The Rule Book: Second Edition

Fantacy Football

fantacy website

Fantacy Website

2 The fantacy website may be accessed at http://www.totalfantacy.net/

Fantacy Football League Administrator

3 The fantacy football league administrator shall be Kevin Roberts and he shall be required to:

3.1 Apply his time, effort and attention towards the routine maintenance of the fantacy website

3.2 Implement all requests (whether reasonable or unreasonable) in such timescales (whether realistic or unrealistic) arising in connection with the smooth and efficient administration of the fantacy football league as may be made of him from time to time by the managers, either of a routine nature as notified to him through the fantacy mailing list or of a non routine nature as may be decided upon at fantacy meetings.

Clubs

4 Clubs employ a team of players and are under the absolute control of their managers.

Pressroom

5 Each club shall operate a pressroom and offer copy, in whichsoever form as it may find appropriate, to the Fantacy Football League for incorporation into the fantacy website.

Fantacy Points

6 Fantacy points shall be awarded in accordance with teams' overall performances and each week those participating players shall acquire points for their clubs in the following amounts:

6.1 For each goal they score, all players shall receive five points.

6.2 For scoring an own goal, all players shall have deducted five points.

6.3 For receiving a red card, all players shall have deducted five points and for receiving a yellow card they shall have two points deducted (but if they receive two yellow cards in the same match they shall have deducted the five points for the resultant red card).

6.4 For being credited on www.soccernet.com as being the provider of an assist for a goal, all players shall be awarded one point (29.03.09 Big Ideas 2009/10).

6.5 For being the taker of a penalty and not scoring from it, all players shall be deducted two points and two points shall be awarded to whichever goalkeeper(s) took to the field for the opposing team during the match (by being on the field of play at some point during the match regardless of whether the penalty is missed during such period) (08.08.10 Meeting Aug 8 2010).

6.6 Players shall also be awarded and deducted points in accordance with the position that they play in:

6.6.1 For operating in a goalkeeping capacity they shall, furthermore, be awarded points thus:

6.6.1.1 Six "boots on" points awarded for playing.

6.6.1.2 Three points deducted for failing to keep a clean sheet.

6.6.1.3 A further one point or half a point deducted for each further goal conceded playing at home or away respectively.

6.6.2 For operating in a defensive capacity they shall, furthermore, be awarded points thus:

6.6.2.1 Four "boots on" points for playing.

6.6.2.2 Two points deducted for failing to keep a clean sheet.

6.6.2.3 A further one point or half a point deducted for each further goal conceded playing at home or away respectively.

6.6.2.4 They shall be awarded one quarter of a point for each goal they assist (by being on the field of play at some point during the match regardless of whether the goal is scored during such period).

6.6.3 For operating in a midfield capacity they shall, furthermore, be awarded points thus:

6.6.3.1 One "boots on" point for playing.

6.6.3.2 Half a point or one quarter of a point deducted for each further goal conceded playing at home or away respectively.

6.6.3.3 They shall be awarded one point for each goal they assist (by being on the field of play at some point during the match regardless of whether the goal is scored during such period).

6.6.4 For operating in an attacking capacity they shall, furthermore, be awarded points thus:

6.6.4.1 They shall be awarded one point for each goal they assist (by being on the field of play at some point during the match regardless of whether the goal is scored during such period).

6.7 For the purposes of establishing fantacy points, the results, goal scorers, substitutes, assists, penalty misses and red and yellow cards as reported on www.soccernet.com shall be absolutely conclusive.

6.8 The allocation of Fantacy Points is summarised in tabular form in the Scoring System.

Trophies

7 Trophies shall be awarded to managers as representatives of their clubs for winning each of the competitions other than the Care in the Community Shield. Photographic representations may be viewed at http://www.totalfantacy.net/archives/images/trophies/.

