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How to reschedule a rained-out league game, with a worked example

A field is under water on a Tuesday and one match has to move. The wrong fix is to rebuild the season, because every team then has new dates to check. The right fix moves only the cancelled match and leaves the rest. This page shows the rule and a four-team season where the obvious next night is not free.

Open the free league tool (build the schedule, then type the rainout into the rainouts box)

The rule

1. Take out only the cancelled match, or every match that night if the whole night is off.
2. Look at each later playing night in order. Skip it if either team already plays, or has a blackout date, that night, or if a skip date such as a holiday falls on it.
3. On the first night that works, put the match on a free court and time slot, honouring any time limit a team has.
4. Keep the original home and away, and leave every other fixture exactly where it was.

A worked example

Four invented teams, two courts, Tuesdays at 19:00, starting 6 October 2026. The original schedule:

Hawks v Owls on 13 October is rained out. Owls already play Lynx on 20 October, so that night is not free for them. The match goes to the next Tuesday, 27 October, still on Court 2 at 19:00 with Hawks at home:

Nobody else's fixtures changed, so only Hawks and Owls have a new date to tell their players.

Reschedule your own league

Questions

What do you do when a league game is rained out?

Move only the cancelled match to the earliest later night when both teams are free and a court is open, and leave every other fixture alone. Moving the whole schedule makes every team re-plan its season for one lost night.

What if a team already plays on the next night?

A team cannot play twice on one night, so the match skips that date and goes to the first later night where both teams are free of games and blackout dates. In the example below, Owls play on 20 October already, so the makeup lands on 27 October.

Should a postponed match change who is home?

No. Keep the original home and away so the season's balance of home and away games does not shift because of the weather.

How do I reschedule a rainout in the tool?

Type the date, then the team names, in the rainouts box, for example 2026-10-13 Owls. Leave the team names off to cancel every match that night. The tool lists each move and keeps the rest of the schedule exactly as it was.

Related: how to make a round-robin schedule, and fitting a league onto limited courts and time slots.