FFS

I'm a 4-3-3 player, so should be to your liking!
Jon Rosten reckons you better Lionhearts will be licking your lips at the prospect of playing me.



Have to admit to a bit of polish on the bottom of the base, though.
That's because I don't have any original HWs, and the modern HW versions are too light and unruly IMO.
THEY need all the help "I" can get.

Only formations currently used real football should be allowed, otherwise you are not playing football. This point was in the original rules of the game. Also no polishing as it it dangerous, a player might slip over and break a leg.

Some interesting points Forfoxsake made.

From my own perspective, it doesn't bother me whether people use a bit of polish or not. I use it to gain a little bit of extra control for close flicking rather than for long flicks. It's just a way of being able to caress the ball in a controlled fashion (Frank Worthington Style).Nothing worse than a figure falling millimetres short of the ball, just because of a mucky base.

I agree that more than 5 players defending looks odd at first, and i prefer the look of football formations.
Btbh, if we are trying to replicate football, as an example,wouldn't say Bristol Rovers stick everyman behind the ball if they were playing against Real Madrid, with the hope of catching them on the break with a counter attack?
Surely it is a compliment if your opposition feel the need to defend aggressively from the start?

If you can curl and swerve, you can beat any defence. It's only if you play in straight lines that it becomes harder to break down the oppositions defense.

Not sure about the 'forcing throw-in' law. Forcing a throw in doesn't really replicate football in my book anyway. It's just a last resort to gaining possession.

Anyway, it looks like we all have our own views, just hope it doesn't spoil our enjoyment in playing in the future.


I took up playing solo games recently on Jims advise, and i must say my game improved dramatically. I played a 5-3-2 formation in a recent tournement and had my best success, so far. Practice, it seems, is the key.

In our league, the difference between formations and some people polishing bases and others not all just adds to the thrill of working out who win win with thier chosen tactics.

For example, I always play a 5-3-2 but in a recent game against a guy called Alan I changed my formation to suit the game. I knew he always plays an unbelieveable 8-1-1 formation and I knew that having only 2 attackers against 8 defenders would see me struggle, so I changed to a 3-2-5 formation and won the game easily by 6-0

I actually love it that people in the league all use different and sometimes weird formations, I think it just adds to the fun as you dont know what to expect. A guy called Stepehn always plays a 7-3-0 formation and often gets 0-0 results, but on one occasion his formation went to pot and he lost the game 9-1 - dont get me wrong though, most of us in the league all use 5-3-2 or 4-4-2 formations.

I always polish my bases, but then I am one of the guys who uses flat bases, sorry, I would love to use curly bases but these do not compare against flat bases imo and as everyone else in my league uses flat bases I have to as well to stand a chance to keep up with them !!

Having said that, I am arranging a retro tournament for June for our league members so we can get the curly bases out and I am also trying out the Image 2 bases from Stefan Corda as these seem to be pretty good for both flat and curly play

If we're still playing at Reg's next week, I'm happy to let each of my opponents decide what team I use, whether I polish them or not, what formation I use, the criteria for forcing throw-ins and how many spin flicks I should try during each game.

Spud ...

Don't think there is much danger that different viewpoints can spoil the undoubted pleasure of playing the beautiful game against an opponent. I hope not, anyway.



In raising the topic of a wish list, I am not proposing to challenge the existing formats and champion change in the game, I just really like to see what people come up with. As often stated, clubs can play whatever rules they wish ( or variations of ), and some come up with better versions IMHO.

Still trying to get to grips with practising and the best formula.
Have noticed that my lad ( 5yo ) is coming on leaps and bounds playing on beach felt, though.
Elementary Rules ( no blocking ). You know how quickly kids pick things up!
He'll be giving me a good beating before long!



He already has the rules sorted, probably because he isn't trying to relate it to the rules of real football, for which he has no reference. He is discovering Subbuteo ahead of football, without any prejudice.

Cheers
Steve

Great to know your little 'un is enjoying playing Steve, that's wonderful.

Playing with other Subbuteo enthusiasts is always a pleasure. It's all about finding a common ground and enjoying the experience.
When you come and play with the Lionhearts, i'm sure you will find this is the case. We all have different views as to what 'real' Subbuteo is, but by playing to the Oldsubbuteo rules, it covers 'most' peoples preferences.
I presume this is the case, otherwise people wouldn't make the effort to bother.

Looking forward to meeting you soon.

Ian

No way ref! My arm was moving up to the point it flicked the player, and then for a split second, whilst in the 'flick-zone' was perfectly stationary. Then, my arm was moving in a completely separate movement at it started my Mick Channon reverse-circle celebration!!

Brilliant.

Nice one Fingers...

My wish would be for the three different sets of rules i currently play too (advanced,table soccer and fistf) , come together to form one set of rules but that aint going to happen.

I think polishing time should be reduced to maximum 30 seconds, there's plently of time before the tournament starts and during sessions your not involved in so why hold everyone else up with more polishing before games and during half time.

As far as how many defenders at the back, the advanced rules state a minimum of 3 players per side should be within 9cm of the half way line at all kicks offs, so that leaves 7 players per side to place elsewhere.

This rule was removed by fistf and now in the modern game, the player not taking kick off often sets up with a line of 10 across the shooting line

I think two players both playing with 7 at the back results in a more realistic final score rather than playing 4-3-3 or 5-3-2 which can lead to scorelines of 7-3 and 8-4 because the gaps along the shooting line are too large.

As for dodgy flicking this is the hardest thing for a referee to clamp down on as every player thinks there flicking style is perfect, its akin to telling the player he's got a small dick.