Competitions

8 The seven competitions comprising the season are:

8.1 the Premiership

8.2 the Challange Cup (also known as the FAntacy Cup)

8.3 the League Cup

8.4 the Dirty Bastard Boot (in the Bollocks)

8.5 the Golden Boot

8.6 the Care in the Community Shield

8.7 the Mug of the Year

Season

9 Each season shall commence with the playing of the Care in the Community Shield and end with the playing of the Challange Cup final and take in the entirety of all of the other competitions. The end of the season shall be celebrated by the mother of all parties, hosted by the winner of the Premiership.

Subscriptions

10 Prize money shall be derived from subscriptions payable by each of the managers to the treasurer of the fantacy football league.

10.1 Subscriptions must be paid by the second of the fantacy meetings in the season. Failure to do so will result in:

10.1.1 Offending clubs’ bank account shall be frozen.

10.1.2 They shall thereby be prevented from entering into any trade or purchase of players from the pool.

10.1.3 The sanctions contained within paragraph 10.1.1 and 10.1.2 shall be applied until such a time as the defect shall be remedied and such remedy notified by the treasurer to the fantacy website Fantacy mailing list.

10.2 The amount of subscriptions payable are as follows:

10.2.1 Waged - forty pounds

10.2.2 Unwaged - twenty-five pounds

10.3 If the subscriptions are paid on time as required by these rules then the following discounts shall be applied:

10.3.1 Waged - five pounds

10.3.2 Unwaged - nil

10.4 The fantacy football league administrator shall be exempted from the requirement to pay subscriptions completely.

10.5 Any new manager shall be entitled to claim a ten pound discount on his subscriptions for the period of his first season in charge of his club.

Teams

11 For a team to be considered legal, it shall comply with the following conditions:

11.1 Teams shall consist of a maximum of eighteen players, comprising a maximum of eleven first choices and seven substitutes operating only in a 4:4:2 formation or less in each position. For clarity, the team is formed thus:

11.1.1 A maximum of one goalkeeper plus one substitute goalkeeper in the 'goal' position.

11.1.2 A maximum of four defenders plus two substitute defenders in the 'defence' position.

11.1.3 A maximum of four midfielders / attacking midfielders / wingers plus two substitute midfielders / attacking midfielders / wingers in the 'midfield' position.

11.1.4 A maximum of four attackers / strikers / forwards plus two substitute attackers / strikers / forwards in the 'attack' position.

11.2 Teams shall not include more than two players from any one "real" club.

11.3 If, at kickoff of a gameweek, a team that does not conform with the conditions outlined in paragraphs 11.1 and 11.2 takes to the field then a Punishable Breach shall have been committed, for which sanctions apply.

11.4 Teams are fixed at kickoff and howsoever they are constituted at that point in time shall determine all outcomes for that gameweek.

11.5 Consequently, teams are permitted not to conform with the conditions outlined in paragraphs 11.1 and 11.2, without committing a Punishable Breach, at any time after kickoff, including whilst games are in progress, until the kickoff of the subsequent gameweek.

11.6 If a manager conducts any trade between one kickoff and the next, it is incumbent upon him to ensure that the team that takes to the field at the next kickoff shall be legal, by informing the league, through either the Fantacy Football email group or by recording during a Fantacy Meeting upon the Meeting Spreadsheet, the outcomes of all of his dealings.

Players

12 Players shall play only for the clubs to which they are under contract and for a Charity XI in the Care in the Community Shield.

12.1 Players may be acquired in the following three ways:

12.1.1 Following a successful transfer request.

12.1.2 By trade with another manager.

13.1.3 By incorporation of an LTG.

12.2 Players may play only in a position within a team which is not in breach of the bible rule.

12.3 They may, however, be moved from the position they were purchased to play in by their own managers at any time to the position they are described as operating in on their "real" club's website.

Substitutes

13 Substitutes shall be permissible but only one goalkeeper and a maximum of two in each outfield position.

13.1 The selected players' details must be posted on fantacy mailing list or notified direct to the fantacy football league using the voicemail/fax service.

13.2 Should any of the first choices not play for any reason then the first and then the second so nominated substitutes in each position shall automatically assume their place.

