101 team fines ideas, and what to charge for them
· 9 min read
The hardest part of starting a fines system is the blank page. Here is a list to steal from, grouped by where the crime happens, with a price next to each one so you are not inventing numbers on the spot.
The short answer
A team fines list works best with twenty to thirty offences priced between 50p and five pounds, covering match day lateness, kit failures, training no shows and group chat offences. Clubs that start with a short list and add to it as crimes actually happen stick with the system far longer than clubs that write a hundred rules on day one.
Three rules that decide whether any of this works
- Price the common crimes low. If being two minutes late costs a fiver, people stop admitting to it and the system dies in a fortnight.
- Write down who can issue a fine. One or two admins beats a free for all, because a fines system with no referee turns into a grudge log.
- Agree what the money is for before you collect a penny. A kitty with a purpose gets paid into, and a kitty without one gets argued about.
Match day fines
This is where most of the money comes from, because match day is the one time everyone is in the same place and the evidence is in front of twenty witnesses.
| Offence | Suggested fine |
|---|---|
| Late for the meet time | £1 |
| Late for kick off | £3 |
| No show with no message | £5 |
| Wrong colour socks | £1 |
| Forgot your shin pads | £2 |
| Borrowing someone else's boots | £1 |
| Boots not cleaned from last week | £1 |
| Forgot your water bottle | 50p |
| Own goal | £2 |
| Missed penalty | £2 |
| Penalty missed off the frame entirely | £3 |
| Yellow card for dissent | £2 |
| Red card | £5 |
| Arguing with the referee after the whistle | £2 |
| Shooting from inside your own half | £1 |
| Getting nutmegged | £1 |
| Getting nutmegged by someone over forty | £3 |
| Giving the ball away with your first touch of the game | £1 |
| Celebrating a goal you did not score | £1 |
| Claiming an assist you did not make | £1 |
| A free kick that does not clear the wall | £1 |
| Going down injured then playing on immediately | £1 |
| Shouting for a pass while offside | 50p |
| Telling the keeper where to stand | £1 |
| Keeper coming for a cross and missing it | £2 |
Training fines
Training fines are the ones that change behaviour, because training is the thing people skip quietly. Keep them small and relentless rather than large and occasional.
| Offence | Suggested fine |
|---|---|
| Missing training without telling anyone | £3 |
| Late to training | £1 |
| Last to arrive two weeks running | £2 |
| Leaving your cones out | £1 |
| Not helping with the goals | £1 |
| Turning up in last season's kit | £1 |
| Forgetting the match balls | £2 |
| Losing a ball over the fence | £2 |
| Phone out during a team talk | £2 |
| Walking in the warm up | £1 |
| Complaining about the warm up | £1 |
| Pulling out of a tackle in five a side | £1 |
| Playing in a snood | £1 |
| Gloves in September | £1 |
| Base layer in July | £1 |
| Taking a shot in a passing drill | 50p |
| Blaming the pitch | 50p |
| Blaming your boots | £1 |
| Asking to go in goal | 50p |
| Refusing to go in goal | £2 |
Kit and equipment fines
Kit offences are the easiest to prove and the hardest to argue with, which makes them the backbone of most rulebooks.
| Offence | Suggested fine |
|---|---|
| Wearing someone else's shirt number | £1 |
| Turning up in a rival club's training top | £3 |
| Taking the match ball home and forgetting it | £3 |
| Losing a bib | £1 |
| Returning a bib unwashed | £2 |
| Taking the captain's armband home | £1 |
| Leaving the kit bag at the ground | £5 |
| Washing the whites with the kit | £5 |
| Cutting the sleeves off a club shirt | £3 |
| Selling club kit on a marketplace app | £10 |
Group chat fines
Every squad has a group chat and every group chat has a menace. These are the easiest fines to enforce, because the evidence never goes away.
