Solo Subbuteo 101

Just over 12 Months ago, I posted about some new rules I was implementing with regards to my solo play. These were mainly centered around the way I would administer blocking flicks. Well 12 months on nothing has really changed in that respect, but I did try one or two things which like all things worked on paper but quickly became dismissed as I felt that there was no actual benefit in game play. Nevertheless things have changed over that 12 month period in other ways This month I thought I’d briefly go through my rule-book explaining my thoughts on why I choose the methods I do, in an attempt to show why I do what I do, and why I feel it works for me. It’s all well and good people like myself sharing or suggesting ideas, but sometimes they are easily dismissed because the recipient just doesn’t understand why it’s been suggested in the first place. So the following is a brief insight into my rules, an attempt by me to show my working out rather than the results, t...

  Is it really necessary to introduce substitutes into solo play, i s the introduction of another small plastic figure going to change the game, and how many of us have extra outfield players in our teams to do such a thing in the first place. Lets face it the when our little folk get injured it’s usually fairly terminal and needs hospitalisation to graft it’s broken limbs back onto the player or the base and this has the possibility of mak ing them look like a casualty from the Battle of the Somme. If this happens in a match we may be able to patch it up quickly with Blu Tack but it’s hardly a long term solution. For me t hese days it’s rare for such things to happen, but if a player end s up on the floor the clock is stopped and the player is located before it’s trodden to death, or my dog decides to eat the poor guy. Many a time a player is found hiding under a piece of furniture obviously aware of the threat of being eaten alive, they all seem to ...

It’s a question I’ve been asked a few times in the past, is there a version of the rules that can be used to play solo without much or any alterations. I’ll try to answer that from a personal point of view after discussing a few things first. After recently talking to a lifelong friend, Sean Taylor the conversation eventually got round to Subbuteo as it somehow always does when we get together. Sean and I both played for the same club during our youth, Sean played a little longer than myself at that level, and would probably be regarded as the better player, but that aside we both had a healthy passion for Subbuteo which is still with us to this day. Sean was saying that he was never interested in solo play until the Government locked us down, and stopped football. He quite quickly became obsessed with getting some kind of football fix. That is a very similar story to my own, and my reasons for starting to, or should I say attempting to play the game single handed. He and I...

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...