13.3 It shall be the responsibility of the managers to inform of all team selections prior to play in each week's competitions commencing at kickoff of a gameweek, otherwise the previous week's selections shall stand.[1]

Bible rule

14 The bible rule provides that all players may only participate in any team playing at the position that they are described as playing at on the website of their “real” club.

14.1 This holds regardless of whether that record is actually correct and they shall not be fielded in any other position, unless they are incorrectly recorded out of position on the fantacy website in which case, if no objection is raised at the time of purchase (i.e before the 'object by' time on the transfer request), they may continue to play in that position.

14.2 If no objection is raised thereto to be considered at the Cow Barn (second fantacy meeting of the season) and should no objection be raised at that time they may once again maintain their place out of position for the entire season and so on indefinitely.

14.3 The Cow Barn is the Positional Tribunal at which managers may object to the position taken by any other managers’ player(s) and the player(s) may forcibly be compelled to take the position determined by the bible rule.

14.4 If the change of position results in the team being made illegal, it shall then be incumbent upon the manager(s) whose player(s) has/have been moved to make their team legal prior to kickoff of the next gameweek, otherwise a punishable breach shall have been committed.

Transfer Requests

15 Transfer requests are the most common method by which players are acquired by clubs, up to a maximum two successful transfer requests in any given calendar month outside of any Fantacy Meetings which may or may not take place during that month (08.01.12 Meeting January 2012 - DB). At such meetings there shall be no limit to the number of successful signings that may be made.

15.1 The method of making transfer requests at any time other than during a Fantacy Meeting shall be:

15.1.1 Managers must notify their intention to purchase a player by posting their initial bid to the fantacy mailing list stating their intended acquisition, the “real” club he plays for, the position in which they intend to field the player, the level of the bid made and providing a date by which the request shall be effected which shall be at 21.30 GMT on the fifth day after the initial bid is posted and advising that any objections or counterbids must be made before that time.

15.1.2 Other managers may then lodge counterbids by replying to the original email, detailing the level of their bid.

15.1.3 Any counterbids made in the 24 hour period immediately preceding the expiry of the ‘object by’ date must be made by telephone. In any event, any counterbidder must ensure that the original bidder has become aware of the counterbid, regardless of when made.

15.1.4 All bids and counterbids are binding and cannot be withdrawn.

15.1.5 Other managers may object to any premise of the transfer request and if such objection is upheld, other that the other manager wishes to make a higher bid, the transfer request shall be cancelled and the manager shall be invited to resubmit the request in a valid form.

15.1.6 Following the expiry of the object by time, whichsoever of the clubs has made the highest bid before such expiry shall be entitled to the transfer but shall only actually acquire that transfer upon having sent a ‘transfer successful’ email to the fantacy mailing list confirming the success of the bid.

15.1.6.1The transfer successful email must contain the words ‘transfer successful’ in the subject line and include in the subject or body of the email the name of the acquisition, the “real” club he plays for, the position in which they intend to field the player and the amount paid for the player.

15.1.6.2 The transfer successful email must arrive on the Fantacy Football email group before kickoff of the next gameweek to progress immediately after the ‘object by’ date.

15.2 Should such confirmation of the success of the bid not be notified it shall be the responsibility of the transfer czar to intervene to the extent that he is empowered so to do.

15.2.1 If the transfer successful email is not received and the player is therefore not incorporated into the team before kickoff of the next gameweek to progress immediately after the ‘object by’ date then the punishment will be that the player shall remain in the pool but the purchase price of the player shall be removed from the manager's bank balance. (02.04.11 Meeting April 2011)

15.2.2 If this sanction has been applied, the transfer shall be treated as a successful transfer for the purpose of determining the number of successful transfers completed in a given month, unless the Manager chooses to bid again on the same player after the player has been returned to the pool. In this case, the original, cancelled, transfer shall not count as one of the manager’s successful transfers for that month or any subsequent month (08.01.12 Meeting January 2012 - DB).

