The program died when attempting to open the ranks.txt file (line 69). You should modify your code so that if the file doesn't exist (hence it is a /New File/) you create and initialize it accordingly.

Once I've entered the required input the program ends and does not print any output to the screen. It writes to the rank.txt file:

---------------------------------------

1:244:244:andy ben:1
<>
2:244:244:cathy doug:1
<>
3:244:244:elaine fred:1
<>
4:244:244:gail harry:1
---------------------------------------
[download]

I'm not sure where you came up with 732, it is not displayed anywhere that I can see. Just because something was coded in C++ doesn't mean that it will work correctly after you convert it to Perl. If your plan is to read in each team's data and then do calculations and write the info back out to the file, you should use logic along these lines:

if rank.txt exists {
   if rank.txt is not empty {
      read each team's info and store in an array/hash
   }
}
if user wants to add new team data {
   loop # once through loop gets only data for one team
      get* team number
      get* member names
      get* team scores/whatever
      append record to rank.txt
   endloop
   # * input/store to array/hash
}
perform calculations for array/hash
print results
[download]

More observations:

• A common mistake for programmers is to type in a complete program and then try to debug it. Your code should be developed in small chunks. For example, don't attempt to code subs to perform calculations when you haven't even debugged/verified your input routines yet. Your chunk size may vary depending on the complexity of a given code segment.
• Use print liberally when verifying code correctness. You can always comment them out later.
• Start by commenting out your all of your subroutine calls. As you successfully debug one chunk, uncomment the next.

--Jim