Positioning

In the last blog post we read David Forsyth’s account of the organising rule and how he incorporates it into his solo play. Well this started me thinking, a bad habit I know, because most of the time I end up trying to out think myself which mainly ends up being counter intuitive and usually ends up with me going full circle and losing the plot in the process. Mind you my darling wife thinks I lost the plot years ago, and was convinced that her suspicions were proven when I got back into Subbuteo. Comments like “How old are you?”, and “Are you going upstairs to play with yourself again!!”. Both valid comments, to which the answers are surprisingly “Old enough”, and “Yes”. But as normal I digress, I must be playing with myself too much.

I’m going to share how I do things, no hard and fast suggestions, just my take on the rules whilst trying to keep things within the spirit of the game we all enjoy, so lets get started.

 

Corners and Throw Ins

 

No surprises here, we probably all do this 3 positioning flicks for corners, and 1 for throw ins, it’s been around for years and will probably be around for many more to come, but I have a little caveat on throw ins, the side taking the throw in decides whether or not to allow the positional flick, thus allowing the taking of a quick throw as happens at times in football. Corners on the other hand are not allowed to be taken quickly and both sides can have up to their 3 positioning flicks, the 3 flicks to me doesn’t mean 3 players, it can be 1 player flicked 3 times if required, but no more than 3 flicks. If any positioning flick hits an opponent the offender is put back and that flick is lost. I have a feeling I’m not alone playing this way, but never the less I thought I’d mention it.

Free Kicks

 

Now this all depends on which side of the fence you sit, Subbuteo or modern FISTF rules, and if you are of the Subbuteo persuasion which era you belong to. Are you a placer or a flicker, I’m a flicker and proud by the way, make of that what you will.

When a free kick is awarded each team has 2 flicks again not 2 players but 2 flicks for positioning with 1 or 2 players whichever I deem necessary.

Expanding on this a little further a quick free kick could be taken by allowing the attackers to dictate the use of positioning flicks, so if the attacking side decide not to take a positioning flick, the defence are not allowed either, the same as for throw ins in the section above. But there is an exception here, If a team is awarded a direct free kick in the opposing shooting area the defence can always have their flicks, no quick direct free kicks.

As for walls do as you will, a 3 or 4 man wall is set up before any positioning flicks, the original rules allow a 4 man wall, it matters not at the end of the day.

 

I use some form of recognised formation at kick off and restarts, I find it suits to my style of play

 

I personally have an issue with walls what happens if the defence gain possession and a 4 man wall is left in situ, it’s something that doesn’t sit well with me. So I’ve made all free kicks indirect, negating the need for walls, FISTF style. I find it works for me, I still wouldn’t allow quick free kicks in the opposing area though. I could go into further detail here, but I feel there is probably no need just go with your gut

 

Penalties

 

All the players in the penalty area are placed outside the area either side of the arc, unlike real football, because I take penalties with the penalty taker allowed to be positioned anywhere on the arc to take the flick. So I employ this method which allows me to do just that.

As a side note not really related to the topic in hand, If the penalty is saved and is still in play the penalty taker cannot touch the ball again until played by another player but if the woodwork is involved or instrumental in the miss this allows the penalty taker to follow up if it’s deemed the attack are still in possession, (I play a rule of nearest team to the ball takes possession after a save or the ball hits the woodwork and the ball comes out of the goalkeepers area).

 

Kick off, and Restarts

 

Players are placed in some form of recognised formation, why because that's the way I play, it puts players into starting positions which I find conducive to the way I like to play. How you line up in is up to you and to a certain degree dictated by your rules.

All the players in the penalty area are placed outside the area either side of the arc

 

 

Goal Kicks

 

Goal kicks are the only time apart from kick off's and restarts in my opinion is when players should be picked up and placed in position. It’s a great way to regroup, we all know how the little fellows get out of position despite all the well laid plans of the manager to keep it tight and orderly. Some of my teams seem to take great pleasure in ignoring any prematch team talk with wild abandon.

There are various methods solo players can employ for setting up at goal kicks. One could put all the outfield players in a box and simply tip them out onto the pitch job done. I doubt anyone does, or would ever think of such a thing, but in my opinion if I’ve thought about it, there’s bound to be others.

Now the rules governing goal kicks have changed a little down the years and have really gone full circle during that time.

It started with players in the opposing half only allowed to be moved backwards or sideways, and players in their own half moved anywhere within it. Then we moved anywhere except in the opposing shooting area and no more than 3 players in your own penalty area. By the 80’s we were back to the original, players in the opposing half can only move backwards and sideways routine. Then there’s the FISTF rules, which allow placing anywhere with a few exceptions.

I prefer the 60’s Subbuteo rules, because of their simplicity and I think they are probably a good fit for solo play. Although the 60’s rules surrounding goal kicks never appealed then as they don't today. If a team is heavily concentrated in their own half before a goal kick, they’re still going to be in the same situation when setting up for the goal kick, if that team is chasing the game does that not disadvantage that team. You may think not but in my opinion it does. As usual too many grey areas and ways of interpreting these early rules. As you’re probably aware I like my solo rules to be definitive to hopefully avoid any bias or grey areas. So after trying different methods all based around the same theme, I settled on the following because it made sense to me, it’s definitive, it may not be right but there’s no grey area’s. I’ll now share what I employ and you may be the judge and jury. 

 

1 - A player may pick up and position his figures anywhere, but players are not allowed to be placed inside their opponents shooting area, and all players inside their opponents area must be placed anywhere outside the area.

2 - At least 2 figures but no more than 4 must be placed inside their own shooting area but not in the penalty area for defence, (inside the shooting area means inside not on the shooting line).

3 - No player can be placed within 90mm of their opponents shooting area, and no closer than 25mm to any other player when placed. I find this keeps players onside and aids the defence slightly with the limited form of blocking I employ.

It works like this, the attack place their players in the defenders half, followed by the defenders placing all of its players and finally the attack place their remaining players in their own half. I do it this way to try and create an unbiased approach, as defenders from both sides can counter any attacking formation set by their opponents.

You may well disagree here, but I find this works well for me, it allows me to set up attacking and defensive formations as well as keeping some form of order on the pitch. By the way not allowing attackers in the shooting area is something I employ to make it definitive, and it aids my limited blocking regime, and also cuts down on onside flicks at the same time.

 

Blocking and Onside Flicks

 

I play with a limited form of blocking, and only in the shooting areas, but this is hardly the time or place to describe how or why. Onside flicks are a way of getting stray attackers back onside, but I also allow the defence to use their reciprocal flick to be used as a form of blocking flick, as long as that flick ends up in its own half, instead of being just a simple marking attempt, so I hope without stating the obvious, the tactical side of things become a little clearer, by making the attacker think about the best time to make an onside flick.

 

And Now We Complete The Circle

 

So now we come back to the last blog post on organising and the placement of players to reorganise a defence. I’m still unsure if I will seriously consider incorporating that into my solo play. But I have thought of a slight twist to the rule. Instead of placing defenders into precise positions, which I must admit goes against my principles, how about flicking players into position to give a reasonable amount of error, and only use players that are behind the ball, so the decision when to do this lies with the team in possession and the circumstances at the time, adding a certain amount of randomness. I must admit, I haven’t tried it in anger but I may do at a later date.

 

Finally

 

I hope from this you get some form of insight into my way of conducting the solo game, and maybe you can take away some ideas that you can incorporate into you’re own particular solo rule sets. You may already play similar rules or disagree with my methods for a variety of reasons, we all have our unique ways of playing, and as long as those ways make sense to us how can anyone disagree, the only judge is you.

 

 

Keep On Flicking

 

Ian