15.3 The acquisition of LTGs shall operate in a broadly similar fashion save for that there shall be no limit to the amount of them that may be acquired by clubs. Successful acquisition of an LTG does not affect a manager’s monthly allowance of successful transfers.

Transfer Czar

16 A Transfer Czar shall be appointed each year and this appointment shall last for the season or until such time as another Czar is appointed.

16.1 It shall be his duty to ensure that all successful transfers are notified and he shall have the power, if necessary, to notify the fantacy football league himself of any successful transfer not notified in the manner prescribed by section 15.1.6 of these rules.

16.1.1 Should such notification be necessary then in those circumstances a charge shall be applied to the bank balance of the defaulting club in the sum of half a million pounds of fantacy money and the sanctions applied that are detailed in section 15.2 of these rules.

16.2 Any manager may bring to his attention any failed notification or any other matter relating to transfers and upon receipt of such notification the transfer czar shall:

16.2.1 Cause such enquiries as may be necessary to properly investigate the matter to be made.

16.2.2 Produce a report of his investigation which, for the purposes of transparency, shall be published on the fantacy website.

16.3 His power to adjudicate shall be final although he may, if necessary, refer any matter arising to the adjudication of all member clubs at the next fantacy meeting.

Objections

17 Objections may be raised to any transfer requests for acquisition, either for taking up immediate positions within teams or for LTGs.

17.1 The most common objection is that another of the clubs wishes to sign the players concerned.

17.1.1 If such objection is raised at fantacy meetings, auctions shall immediately ensue and whomsoever is prepared to pay the most fantacy money shall acquire the subject contracts.

17.1.2 If such objection is raised following notification of intended purchases being posted to the fantacy mailing list in the form of a transfer request, an email auction shall ensue in accordance with section 15.1 of these rules.

17.2 Another manager may object on the grounds that the transfer request does not comply with the bible rule.

17.3 Another manager may object on the grounds that the subject of the transfer request is already under contract to another club.

17.4 There is no exhaustive list of objections that may be raised but, for the avoidance of doubt, that clubs would wish to bid but are prevented from so doing in consequence of having utilized all their monthly allowance of transfer requests is not a valid objection.

17.5 If an objection is upheld then the provisions of section 15.1.5 of these rules shall apply.

Under Contract

18 In order to ensure fairness the fantacy football league shall continuously review all contracts that subsist and ascertain a true contract value for each player.

18.1 The contract value is calculated using the formula:

((Estimated Value - Pool Price) / 2) * (games played for club / gameweeks since last contract paid)

18.1.1 This can be described as half the difference between Estimated Value and Pool Price, multiplied by the proportion of games played for the club since the last contract payment out of the number of games he could have played in that time.

18.1.2 If Pool Price is greater than Estimated Value then the contract payable shall be zero.

18.1.3The Contract payable for a given player is dependent upon the number of times a player has played for his “real” team, including as an unused substitute. For the purposes of the contract calculation, he is deemed to have played for his Fantacy team if he has earned gate receipts, even if he should have been an unused substitute for his Fantacy team. (02.04.11 Meeting April 2011)

18.1.4 A full contract entitlement is reached after 38 appearances and scaled down in proportion for fewer appearances. i.e. if a player plays every week between contract payments he gets his full contract. (04.04.10 Meeting April 2010)

18.2 Contracts are payable at the point at which a player signs a contract with a club (signing-on) and at the deadline day meeting (April Fools). (04.04.10 Meeting April 2010)

18.2.1 Any outstanding contracts resultant from previous periods of being under contract at a club must be paid at signing-on.

18.2.1.1 Signing-on liabilities are fixed at the time a player leaves a club, based on his value at that time, the pool price at that time and the number of appearances since a contract was last paid. If the player returns to the same club in the future, this is the figure that shall be paid. It is based upon his performances for that club for which he has not yet been paid a contract.

