Soccer Schedule ICS Generator

A Python script that automatically fetches soccer schedules from the Lower Island Soccer Association (LISA) GameSchedule API and generates an ICS calendar file for easy import into calendar applications.

Disclaimer

This is an unofficial, community-created tool that scrapes data from the LISA GameSchedule website. It is:

• NOT affiliated with or endorsed by the Lower Island Soccer Association
• NOT officially supported - it's a personal hack that may break if the API changes
• Provided as-is with no guarantees - YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)
• For personal use only

If the schedule stops updating or shows incorrect data, check the official LISA GameSchedule website.

Features

• 🗓️ Fetches game schedules from the LISA GameSchedule API
• 📅 Generates standard ICS format compatible with all major calendar apps (Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple Calendar, etc.)
• 🔄 Automated updates via GitHub Actions (runs every 20 minutes)
• 📍 Includes game locations (field names) and team information
• ⏰ Handles TBD game times appropriately
• 🎯 Filters for specific team schedules (currently configured for Lakehill U16 Division 2 Tier 3)

Current Configuration

The script is currently configured for:

• Team: Lakehill SA (Team ID: 841)
• Division: U16 Boys Division 2 (Tier 3) (Division ID: 161)
• Competition: 12
• Season: 2025-2026 (Sept 2025 - Aug 2026)

Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8 or higher
• pip package manager

Setup

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/jmottishaw/soccer-schedule-ics.git
cd soccer-schedule-ics

2. Create a virtual environment (required for WSL):

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

Manual Generation

Run the script to generate the ICS file:

source venv/bin/activate
python main.py

This will create soccer_schedule.ics in the current directory.

Automated Generation (GitHub Actions)

The repository includes a GitHub Actions workflow that:

• Runs every 20 minutes
• Generates an updated ICS file
• Commits it to the gh-pages branch
• Makes it available via GitHub Pages

To enable this:

1. Fork this repository to your GitHub account
2. Enable GitHub Actions in your repository settings
3. Enable GitHub Pages from the gh-pages branch
4. The ICS file will be available at: https://YOUR-USERNAME.github.io/soccer-schedule-ics/soccer_schedule.ics

Live Calendar Subscription

Once hosted on GitHub Pages, you can subscribe to the live schedule that auto-updates:

Google Calendar:

1. Open Google Calendar
2. Click the + next to "Other calendars"
3. Select "From URL"
4. Enter: https://YOUR-USERNAME.github.io/soccer-schedule-ics/soccer_schedule.ics
5. Click "Add calendar"

Apple Calendar:

1. Open Calendar app
2. File → New Calendar Subscription
3. Enter the URL above
4. Set auto-refresh frequency (recommended: every hour)

Outlook/Other:

• Most calendar apps support subscribing to ICS URLs
• Look for "Subscribe to calendar" or "Add from URL" option
• The calendar will automatically sync with updates every 20 minutes via GitHub Actions

Configuration

To update for a different team or season, modify these values in main.py:

API Parameters (lines 32-63)

• strCompetition: Competition ID (currently "12")
• DIVISION VALUE: Division ID (line 45, currently 161)
• TEAM VALUE: Team ID (line 49, currently 841)

Calendar Metadata (lines 86-87)

• Calendar name and description

Season Year Logic (line 101)

• Update the month threshold for determining the year
• Current: Sept-Dec = 2025, Jan-Aug = 2026

Exhibition Games

You can add exhibition/friendly games not in the regular schedule by updating exhibition.csv:

Date,Time,Home Team,Guest Team,Field
2024-11-02,2:30 PM,Peninsula U15T3,Lakehill U14 Tier 3,Blue Heron Turf

Dependencies

• requests: HTTP API calls
• beautifulsoup4: HTML parsing
• icalendar: ICS file generation
• pytz: Timezone handling

File Structure

soccer-schedule-ics/
├── main.py                 # Main script
├── requirements.txt        # Python dependencies
├── exhibition.csv         # Optional exhibition games
├── CLAUDE.md             # Development documentation
├── README.md             # This file
├── .gitignore            # Git ignore rules
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/
│       └── generate_ics.yml  # GitHub Actions workflow
└── venv/                 # Virtual environment (not tracked)

Troubleshooting

No games showing up

• Verify the division and team IDs are correct
• Check that the date range in strWeekMin and strWeekMax covers the current season
• Ensure the competition ID is correct

Times showing as TBD

• This is normal for games without scheduled times yet
• The script will only create calendar events for TBD games within the next 6 days

GitHub Actions failing

• Check that all required secrets are set (if any)
• Ensure the gh-pages branch exists
• Verify GitHub Actions and Pages are enabled

Finding Team/Division IDs

To find the correct Competition, Division, and Team IDs for your team:

Method 1: Browser Developer Tools

1. Visit https://lisa.gameschedule.ca
2. Navigate to your team's schedule page
3. Open browser developer tools (F12)
4. Go to the Network tab
5. Look for requests to LOAD_SchedulePublic or LOAD_FilterValues
6. Check the request payload for:
   • strCompetition: The competition ID (e.g., "12" for U16)
   • DIVISION VALUE: The division ID (e.g., 161 for U16 Boys Div 2 Tier 3)
   • TEAM VALUE: Your specific team ID (e.g., 841 for Lakehill SA)

Method 2: Using the API Explorer (included)

1. Look at the find_lakehill_team.py script as an example
2. Modify it to search for your team name
3. Run it to discover the IDs:

source venv/bin/activate
python find_lakehill_team.py

Common Competition IDs

• Different age groups typically have different competition IDs
• You may need to try multiple competition IDs to find your team
• The competition ID changes based on the league/age group

License

This project is for personal/community use only.

The LISA GameSchedule API and data are property of the Lower Island Soccer Association. This tool merely reformats publicly available schedule data for personal convenience.

Use at your own risk - if this tool causes you to miss a game, that's on you!

Contributing

Feel free to fork and modify for your own team's schedule. Pull requests for improvements are welcome!