| Offence | Suggested fine |
|---|---|
| Leaving the group chat | £5 |
| Not replying to the availability message | £1 |
| Replying to the availability message four days late | £1 |
| A thumbs up as a complete reply | 50p |
| Voice note over a minute | £1 |
| Voice note over three minutes | £3 |
| A screenshot nobody can read | 50p |
| Posting at 3am | £2 |
| Tactical analysis of a game you did not play in | £1 |
| Sending the wrong league table | £1 |
| Reacting to your own message | 50p |
| Changing the group chat name without asking | £1 |
| Changing the group photo to a picture of yourself | £2 |
| Posting a gym selfie | £2 |
| Posting a Strava run | £1 |
| Asking what time kick off is when it is in the pinned message | £1 |
| Pulling out on match day morning | £5 |
| Pulling out with a vague injury nobody saw happen | £3 |
Social and end of season fines
The social fines pay for the night out, which is a pleasing circularity if you price them properly.
| Offence | Suggested fine |
|---|---|
| Missing the Christmas do | £5 |
| Leaving the social before 10pm | £3 |
| Not buying a round all night | £5 |
| Falling asleep on the coach | £2 |
| Being sick on the coach | £10 |
| Losing your room key on tour | £2 |
| A genuinely terrible haircut | £2 |
| New boots nobody asked about | £1 |
| Wearing the kit to a non football event | £2 |
| Getting a tattoo of the club badge | £5 |
| Bringing a new partner to the social with no warning | £2 |
| Talking about your fantasy team | £1 |
| Mentioning your five a side hat trick | £1 |
| Still mentioning it the following week | £2 |
| Signing for a rival club | £10 |
| Coming back after signing for a rival club | £5 |
| Captain forgetting the trophy | £5 |
| Turning up to the awards night in a tracksuit | £2 |
Fines for the people running the club
The committee should be on the list too. A fines system that cannot touch the people in charge is not a fines system, it is a tax, and squads work that out immediately.
| Offence | Suggested fine |
|---|---|
| Manager picking himself | £2 |
| Manager picking himself ahead of a fit striker | £5 |
| Captain losing the toss three weeks running | £1 |
| Treasurer forgetting the float | £2 |
| Secretary missing the registration deadline | £5 |
| Forgetting the first aid kit | £3 |
| Forgetting the team sheet | £2 |
| Spelling a player's name wrong on the team sheet | £1 |
| Booking a pitch for the wrong day | £5 |
| Issuing a fine that gets overturned on appeal | £2 |
Turning a list into a system
A list in a notes app is where most fines systems go to die. Somebody has to remember who owes what, chase it, and keep a running total the squad trusts, and that job falls on one person until they have had enough of it.
That is the whole reason we built the Fine Club app. Load your rulebook once, fine anyone in two taps, and the pot and the leaderboard add themselves up in front of the whole squad. Free on iOS and Android.
Common questions
How many fines should be on a team fines list?
Twenty to thirty is the sweet spot. Enough that most incidents are already covered, few enough that the squad can remember roughly what things cost. Add new ones as the crimes actually happen rather than trying to predict them all up front.
How much should team fines be?
Between 50p and five pounds for almost everything, with the common offences at the bottom of that range. A season of small fines raises more than a short list of large ones, because large fines stop getting paid.
Who should be allowed to issue a fine?
One or two named admins, usually the captain and whoever keeps the books. Anybody can nominate a fine, but having a small group confirm them stops the system becoming a way of settling grudges.
What do you do with the money from team fines?
Most clubs put it in a single kitty for the end of season night out, which is the easiest purpose to get agreement on. Others split it toward kit, a tour or a charity. Decide before you start collecting, because a pot with no stated purpose is the thing squads fall out over.
Are team fines legally enforceable?
No, and they are not meant to be. A fines system is voluntary squad culture rather than a contract, and the only thing making it work is that everyone agreed to it and nobody wants to be the one who would not pay a pound.
Run your fines in the app, not a notes app
Fine Club keeps your rulebook, the pot and the leaderboard in one place, so nobody has to chase a pound by hand. Free on iOS and Android.