18.2.1.2 Any signing-on liabilities for players that they release through trade shall be made known to managers on their team page on the Fantacy website. (04.04.10 Meeting April 2010)

18.2.2 The contract payment at deadline day is akin to a contract extension fee. A manager may choose from these options: (04.04.10 Meeting April 2010)

18.2.2.1 Managers may elect to pay the amount calculated in accordance with the statutory calculation (above), which ensures that the maximum required to be paid will be no more than three quarters of their value and may be nil. In this case the services of the subject players may be retained and their Pool price shall be increased by an equivalent amount.

18.2.2.2 Managers may decline to pay the contract, in which case they shall choose one of the following options:

18.2.2.2.1The player shall be returned to the pool with all attendant provisions applying. When a player returns to the pool then all signing-on fee liabilities are cancelled. In this case the player has been returned to the open market and the market will decide an appropriate price for him. (04.04.10 Meeting April 2010)

18.2.2.2.2 The player shall depart in consequence of trade. A Manager can avoid paying contracts by transferring their players to other clubs but will have to pay the player’s contract if he should return. (02.04.11 Meeting April 2011).

18.2.2.2.3 The manager shall retain the player at the club until the end of the season, at which time he shall become a free agent. He shall at this time return to the pool on a free transfer and the manager shall hold no claim to him. (04.04.10 Meeting April 2010)

18.3 There exists a default position, which is that should a manager not indicate his intention at deadline day for how his players’ contracts should be dealt with then the league shall assume that he wishes to pay said contracts in full and shall action this. Managers should be aware that this could result in the club becoming overdrawn, which is a punishable breach, for which sanctions apply.

Salary

19 Salaries shall be paid each week to all players contracted to clubs, at the rate of 0.4% of their Estimated Value (30.10.11Cow Barn Meat Agenda) at the previous gameweek 30. (13.02.11 Meeting February 2011)

Pool Price

20 Pool price is the sum total of all monies that have been paid into the Pool in respect of a given player since that player was last bought from the Pool. Pool price travels with the player if he transfers to another Fantacy Football Club and is reset to zero when he re-enters the Pool. Pool price comprises the initial payment to the Pool for the player plus any subsequent contract settlements that have been paid for that player (05.10.08 Scrapping the 3 player concession for the current season).

Value

The value of players shall be their actual worth as calculated in accordance with the statutory calculation (see under contract).

Resale Value

The resale value of players shall be half of their price or such lower amount, as may be their value . On sale to the pool it shall not be permissible for clubs to nett more than the resale value but on trade no such restrictions shall apply as the fantacy football league endorses and applauds all free market principles and recognises that the freedom of clubs to pursue profit may not be fettered in any way whatsoever and for the avoidance of doubt that statement of principle extends to nullifying anything contained in these rules which may otherwise serve to so restrain unless and only in the event that managers embark upon a course of conduct which is complained of as fraudulent. In those circumstances a tribunal will be conducted at the next fantacy meeting.

During such periods as they may be imprisoned or under investigation for drugs offences their resale value shall be nil but for the avoidance of doubt this shall not prevent managers from engaging in trade.

Pool

The pool is the residual list of players eligible to play in the fantacy football league but not contracted to one of the clubs.

Signings from the pool shall be made for a minimum of one quarter of a million fantacy pounds and returns to the pool shall be for resale value.

Trade

Trade between clubs is permissible and, indeed, is to be encouraged. Managers may trade between themselves and engage in swap deals and loan deals and on whatever other such terms as they may see fit. Loaned players shall not be relegated with any club at which they may be on loan unless specifically provided for in the loan agreement. No loan deals may be entered into be entered into after the April Fools fantacy meeting. For the avoidance of doubt there shall be no limit on the amount of loan agreements permissible between clubs during a season nor on the length of a loan deal save for that no loan deal may be entered into which shall come to an end between the April Fools meeting and the end of the season.

