This year saw 18 Olds participating in the SoS OSC tournament.
The four finals involved 8 players, which left 10 players without a game…
Enter the birth of the OldSubbuteo Melee!
Rules for 10 players (5-a-side)
1st Half
Team A and Team B each have:
Player 1 – Attacker if the ball is in the attacking half
Player 2 – Attacker if the ball is in the defending half
Player 3 – All defending flicks
Player 4 – Goalkeeper, kicking goalie and goal-kicks
Player 5 – Free-kicks, throw-ins and corner-kicks
2nd Half
Team A and Team B:
Player 1 changes to – Goalkeeper, kicking goalie and goal-kicks
Player 2 changes to – All defending flicks
Player 3 changes to – Free-kicks, throw-ins and corner-kicks
Player 4 changes to – Attacker if the ball is in the attacking half
Player 5 changes to – Attacker if the ball is in the defending half
The inaugural event went fairly smoothly with all players slotting into their respective roles with a commendable degree of knowledge, skill and decorum (apart from mostly Gerald…!)
In the first half all players were involved apart from Jim (Forfoxsake) Westwood, who was desperately waiting for a throw-in, corner or free-kick to happen. Eventually however, with seconds remaining his team were awarded a throw-in! Jim lined up the thrower – took careful aim, and about 0.2 seconds before the ball left the figure the half-time whistle went. The taking of the throw-in was therefore judged null and void and duly wiped from the record as ever happening!
The second half saw our newbie Down the Wing playing an assured role as his team’s ‘Defending Attacker’ (enthusiastically advised by 4 teammates), and with one minute to go, a throw-in was awarded to his team, with Kev ‘The Cat’ Dyson using the mandatory throw-in figure.
After a practice throw-in which went sideways 1 inch and spun backwards off the pitch...
Kev threw the ball 12 inches spinning in front of Jonathan ‘JLR’ Lopez-Real’s centre forward.
Without missing a heartbeat JLR shot and scored! Four teammates roared their approval.
Jonathan was more than a tad taken aback at the racket he caused by scoring at Subbuteo, and estimated the noise to be in excess of the combined efforts of the 98 fans that attended the Canterbury v Corinthian Isthmian League match the previous day!
The Melee Winners!
The Melee Runners Up!
A great event, and certainly to be repeated at future SoS OSC events!
Naturally the rules will evolve as the number of players vary – already I think there is a role for someone to do all positional flicks for all dead ball situations, for example. Eventually we should be able to get a game of 11 v 11 with 3 subs!
Edited by thefingerismakingmeflick - 10/9/2019, 19:52
