Problems with Managing a Team

Part of my time during the week is to manage a soccer team. The managing part of the team isnt too difficult (collecting dues, finding players) It does take time, but most of the time I dont mind. The really tough part of managing a team is overcoming problems with attendance. On a weekly basis, we have ~ 30% of the players on the team that fall into one of the following two categories:

• Show up 15-20 minutes late.
• Dont show up at all.

This causes two major problems:

• Getting coordinated enough to prevent goals from being scored on us until the late players arrive.
• Providing enough subs for the players on the field, but not having too much. (everybody on the team pays money to play, so nobody wants to sit on the sidelines too much)

I've found getting this right to be an extremely difficult thing to do, mainly because of basic human tendancies. Most people have an optomistic view of how long it will take to get there. Additionally, and possibly unconsciencely, they figure "if I'm late, I wont waste any time waiting for others". The major problem here is that it is a negatively re-enforcing tendency. Those who are a little late, end up waiting longer for those who are alot late... and therefore being more late the next time around.

The other problem I've mentioned is players who say they are going to make it, but dont. Most people are pretty good about posting their absence when they are away.... but unfortunately, pretty good doesnt help me. Assuming most players make this mistake once every other season, that would give me ~ 1-2 unexpected absences per game. Not too terrible...right? Yeah, not a big deal IF you could expect normal distribution throughout the season. The problem is, you cant. You may bet zero unexpected absences one week, and then 4 the following week. With such high variations, it makes it near impossible to "expect" the unexpected and correctly anticipate those that will be missing.

I think the only "silver bullet" to the whole problem is to ask each player individually if they will be attending the game on game day. This works to eliminate the problem, but WHO HAS TIME TO DO THAT EVERY WEEK!!!?

Anyways, if anybody has a good idea on how to overcome these sorts of problems, i'm all ears.