Solo Subbuteo 101

Christmas 1981 was the last Christmas I spent with my parents whilst still living with them. It was also the last Christmas that I played Subbuteo against my Uncle Bill, who was responsible for introducing me to the competitive side of the game many years before. Uncle Bill was the Secretary of a small local club that I became a part of, but most of all he opened up the door to many youngsters in the area, to his way of thinking they were the future of what he called the “Beautiful Game”. Uncle Bill was an ex pro footballer with Reading and in the 39/40 season had become a member of Reading’s first team squad. A winger by trade but never really had his chance to shine as that season was abandoned after 3 games due to the outbreak of World War 2. He then joined the Army and was posted to North Africa. After coming through that campaign unscathed he found himself part of the invasion of Italy and was wounded at the Battle of Salerno. He was then shipped to a mi

  Love ‘em or hate ‘em many solo players use ‘em. Some in different ways to others but usually for the same purpose. The taking of goal kicks is the obvious one, clearing the ball is another. What usually differs from my observations, is when the free standing custodian can legitimately be brought into play, this differs slightly from solo player to solo player. Some will bring it into play once the ball enters the 18 yard box, others the same but only when that side is in possession. Some start it from anywhere inside or behind the 6 yard box, and others from anywhere behind the goal line. So we can see there are no hard and fast rules here, I’m going to discuss my method and how it fits in with my flavour of rules, giving you an insight into my thoughts and ideas on it's use. In The Beginning In the words of the early 50’s rules it states: “ T he goalkeeper may be taken off the wire holder and flicked against the ball by the n

I remember being told many moons ago, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, which to a certain extent is true, but recently after talking to a few “Old Dogs”, that saying has been turned on it’s head. I’ve always maintained that no matter what ideas we have about playing Subbuteo in a solo format, you won’t be the first to think of them nor will you be the last. That statement was proved a few weeks ago, after a chance meeting with an older guy by the name of Ron who lives not far from me. I found out that he and a few of his mates meet up on a Sunday afternoon for a flick about, Nothing serious he hastened to add, a bit of fun, a lot of banter and nostalgia. He also invited me round for a game or two, he said “I’ll drop our rules around sometime during the week”. I was about to tell him where I lived, when he interrupted and said I know, I’ve known your wife since she was at school. Apparently she was good friends with his younger sister, and he had intended to call arou

If you play solo, and to be honest why would you be here if you didn’t. I would imagine a good percentage of you keep records of matches you play, and the record keeping can be as simple or as complex as one deems necessary. If you’re in the habit of giving the little f olk names, the chances are you’ll at least want to know who scored. One could simply number each player and make a note of the number, and who it relates to on the team sheet, y ou can even buy decals that can be attached to players for this purpose. I must admit I’m not a fan of this method and don't bother, mainly because it can be slower to set up after a goal, especially if you’re putting each player back into position, or sorting things out at a goal kick. Alternately So there has to be a better way, one that doesn’t rely on numbering players, and placing them in the right position on the field. There’s probably many other ways, and I probably don’t know half of them. Wha

  Since I began this blog I've often referred to the Bonfire Alliance League, but never really written about it other than in context to portray a particular point. I’ve even offered the Bonfire Alliance rule book on the downloads page as an insight to how I play, for no other reason other than to share my ideas that readers can use, change, build upon, or discard however they see fit. I thought however it was about time I introduced it’s members and how the league was founded, and perhaps breathe some life into it, now it’s about to embark on it’s 3 rd Season. The Early Days When I started playing solo, it was probably due to the fact that the Government decided that they wanted to put all our lives on hold for a while, fair enough under the circumstances at the time. Then they only went and cancelled all forms of football. Now they can lock me down but taking away my football was sacrilege. So out came the books, the videos, (yes I still