The fantacy football league operates on a free market philosophy and any restraint of trade is viewed as repugnant. Self regulation, however, carries burdens as well as benefits and any malpratice or misfeasance can only undermine the good repute of the organisation and any attempt to undermine the fragile economic integrity of the pool shall be frowned upon and may be punished by the imposition of whatsoever penalties as may be necessary as may be decided by a tribunal convened at a fantacy meeting.

LTG

LTG is an abbreviation for "Long Term Gamble" and any footballers who may be acquired from the pool but who are contracted to a "real" team whose results do not count for the purposes of calculating fantacy points may be acquired on such a basis and they may subsequently be incorporated but only during any period when such footballers play for a "real" team whose results do so count. For the avoidance of doubt, however, managers shall be under no obligation to incorporate them at such a time or at all. If, though, they generate a contract value greater than nil (See under contract) then at the transfer deadline fantacy meeting they must be incorporated or relinquished in which case the fantacy money paid for the LTG shall be forfeited unless they are otherwise sold.

If incorporated all of the usual rules applying players and teams to and including the two-player rule and the need for an available berth in position shall apply immediately. Hence incorporation and immediate resale must of necessity result in a vacant position but for the avoidance of doubt prior incorporation is not necessary for the purposes enabling trade between clubs.

Other than that all of the usual rules of purchase apply with the further proviso that the following minimum purchase prices shall apply depending from which "real" league the LTG is taken

• Championship - 0.75m
• League one - 0.5m
• League two - 0.25m
• Overseas - 2.00m

Managers

Managers duties include an obligation to carry out business on behalf of their clubs and to notify to the fantacy football league all such business decisions. Furthermore they must seek to create as vibrant an identity as they are able by way of (but not limited to) picking and naming the teams, purchasing the players, creating nicknames, designing crests, composing terrace chants, naming stadiums etc.

Managerial vacancies may arise in consequence of sacking arising from relegation or resignation or eviction. Surprisingly, resignation is not uncommon. Eviction is less common but can only be decided on by a majority vote at fantacy meetings.

Fantacy money

Fantacy money is in the currency of fantacy pounds sterling and shall be acquired by clubs only from:

1. gate receipts
2. their manager being declared the manager of the week
3. finishing in positions one to five of the cream
4. competing in the Challange Cup
5. competing in the League Cup
6. compensation

Compensation

Compensation shall be payable to clubs in the form of fantacy money at the rate of half of the difference between the price at which players are sold to the pool and the price at which they are reacquired to play in other teams provided that such reacquisition occurs within three months of their sale and the manager who sold requests compensation within that period and took no part in the bidding process leading up to their being repurchased. For the avoidance of doubt this provision shall only extend to LTGs if they are actually incorporated within the three month timescale.

Gambling

Gambling of fantacy money by managers is permitted. Brian "long odds" Davis of Fungusspor is the fantacy football league’s official bookmaker. Freedom for clubs to gamble their assets as they see fit is, however, subject to the same broad statement of principle as is set out herein relating to trade.

Gate Receipts

Gate receipts are the clubs' primary source of fantacy money and are paid weekly at the rate of one fantacy pound for each spectator who watches any of their players perform in the in the "real" world although if such performance is limited to the bench only half the gate receipts shall be paid. No gate receipts shall be paid in the event that they do not make it to the bench.

Further, in the League Cup double gate receipts shall be paid for competing in the group stages and up to and including the semi finals and triple gate receipts shall be paid for competing in the final. In the Challange Cup double gate receipts shall be paid for competing in the group stages and up to and including the sixth round, triple gate receipts shall be paid for competing in the semi-finals and quadruple gate receipts shall be paid for competing in the final.

Manager of the Week

Managers shall earn half a million pounds of fantacy money for their clubs for each of the thirty eight weeks comprising the Premiership that they are designated the manager of the week and such designation shall arise in consequence of their by fielding of whichsoever of the teams scores the most fantacy points in each such week and their designation shall be marked by the drawing around their results sheet a black box.

In the event of two or more tying the award shall be shared equally between them.

