RefFinder
A referee-scheduling platform that turned last-minute match-official chaos into one organized system.
Project Snapshot
- Client
- RefFinder
- Industry
- Sports Officiating & Grassroots League Management
- Platform
- iOS & Android
- Timeline
- 4 months
- Our Role
- Full-stack mobile development and scheduling-workflow UI/UX design
The Challenge
Grassroots football leagues have a scheduling problem that never really goes away: matches get fixtures, but qualified referees have to be found, confirmed, and paid for every single one of them, week after week, across dozens of age groups and pitches. Before iMobdev, RefFinder's operators were running this entire process by phone calls, spreadsheets, and group texts — a system that worked until it didn't, usually on a Saturday morning with a pitch full of players and no official in sight.
The pain points were operational and trust-related in equal measure. League administrators needed a way to push open matches to available referees and get a fast accept/decline, instead of chasing confirmations one text at a time. They needed a reliable "did the match actually happen" record tied to payment approval, since referees are only paid for games that were confirmed as played. And referees themselves needed one place to see upcoming assignments, past history, and payment status, rather than juggling texts from multiple team managers.
Every weekend the old process ran was a weekend of double-booked referees, no-shows, and manual reconciliation after the fact — a real cost to league operators in both money and reputation with the clubs they served. Team managers needed confidence that a fixture would have an official, not a promise.
Technically, RefFinder also needed the app to support a two-sided marketplace-style flow — referees accepting assignments, managers approving payment — inside a single lightweight mobile app, without turning into a heavyweight enterprise scheduling tool.
Our Solution
iMobdev treated RefFinder as a focused, single-purpose tool: get the right referee to the right match, and prove the match happened. Every design decision traced back to reducing the number of taps between "match needs a referee" and "referee is confirmed and paid."
On the architecture side, we built native iOS and Android apps backed by a Node.js and Express API with a PostgreSQL database modeling matches, assignments, and referee profiles as first-class, queryable records rather than free-text messages. Push notifications alert referees the moment a new match matching their age-group qualification is posted, and a lightweight approval workflow lets team managers confirm attendance with a single "Did the game take place?" prompt tied directly to the payment record.
On the UX side, the Upcoming Matches feed leads with the fixture itself — team names, kickoff time, venue, and age group — with a single Accept action so referees can commit from the notification straight through to confirmation in seconds. The brand's green identity carries through every match card and confirmation button, reinforcing a sense of official, trusted infrastructure rather than a generic scheduling tool.
For the data layer, every confirmed match generates an attendance record with a per-referee checklist, so team managers can mark exactly who showed up before payment is approved, and referees get a searchable order/assignment history with match details, tint, and status at a glance. Settings gives referees direct control over notification preferences for team-manager approvals and payment alerts. Delivery was phased: the core match feed and accept/decline flow shipped first, with the attendance-confirmation and payment-approval workflow following once the referee base was live and assigning matches daily.
The Impact
RefFinder replaced a phone-and-spreadsheet process with a live app where match officials are found, confirmed, and paid without a single manual phone call. League operators now have a real-time view of which fixtures have a confirmed referee and which still need one, closing the gap that used to surface on match day itself.
The attendance-confirmation workflow gave league administrators a clean, auditable link between "the match happened" and "the referee gets paid," removing a recurring source of disputes. iMobdev continues to work with RefFinder as it expands into new leagues and age groups.
Key Features
What We Built
Upcoming Matches Feed
Fixture cards with team names, date, venue, and age group, with a one-tap Accept.
Match-Day Confirmation
A simple Yes/No prompt confirming a game took place before payment is approved.
Referee Attendance Checklist
Per-match checklist so team managers confirm exactly which officials showed up.
Order & Assignment History
Searchable history of past matches, dates, and confirmation status in one list.
Configurable Notifications
Separate alert toggles for team-manager approvals and payment notifications.
Quick-Access Navigation
A slide-out menu covering Home, Matches, Profile, Notifications, and Settings.
Tech Stack
- React Native
- Node.js
- Express
- PostgreSQL
- REREST APIs
- FIFirebase Cloud Messaging
Screenshots
App in Action
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“iMobdev gave our referees and league administrators a single app that actually gets officials to matches on time. What used to be a Friday-night scramble is now handled automatically.”
Founder
RefFinder
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