The WhatsApp chase
Someone posts “Beat Dave 6-4 6-3” in the group. Then it scrolls past three conversations about court keys. You fish it out on Tuesday night and type it into the spreadsheet.
Box leagues
Box league software that does the chasing for you
Clayside is box league software for racket sports clubs. A player walks off court and puts the score in. Their opponent confirms it, or three days of silence does. The table moves on its own, and when the season ends the next one drafts itself, promotion and relegation included. Nobody chases anybody.
No card, no password · Five minutes to set your first season up
Runs a real club's eight-box league Free for up to 300 members
Box 15
A. Reid#1 · 12pts
R. Kaur#2 · 10pts
J. Okonkwo#3 · 8pts
D. Byrne▲ box 2
F. Mortimer▲ box 2
Box 25
S. Hollis▼ box 1
P. Nadeem▼ box 1
G. Poynter#3 · 8pts
E. Sandhu▲ box 3
L. Beckett▲ box 3
Box 35
M. Jackson▼ box 2
D. Martin▼ box 2
H. Rahman▲ box 4
K. Vasquez▲ box 4
N. Petridesnew
Box 45
W. Tandy▼ box 3
R. Millard▼ box 3
T. Sharma#3 · 8pts
O. Bassey#4 · 6pts
G. Ellison#5 · 4pts
CHECK
Box 2: G. Poynter and M. Jackson finished level on 8. G. Poynter won the match between them, so G. Poynter stays up and M. Jackson goes down.
CHECK
R. Millard is down to box 4 having played no matches at all.
The problem
Why box leagues stop: one volunteer and an hour a week
Box leagues don't die of no interest. They die because one volunteer is doing an hour of admin a week, and one week they stop.
The spreadsheet
One person has it. On one laptop. Formulas break. Nobody else can update it. If they're on holiday, the league stops.
“What's the table?”
Every week, someone asks. You screenshot a spreadsheet, crop it, paste it into WhatsApp. It's already out of date by the time you send it.
How it works
A box league season, in four steps
You do five minutes of work at the start. Your players do the rest without being asked. The club just watches the table move.
You, once a season
Five minutes, and you're done
Name the season, say how many boxes and whether each is singles or doubles, pick the sport and format, or write your own if your club plays something not on the list. Type the names in, or let a box admin do it. One club link on the noticeboard gets anybody else in: a member signs in, and somebody new waits for your yes. Members who want a place put their own name down for singles, doubles or a group you have named, such as Mixed doubles, and with a partner if they have one, so the list is waiting for you rather than gathered out of a fortnight of texts. Every fixture generates itself: no draw to write out, no formulas to copy down.
Then you hit Go live and paste one link into each box's group chat. That's the job done.
This seasonSummer 2026 · 4 May to 26 Jul · members cannot see it yet
Players16 players in 4 boxes
Player linksMade once the season is live
Who enters scoresPlayers enter their own, and the opponent confirms
ConfirmingA score nobody answers counts after 3 days
Promotion and relegation2 up, 2 down · everyone moves on where they finished
Draft4 of 4 boxes have their players. Members cannot see it yet.
Go liveYour players, every week, without you
Players enter scores, their opponent confirms
They tap the link in the group, tap their name, and they're in: no account, no password, nothing to install. Walk off court, put the score in. Their opponent is asked to confirm, and until they do it counts for nothing, so nobody takes anyone's word for it and you are not the referee.
Forgot to confirm? After three days it confirms itself. That's the nagging job gone too.
Box 2 · Two sets · Championship tiebreak
Jackson v Byrne
67
Tiebreak: loser's points5optional
64
108
16 Jul 2026
i
D. Byrne has to confirm this.It won't count towards the table until they do, or until it confirms itself in three days.
M. Jackson beats D. Byrne
6-7(5) 6-4 [10-8]
32
Cancel
Save score
Your club, all season, on its own
The table moves on its own
The moment a score is confirmed, the standings recalculate: points, bonus sets, head to head, set difference, the lot. Anyone with the link reads every box and every season, with no login just to look. So “what's the table?” stops being a question. It's a link, and it's always right.
