« on: June 23, 2008, 02:26:44 PM »
I've got to wonder just how drunk the guy who came up with this was at the time.
Euro 2008 it's not. 'Swamp Soccer' is the beautiful game played dirty.
It is football, but not quite as we know it. There is a pitch, a ball, two teams and a referee. The very big difference is underfoot.
Forget the manicured grass surfaces offered to today's pampered Premier League stars. Swamp Soccer is played, naturally, in a swamp.
So-called 'Swamp Socceroonis' are battling out the World Championships at Strachur in Argyll on Scotland's west coast, each manoeuvring the ball around the pitch at a snail's pace as they struggle with the effort of heaving weary limbs out of the quagmire.
It is a game set apart from its mother sport by a number of rules:
· Each team consists of a goalkeeper and 5 outfield players. There's no limit on substitutions.
· Games last 12 minutes each way.
· There is no offside.
· In 'dead ball' situations, players can drop the ball directly onto foot ( a bonus is quagmire conditions).
· Fancy dress is allowed although members of each team must coordinate their colours.
They've been playing swamp soccer in Scandinavia for over a decade. It originated in the swamps of Finland where it was first played by cross country skiers who were training in the swamps over summer.
Finland held its first tournament in 1997 involving 13 teams.
Swamp Socceroonis battle it out Now there are more than 200 teams across the world.
The 2008 World Championships will be played out between teams such as "The Jeff Stelling Appreciation Society", "Rambo: First Mud" and "Bayern Bru".
"It's a fun game for everyone from footballers to couch potatoes", says organiser Stewart Miller.
"Being fit is an advantage because it's so physically demanding trying to run in mud up to your knees.
The clever tactic is to have a big squad so you can rotate your players and keep getting fresh legs on."
"The key accessory in this game isn't the latest line football boots, it's the tape to tie them to your feet. The mud has a habit of sucking them off!"
Logged
The universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements. Energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest.
