Applicable to: Association Administrators

Application(s): Admin Portal 

Applicable Sports: All Sports

This article will cover the following:

1. How regrading affects your fixture
2. When your existing fixture is kept (replacing a team with a bye) - Beta users only 
3. Moving, swapping or unallocating teams
4. Reviewing seeding and fixture changes
5. Allocating new game slots after a regrade

Related articles:

• Allocating games using Game Slots
• Understanding the impact of regrading on a grade's ladder
• Regrading via fixture upload

Overview

Regrading is moving teams into, out of or between grades after a fixture has been drawn. You might regrade because a team is in the wrong grade, a team withdraws mid-season, or a new team joins.

Regrading always has some impact on a grade's fixture. How much depends on how many teams change, how the fixture was created, and the type of competition.

When a single team withdraws from a grade with a PlayHQ-generated fixture, PlayHQ now turns that team's remaining games into byes for their opponents and leaves every other game exactly as it was: same date, time, venue, playing surface (court/field), referee or umpire allocations and game number. Larger changes still redraw the fixture from the regrade round onward.

How regrading affects your fixture

Swapping teams between grades

A direct swap (the same number of teams in and out of a grade) has the least impact. The incoming team takes the outgoing team's position in the fixture, and the allocation of all future games stays the same, including games you've manually adjusted.

Adding teams to a grade

When you add a new team, or a team from another grade, PlayHQ redraws the grade's fixture to include it. This changes the fixture pattern from the redrawn round onward.

• Adding a team creates new game slot/s that you'll need to allocate. See Allocating new game slots after a regrade below.
• If the grade ends up with an odd number of teams, a bye is added to each round.

Removing teams from a grade

If a single team is removed and the grade qualifies, the withdrawn team's games become byes and the rest of the fixture is kept. See When your existing fixture is kept below.

Otherwise, removing teams redraws the fixture from the regrade round onward, which can:

• reduce the number of game slots required per round
• change whether a bye is needed each round
• change the number of games per round

Domestic and Home and Away competitions

When a fixture is redrawn, the impact also depends on the competition type:

• Domestic competitions: PlayHQ regenerates all future rounds and aims to keep each game's existing playing surface (court/field) and time. This isn't always possible, so check that every future game in the regraded grade is allocated to a playing surface and time.
• Home and Away competitions: If the number of game slots changes, the fixture and all allocations are reset. New allocations are based on each team's home venue playing surfaces and the day/time assigned to each slot.

💡 Tip: Always review the fixture after regrading. Check the regraded grade's fixture to make sure the changes suit your competition before the next round is played.

Replacing a team with a bye keeping the existing fixture

⚠️ Important: This feature is in beta

It's only available to selected organisations taking part in the beta, and will roll out to all organisations early 2027. If your organisation isn't in the beta, regrading works as described in How regrading affects your fixture.

For beta organisations, when exactly one team leaves or joins a grade, PlayHQ changes only the games involving that team. All other games keep their date, time, venue, playing surface, referee or umpire allocations and game number. Spreadsheets, referee allocation files and exports you keep alongside PlayHQ stay valid.

When one team leaves a grade

If the grade has an even number of teams, each game the withdrawn team was due to play becomes a bye for their opponent. Nothing else changes.

Example: An 8-team grade loses one team in round 6. From round 6, that team's opponent each round has a bye instead. The other three games in each round stay exactly as they were.

When one team joins a grade

If the grade has an odd number of teams (at least 3) with one bye each round, the new team takes the bye. Each round's bye becomes a game between the new team and the team that had the bye. All other games stay as they were.

• Home team: the team that had the bye is the home team in odd-numbered rounds. The new team is the home team in even-numbered rounds.
• New game slot: one new game slot is created for the new games:
  • Home and Away competitions: select the day and time for the new slot on the Update Time Slots screen.
  • Domestic competitions: the new games don't have a court or time yet. Allocate them in the Game Slot allocation tab.

Example: A 7-team grade has one bye each round. A new team joins in round 4. From round 4, the team that would have had the bye plays the new team instead. The other three games in each round don't change.

Conditions for keeping your fixture

Your fixture is only kept if all of the following are true:

• The fixture was generated in PlayHQ, not uploaded.
• The grade still has games to be played.
• Exactly one team is leaving or joining the grade.
• If a team is leaving: the grade has no byes from the regrade round onward, more than one team will remain, and the team leaving isn't already in a finals game or finals bye that has been drawn.
• If a team is joining: the grade has an odd number of teams (at least 3) with one bye each round, and the grade's extra bye setting won't apply once the new team is added.
• Every remaining round is a clean round robin, meaning each team plays exactly one game (or has one bye) per round. Moving a game's time or court is fine.
• You don't reorder team seedings on the Review Seeding & Fixture screen.

