Sports Providers a single location to find referees, removing the age-old hassle of multiple emails, Facebook posts, tweets, phone calls and text messages to every local referee you can find.

While this may sound simple, in reality, the development was extremely complex. To make sure our #LiveGamesList would be relevant and useful, we quickly realised we would need to consider much more than just adding a game… We would need to understand things like referee level, travel distance, safeguarding considerations and if referees are interested in adult or youth football. Working with our fantastic development team, we were able to build this complexity into our system to make it the best product it could be for our customers.

This paid off during pre-season, when we were finally allowed to play again. During these first few weeks, we received a staggering 96 requests for referees in Wiltshire and the surrounding area. We were delighted to be able to support these requests, giving back valuable time to the amazing volunteers that drive the grassroots game.

But it wouldn’t have been successful without you, our fantastic network, coming together and giving us a chance. So whether you’re a Sport Provider wanting to take away the burden of finding a referee, or a referee wanting to find more games in your local area, thank you for registering with us and joining our growing community.

Throughout the year, we have also been listening to your feedback to develop new features to make our platform even better. For example, during conversations with our network, it was suggested that being able to pay referees via the system, without the need for manually sharing bank details, would be a huge benefit to both Sports Providers and referees. A few months later, we were delighted to launch the #CashlessRefereePayments solution. This meant that no longer did referees have to give their personal information to every single club that they visited in order to be paid. A Sport Provider simply had to know the name of the referee in order to pay them via our secure platform, directly into the referee’s preferred PayPal or bank account. Pretty cool right?

In a similar way, Sports Providers gave us feedback that they would like to be able to pay referees via bank transfer, instead of via a credit/debit card. We were quickly able to roll out this new feature late this year and Sports Providers were soon able to pay their referees via a direct bank transfer, using the latest secure banking technology integrated into the YesRef website. So even in the midst of a global pandemic, 2020 has been a big year for us at YesRef. This year we have completed nearly 1000 pay-outs to referees and our platform has been used in the Hellenic League, Western League, FA Cup, FA Vase and FA Trophy. We are immensely proud of what we have achieved and it’s all thanks to you. Your continued feedback helps us develop and we offer our heartfelt thanks for helping us get to where we are today.

Looking ahead, 2021 is another big year for YesRef…. We have exciting plans to increase the number of referees on the platform and the number of games available to choose from on the #LiveGamesList. We’ll also be branching out to different corners of the UK and later in the year, into different sports as well, with exciting conversations happening already with cricket and tennis. (There was also a random conversation recently about using YesRef to find judges to judge at goat shows, but hey, why not)!?

So thank you again for your continued support. We look forward to seeing you in what promises to be another rollercoaster year in 2021. Stay safe and may the ball run kindly for you all!