For the group chat, Round-up sends every box in one go: a picture of each table and one message saying who leads. Every other Sunday evening, it reminds you.
| No. | Player | P | W | L | BS | Pts | Games | Sets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D. Byrne | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 48–33 | 7–2 |
| 2 | F. Mortimer | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 33–25 | 4–2 |
| 3 | G. Poynter | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 28–31 | 4–3 |
| 4 | M. Jackson | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 26–36 | 2–5 |
| 5 | D. Martin | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 23–33 | 1–6 |
3 for a win · 2 for a loss having won a set · 1 for a loss with none won · 0 for a match nobody played.
5 players, 4 matches each, maximum 12 points.
Ranked on points, then the match between them, then set difference, then game difference, then matches won. Pending scores are not counted until confirmed.
You, at the end of the season
The next season drafts itself
Promotion and relegation are worked out from the final table: two up and two down from every box, or whatever you set. It is a draft, not a decision. Move anyone, add the newcomer, then press the button.
Level on points at the cut? It says which tie-break decided it, and flags anyone going down who never played.
From Summer 2026
Next season
Box 15
A. Reid#1 · 12pts
R. Kaur#2 · 10pts
J. Okonkwo#3 · 8pts
D. Byrne▲ box 2
F. Mortimer▲ box 2
Box 25
S. Hollis▼ box 1
P. Nadeem▼ box 1
G. Poynter#3 · 8pts
E. Sandhu▲ box 3
L. Beckett▲ box 3
21 players · 4 boxes
Create next season
Your box leagues become automatic
Five minutes to set the season up, five minutes at the end to sort out who goes up and down. In between, the only thing you have to do is play.Your first 14 days include the Club plan. After that every competition on it stays free.
Across the net
You stop being the referee
Every score is agreed by the two people who played it. Not approved by you, not taken on trust, and never lost because somebody typed a 6 where they meant a 7.
The opponent confirms, or the clock does
A score counts for nothing until the other side agrees it. On the sheet it shows as a purple stripe: entered, not counted. After three days of silence it confirms itself, so the one player who never answers their phone stops being able to stall a whole box.
Rejecting says why
If it is wrong, the opponent says why, and the reason goes straight back to whoever entered it. Most are a mistyped set and are sorted in one message: they put the right score in and it goes round again. You are told it happened, and if the same match is rejected a second time it comes to you marked as the one to settle, which is the only kind that ever needs you.
Corrections leave a trail
A score can be corrected weeks later, and the old one does not vanish: the new one supersedes it and both stay in the history with who entered each and when. So "that is not what I wrote down" has an answer, and it is a screen rather than an argument.
The whole of it is on the sheet a player already reads: entered, agreed, corrected. There is nothing for a committee to audit afterwards, because the audit is the record.
Getting on court
Sorting out when to play, inside the app
The match that never happens is the one nobody arranged. Offer a few evenings, your opponent taps one, and it goes on the fixture.
- Nobody hands over a phone number. The offer and the answer go through the app, so neither of them ever learns how to contact the other.
- The box sees what is arranged. Every agreed evening sits on the fixture.
- Reminders go out without you. A score asked for the morning after an agreed match, a time offered, a deadline coming up.
Tue 4 Aug
18:0020:00
Thu 6 Aug
19:00
Sat 8 Aug
09:0011:00
Either evening suits me, or Saturday morning.
4 of 6 times
Send to D. Byrne
D. Byrne picked Thu 6 Aug, 19:00. It is on the fixture now, and the whole box can see that match has an evening.
One line, 120 characters. No phone numbers and no email addresses. No court either, on this plan: your club books its courts the way it already does. On the club plans, this screen offers you one that is free.
