Case Study
How Romanian Volleyball Federation Modernized 17 Years of Referee Management
Replacing a failing legacy system with a modern, mobile-friendly platform that manages 200 referees and 2,200+ matches per season
Industry
Sports Federation
Location
Romania
Size
200+ referees, 500+ teams
1 Week
Full Adoption
All 200 referees enrolled themselves after launch
17 Years
Legacy System Replaced
Modernizing nearly two decades of referee management
200+
Active Referees
Coordinated across nationwide volleyball competitions
2,200+
Matches Per Season
Successfully managed with centralized scheduling
The Challenge
For 17 years, the Romanian Volleyball Federation relied on an aging system (arbitridevolei.ro) that was slowly becoming unreliable. Emails from the system frequently failed to arrive, forcing administrators to fall back on manual phone calls to confirm assignments. Critical data like payment status and referee scores were tracked in separate Excel spreadsheets, creating a fragmented workflow that was difficult to maintain and prone to errors. The system was built with outdated technologies and lacked mobile support, making it increasingly difficult for referees to access their schedules on the go. Security best practices had fallen behind, and the technical debt had accumulated to the point where even basic maintenance was challenging. With 200 referees and over 2,200 matches per season to coordinate, the federation needed a modern solution that could scale reliably.
Key Pain Points:
Email notifications from the old system frequently failed to deliver
Manual spreadsheets for tracking payments and referee scores
Constant phone calls required to verify availability and confirm assignments
Outdated technology with no mobile support and security vulnerabilities
Fragmented data across multiple systems making coordination difficult
The Solution
Development of OneReferee began in September 2024, working in close collaboration with members of the Central Refereeing Committee to ensure the system met their specific needs. Rather than building in isolation, we maintained constant feedback loops with the people who would actually use the system daily. The technical architecture prioritizes reliability and security: the frontend is deployed on Cloudflare with DDoS protection, while the backend runs on a VPS behind NGINX with fail2ban, rate limiting, and containerization. The database is not exposed directly to the internet and has automated periodic backups. The system was officially presented at the Referee Summit in Ploiești in September 2025. Within one week, all 200 referees had enrolled themselves—demonstrating both the system's ease of use and the referees' readiness to move to a modern platform. The initial rollout took approximately two weeks, including onboarding the Central Refereeing Committee members who would manage the system. Following launch, we've continued working with referees from both the Central Refereeing Committee and Match Organization Committee to add requested features based on real-world usage.
Implementation Timeline: ~2 weeks from initial rollout to full deployment, with all 200 referees enrolled within 1 week of the September 2025 summit
Draft System for Match Planning
Plan and review match assignments before publishing, with an extra "publish" step that gives administrators time to verify delegations before they go public to referees.
Self-Service Unavailability Management
Referees can mark their own unavailable periods through a calendar interface, eliminating the need for phone calls and giving schedulers real-time visibility into availability.
Team Kit Management
Track team kit colors to avoid conflicts, along with match details like TV coverage and challenge system availability—features added based on user feedback after launch.
Mobile-Friendly Interface
Fully responsive design that works seamlessly on phones and tablets, allowing referees to check schedules and update availability from anywhere.
The Results
The transition from the old system to OneReferee has eliminated the operational friction that plagued referee management. Email delivery is now reliable, referees can manage their own availability without phone calls, and all critical information—from schedules to payment status—lives in one centralized system. The reception at the September 2025 Referee Summit was positive, with the main concerns being typical of any system migration: worries about losing historical data and natural reluctance to change after 17 years with the old platform. However, the self-enrollment of all 200 referees within one week demonstrated that the benefits were immediately clear. Most importantly, the cost remained comparable to the old system while delivering significantly more reliability, modern security practices, and features that continue to evolve based on user feedback.
Key Outcomes:
All 200 referees enrolled within one week of launch, demonstrating ease of adoption
Eliminated email delivery failures that plagued the old system
Centralized payment tracking and referee scores, removing dependency on separate spreadsheets
Reduced administrative phone calls through self-service availability management
Maintained cost parity with the old system while delivering modern infrastructure
Before OneReferee
Email notifications frequently failed, requiring manual follow-ups via phone
Payment status and referee scores tracked in separate Excel spreadsheets
No mobile access—referees had to use desktop computers to check schedules
Limited visibility into who was available, necessitating individual phone calls
Outdated security practices and accumulating technical debt
After OneReferee
Reliable email delivery with modern infrastructure on Cloudflare
All data centralized in one system with role-based access control
Mobile-friendly interface accessible from any device
Self-service availability calendar eliminates phone tag
Modern security with DDoS protection, rate limiting, and secure database architecture
"TODO: Add actual testimonial quote from federation representative. Should be authentic and focus on specific benefits."
Alin Mateizer
International Referee, Romanian Volleyball Federation
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