I need to confess something: I've been maintaining a football scores spreadsheet since 2019. And when I say "maintaining," I mean updating it obsessively after every match like some kind of sports-statistics goblin.
It started innocently enough. My friend group does a predictions league — everyone guesses scores for each round, and we tally points at the end of the season. The existing apps for this were either clunky, expensive, or required everyone to create accounts nobody wanted.
So I made a spreadsheet.
The Spreadsheet Spiral
At first it was simple. Columns for each person's predictions, actual results, calculated scores. Basic stuff. Took maybe thirty minutes to set up.
But then I thought: what if we could see historical performance? Added a "Season Archive" tab.
What if we tracked accuracy by team? New tab.
What if we had head-to-head comparisons? New formulas.
What about visualizing the standings over time with a graph? Okay, that one took a whole afternoon.
Fast forward three years and my "simple predictions sheet" had fifteen tabs, conditional formatting that made my browser lag, and a formula so long I couldn't scroll to the end of it without the cell reference breaking.
My partner saw it once and asked if I was doing work for NASA.
The Obvious Problem
Every Saturday morning (or Sunday, or whatever day the matches were), I'd open the spreadsheet on my phone. Terrible experience. Pinch to zoom. Accidentally edit the wrong cell. Wait for Google Sheets to sync. Watch formulas recalculate at a glacial pace.
Then I'd do it again the next week. And the week after.
One day my friend texted asking for the current standings, and I realized I'd have to open Sheets, navigate to the right tab, take a screenshot, crop it, and send it. An app would've been one tap.
That's when it hit me: I'd already built the app. Just in the worst possible format.
What the Spreadsheet Taught Me
Here's the thing about obsessively maintaining something for years — you figure out exactly what features matter.
I knew we needed fast prediction entry because nobody wants to type scores on tiny phone keyboards. I knew we needed instant standings updates because waiting for recalculation is painful. I knew we needed historical data because "remember that insane round in October 2022" is half the fun.
I also knew what didn't work. Complicated scoring systems that nobody remembers. Too many notification options. Requiring everyone to sign up individually.
The spreadsheet was a years-long prototype. Ugly, but battle-tested.
Building Footy
Footy is basically the spreadsheet, rebuilt as an actual app that doesn't make your phone cry.
Quick score entry — swipe to predict, tap to confirm. Real-time standings that update the moment results come in. Season history that you can actually browse without zooming and scrolling through endless cells.
And the thing I wanted most: easy group management. Invite friends with a link, no account creation required, everyone's in the same league instantly.
No more screenshotting tabs. No more "wait, which row is mine?" No more accidentally deleting someone's predictions because you fat-fingered the delete key.
For the Obsessives
I'm building Footy for the people who maintain weird spreadsheets. The ones who track their running routes in elaborate detail. The ones who have a color-coded travel planning doc. The ones who've definitely been called "a lot" by someone who doesn't understand the joy of organized data.
If you've ever thought "I should just build an app for this," but kept using the spreadsheet instead — I get it. Sometimes you need to live with the problem long enough to really understand it.
Footy is coming soon. Sign up for updates if you want to know when it launches. And if you're currently maintaining a ridiculous sports spreadsheet of your own, I'd love to hear about it.
No judgment here. I was one of you for six years.