What changes
What you stop doing
| You stop doing this | Because this happens instead |
|---|---|
| Chasing scores on WhatsApp | The score is in before you'd have thought to ask |
| Nagging the one who never replies | Three days of silence counts as a yes |
| Updating a spreadsheet | Standings calculate themselves, live |
| Screenshotting and cropping tables | One round-up sends every box's table to the group at once |
| Worrying about whose laptop it's on | It's online: any device, any time, and you can download the lot as one file |
| Rebuilding the grid every season | Type the names; the fixtures and the maths come free |
| Digging out last season's results | Every season stays readable forever, right next to the new one |
| Being the only one who can fix anything | Each box gets its own admin, and nothing is ever really deleted |
This table is the spreadsheet argument in miniature.
Already running it on something?
Switching is allowed to be boring. Your data exports whole from day one, a player here is a name on a link rather than an account, and if you switch back you have lost nothing. The comparisons are written down, sources and all:
Your sport
Box league software, set up for your sport
Every sport comes set up the way it is normally played. Its own page has the scoring, the formats and what clubs in that sport ask first.
Questions
What clubs ask about running a box league
Does it handle promotion and relegation?
Yes. When the season is done, Clayside builds the next one from the final standings: the top two up and the bottom two down from every box, or whatever numbers you set. It arrives as a plan, not a decision. Move anyone you like, add the player who joined in May, sit out the one who is away.
Before you commit it tells you what it spotted: matches still unplayed, someone going down who never played, and if two players finished level on points at the promotion cut, which tie-break separated them and why. It also suggests moving somebody two boxes when they won everything and their level agrees, and leaves that call to you. Press the button and next season is drafted, ready for you to check.
How long should a box league season be?
Three months is what we recommend, and 190 days is the most a season can run. A box league works to a deadline: it is the deadline that makes people ring round and book a court. Past about three months the last few weeks are the same three people chasing each other and the table stops meaning much.
So run a year as three or four seasons rather than one long one. That is what the rollover is for, and every season you finish is a fresh table, a promotion to play for and a reason to turn out again.
Can we run doubles?
Yes, alongside singles in the same season: boxes 1 to 4 singles, boxes 5 and 6 doubles. A pair goes into the box as one entry, any of the four players can enter the score, and either opponent confirms it. Nobody has to be nominated to report for the pair.
How big can our box leagues get?
As big as you like, on every plan, the free one included: up to 20 boxes running at once, with up to 15 players in each. That is 300 people playing a season at the same time, which is more than most clubs put in a league in a year.
How you arrange them is your business, and it costs nothing. The free plan runs the lot for a club of up to 300 members, for ever if you join while the offer is open. A bigger club moves to the Club plan, which holds up to 800, when it has outgrown the free one rather than because a date came round.
Each box can also have its own admin, so the work spreads, and up to fifteen people can run the club between them on any plan. What each plan holds.
Do we have to use your scoring and your points?
No, and most clubs change something. Pick how a match is scored: two sets with a championship tiebreak, best of three full sets, a single set, a pro set, fast4, best of five games to 11, best of three to 21, first to 15. Each sport comes set up the way that sport is normally played, and you can change it.
Then pick how the table is worked out. Standard is a point for a win and one for losing having won a set. There is also more for a straight-sets win, a point for every set, a point for every game with one for turning up, and versions that count a match nobody finished. Your club already has a system on the noticeboard, and the odds are it is one of these.
The legend under every table says which one you are using and how many points are on offer, so a player never has to be told twice.
What if somebody drops out halfway through a season?
Their remaining matches are the ones you have to decide about, and nothing forces your hand. Give the walkovers, leave the matches unplayed, or take the player out. The standings say what has actually been played either way, and the promotion draft at the end lists the fixtures nobody played so you are not deciding blind.
Somebody joining halfway is the easier half: add them to a box and their fixtures appear. Nothing is regenerated and nobody else's results move.
Have a look
Set your first box league season up in five minutes
No card, no password, nothing to install. Name the season, say how many boxes, type the names in, and paste one link into each box's group chat. From there it is your players' job, which is where it always should have been.