How about, when signing up for a cup you fill out a section with the dates and times that you can DEFINATELY play.
E.g. MON TUE WED THUR from 22:00 to 03:00 GMT
The system can then match corresponding times randomly. Not all pairings will be able to be made with corresponding times, but these can be sorted out and compromises made.
Most ACTIVE players on here can play on at least 3 days of the week, dont deny it!
You must be avaliable on at least 1 day within 1 week of the first round of the tourney.
What I mean by this is that all the games must be played within 1 week of each round starting.
Dont sign up to a tourney if you know your not going to be around when it starts. If its a big tourney, dont register if your going on holiday 2 weeks into it.
If players fail to play their games at the allocated times that they already AGREED they could make, then they get a strike. If they get two strikes then they are banned from all cups for the rest of the season.
What do you think? Hope you understood it all!