When your fixture is still redrawn (beta)

Even in the beta, the fixture is redrawn as described in How regrading affects your fixture in situations like these:

💡 Tip: Moving a team between two grades. PlayHQ checks each grade separately. For example, moving one team from an 8-team grade to a 7-team grade can keep both fixtures: the 8-team grade gains a bye and the 7-team grade loses its bye.

Moving, swapping or unallocating teams

⚠️ Important: Understand the impact before you start

1. Open Regrade teams

   Navigate to Competition Management, select the relevant competition and season tile, open the Grades tab and click Regrade teams.

2. Select the group of grades to regrade

   Select the group of grades (day, gender, age group) from the drop-down list. The grades that match your selection are shown. This is your regrade session.

3. Select the team to regrade

   Click Move team for the team you want to regrade. The grades on screen update to show where you can move the team.

4. Choose where the team goes

   Select one of the following options:

   #	Option	What it does
   1	Cancel	Deselects the team if you selected the wrong one.
   2	Unallocate team	Removes the team from the grade. Use this if the team is withdrawing from the season, or you need to move it to a grade on a different day, gender or age group.
   3	Move team to grade	Adds the team to the selected grade.
   4	Swap	Swaps grades directly with the team you select.

5. Review seeding and fixture changes

   If the number of teams in a grade changes, you'll be prompted to Review Seeding & Fixture before confirming. See Reviewing seeding and fixture changes below.

      6. Repeat and save your changes

          Repeat steps 3 to 5 for each team you want to regrade, then click Update Changes.

          Once saved, your teams are in their new grades and the fixture is updated. A record of every change is           saved in each grade's Regrade History, so you can review regrading made during the season.

Reviewing seeding and fixture changes

When you add or unallocate a team, the Review Seeding & Fixture screen lets you check and adjust the new fixture in one place before you confirm.

1. Open the review

   Click Review Seeding & Fixture. The review opens in a new window.

2. Compare the original and new fixture

   The Original Fixture and New Fixture are shown side by side, lined up row for row, so you can see exactly which games change and which stay the same.

   Games or byes that repeat within one or two rounds are highlighted, so you can spot where the fixture becomes unbalanced.

3. Adjust team seedings (if needed)

   Drag and drop a team into another seed to reorder seedings. The new fixture updates automatically.

4. Confirm your changes

   Click Confirm Seeds & Fixture to save.

Allocating new game slots after a regrade

If a regrade creates new game slots, you'll need to allocate them.

• Domestic competitions: Return to the Game Slot allocation tab. Any new game slots that haven't been allocated are shown there. Read Allocating games using Game Slots for help.

• Home and Away competitions: After you click Update Changes, a screen shows each new slot. Select the day and time for each slot, then click Update Time Slots.

Once allocated, every game in the regraded grade has a playing surface and time.

Important considerations

Impact on referee and umpire allocations

• When your fixture is kept, referee and umpire allocations and game numbers stay the same for all games not involving the withdrawn team.
• When your fixture is redrawn, games are recreated with new game numbers. Let your referee or umpire allocator know so they can re-check their allocations.

Impact on the ladder

Byes created by regrading behave like any other bye in a PlayHQ fixture. For other ladder effects, see Understanding the impact of regrading on a grade's ladder.

Frequently asked questions

Who can regrade teams?
Association Administrators with access to the competition in the Admin Portal.

A team has pulled out. Will I lose my court bookings and referee allocations?
Not if only one team is leaving and your fixture was generated in PlayHQ. Their games become byes for their opponents and everything else stays as it is. Check the side-by-side view before you confirm.

Why did my regrade redraw the whole fixture anyway?
The fixture is only kept when the conditions in When this applies are all met. For example, removing two teams, uploading your fixture, or a grade that already has byes will all redraw the fixture from the regrade round onward.

I uploaded my fixture. Why isn't it kept?
PlayHQ can only keep a fixture whose structure it created. An uploaded fixture is redrawn when you regrade.

Do byes created by regrading count on the ladder?
Yes. They behave exactly like any other bye in a PlayHQ fixture.

Can I regrade more than one team at a time?
Yes. Repeat the steps for each team before clicking Update Changes. Changing more than one team in a grade (other than one-for-one swaps) will redraw that grade's fixture.

Can I regrade teams in a tournament?
No. Regrading is only available for season competitions.

Who do I contact if I need help?
Visit the Contact Us page and select your sport to find their preferred contact method.