Words: Mike Dale
Marking squash matches has barely changed since the sport's heyday in the 70s: indecipherable players' names written at the top of a sheet of paper with numbers scribbled down 10 columns by a sweaty and/or reluctant team-mate on the balcony.
In more recent years, these scoresheets might be snapped with a phone camera and Whatsapped to the team captain or coach, who feeds the scores manually into a website, which may then be sent to SquashLevels to update each players' rating.
What's wrong with this system? How could it be improved? These are questions that Simon Child, a club player and team captain of 25 years' vintage at Chapel Allerton Squash Club in Leeds, asked himself after a Metro League away match at nearby Rothwell.
Clubscore
There, he saw a marker using an iPad which was connected via a wire to a big screen. Players could see the score and which side they should be serving from and spectators were fully informed about the state of the match.
"The wire was a bit loose and the system was quite clunky, but it offered clear information. That was my inspiration," says Child.
Months later, using AI to write over 50,000 lines of code, Child launched clubscore.uk in January 2026 and road-tested it on members at Chapel Allerton. Your author is one of them, and — despite being an incurable technophobe and cynic — I can report that it won me and the whole club over immediately.
ClubScore has gone way beyond its original remit, offering a whole gammut of user-friendly features that benefit players, teams, tournament organisers and clubs.
HOW IT WORKS
Clubscore is not an app. You don't have to download anything, register, or tick a terms and conditions box. There are no ads and no paywall. It is free for players to use. It can be used on any phone, tablet or laptop.
Chapel Allerton have printed QR codes on perspex plaques behind each of its six courts. The marker simply scans it with his or her phone, and is pitched straight into the digital scoring system.
All fixtures are inputted by the club coach beforehand, so you scan the QR code, then select your match. Even the most ardent luddite will find it absurdly easy to mark a match. You update the scores with a single screen touch as you go.
The system automatically tells you which side players should be serving from and gives hand-out notifications. It can easily be configured to 11, 15, 21 and 25 point games, best of one, three or five, handicaps, sudden death or two clear points etc.
Any mistakes are easily corrected with a big 'Undo' button. It can ‘speak’ the scores on the push of button. You can even assign shirt colours if you're unfamiliar with the players.
The system is upgraded on an almost daily basis with features and tweaks.
If any member remains stoutly old-school and wishes to record scores with a pen and paper, these can be added to the system manually later.
Live in-play updates
As scores are updated, anyone can view the match progress from anywhere in real time. No more erratic score updates in the team Whatsap group.
"I was walking the dog and following the final of the Club Championships. It was brilliant!" says Child.
Venues can easily connect big screens to the system to show live scores up in the bar or courtside. Club badges and sponsors' logos can be added easily.
Single-club system
Each club can administer its own account. A tournament management feature allows coaches/organisers to set up leagues, team matches, round-robin or MONRAD tournaments.
It manages each day's order of play interactively and sends out automated emails to all participants with each day's fixtures as well as daily results and round-up reports written by AI (the only feature this writer disapproves of!).
Users can have their own fixtures automatically added to their digital calendar as and when they're added to the system by the club or tournament administrator.
The QR codes on each court pitch the marker straight through to the correct match (and if it's wrong due to a change of schedule or player not showing up etc, it's easy to select a different match or alter the information).
Tournament information and live scores can all be displayed on screens at the venue, complete with sponsorship and branding. For a bit of fun, its creator has added options to display information in the style of Ceefax or old railway station 'flip boards'.
The system even auto-generates promotional materials that clubs can print off to display on noticeboards.
Stress-tested
The system has quickly become widely used at Chapel Allerton with over 400 matches on its database in the first six months.
Members have fired questions and teething issues at its creator (What if my opponent doesn't turn up and I play someone else? What if it's a walkover or my opponent is injured? What if my phone runs out of battery mid-match? and, using his expertise with Claude AI, he has fixed them one-by-one.
There is one potential hiccup that even Child cannot solve: dodgy internet connection at clubs (not helped by thick concrete walls!). But even with this issue, he has offered a helpful intervention: when a marker starts a match, the system does a speed test and will show if connectivity might be an issue.
ClubScore is connected with SquashLevels and Squash57Levels and will be switched on imminently.
Child says ClubScore is now ready for other clubs to adopt it. He will charge a very small monthly fee for clubs or tournament organisers, but it will always remain free for players.
Anyone interested is invited to look at the demo site: https://demo.clubscore.uk. Enquiries welcome at info@clubscore.uk
