Super 14 rugby fixture scheduling using a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm

Super 14 Rugby is not only a popular game, but also a hugely profitable business. However, determining a schedule for games in the competition is very difficult, as a number of different, often conflicting, factors must be considered. We propose the use of a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm for deciding such a schedule. We detail the technical details needed to apply a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm to this problem and report on experiments that show the effectiveness of this approach. We compare solutions found by our approach with recent fixtures employed by the organising authority; our results showing significant improvements over the existing solutions.