Cream

The cream shall comprise the top finishing six in the Premiership and as well as finishing in positions one to five thereof being a source of fantacy money the entire group shall form one of the two groupings for the next League Cup.

At the end of each season the cream shall be paid by the Fantacy Football League the following amounts of fantacy money

1st - 3 million fantacy pounds

2nd - 2½ million fantacy pounds

3rd - 2 million fantacy pounds

4th - 1½ million fantacy pounds

5th - 1 million fantacy pounds

6th - ½ million fantacy pounds

League Cup

The League Cup is considered to be the third most prestigious of the competitions and takes place firstly in two group stages in which those teams comprising the previous season's cream play each other home and away and those in the dross do likewise. The criteria for winning, losing or drawing is on goals alone and own goals shall count for the opposition. Three points are awarded for a win, two points for a draw and no points for a loss.

For each group, mini league tables are produced and the top two finishing of each go into the semi finals and the winners of those on to the final. The semi finals are two legged games. The final is a straightforward ninety-minute match played on Boxing Day. Fantacy money is awarded to all participating clubs. Both one of the trophies and prize money (or free subscriptions for the following season) are awarded to the winner who must host a fantacy meeting on the date of the third round of the FA Cup.

In the event of a drawn semi-final aggregate score after two legs, or a drawn final then the total amount of fantacy points scored during the given week(s) shall decide the winner.

Golden Boot

The Golden Boot is one of the minor competitions and shall be awarded to whichsoever of the teams scores the most goals during the season. Both one of the trophies and prize money are awarded to the winner.

Dirty Bastard Boot (in the Bollocks)

The Dirty Bastard Boot (in the Bollocks) is one of the minor competitions and shall be awarded to whichsoever of the is given the most negative fantacy points for picking up red and yellow cards during the season . Both one of the trophies and prize money are awarded to the winner.

Prize Money

Prize money of "real" money of varying amounts to be decided fantacy meetings shall be awarded to the managers of the clubs finishing either first or second in the Premiership , winning the Challange Cup, winning the League Cup (although in that competition the winner may instead elect not to pay subscriptions to the fantacy football league the following season), winning the Golden Boot and winning the Dirty Bastard Boot (in the Bollocks).

Relegation

Relegation shall be the sanction applied to teams for finishing bottom of the Premiership but this must be distinguished from ejection from the fantacy football league. Failed managers may either:

1. Elect to continue to participate in which case they shall host the first of the fantacy meetings where they shall have made available to them all of their clubs’ fantacy money held in their bank accounts together with the full price of their players regardless of their resale value (who shall all be returned to the pool) with which to build a promoted team (who must operate under a new name) to compete in the next season’s competitions, or
2. Request that a new manager be appointed

There shall be two concessions as follows:

1. all LTGs shall remain with them and may subsequently be incorporated in the usual manner
2. the first transfer of the season shall be a free transfer to the promoted team

The sanction to for finishing bottom for a second successive is sacking.

New Manager

A new manager shall only ever be appointed to the fantacy football league in the event of one of the existing manager's resignation, eviction or sacking and may be identified and invited to participate ideally from a waiting list but in practice following a mad scramble with only seconds remaining before the season kicks off

In the event of a vacancy arising through relegation he shall have made available to him all of the clubs’ assets and the same rules shall apply as apply to relegated teams save that for the purposes of building a promoted team he may retain as many of the players as he chooses although the right to sell them to the pool for their price should he not elect to sell them by way of the first piece of business at the first fantacy meeting shall thereafter lapse and unless sold through trade they shall thereafter nett only their resale value.

Care in the Community Shield

The Care in the Community Shield is the least prestigious of the competitions and doesn't physically exist but is perversely the hardest to win as to enter it clubs must first win the Premiership the previous season. Participating teams play against the Charity XI "best of the rest" picked by the other eleven managers each given a berth to fill from their own players at random but in practice the Charity XI is either picked by the management of BSE Eindhoven or not at all owing to lack of commitment and/or charity.

The match is a straight head to head and is won or lost on fantacy points alone.

The only prize for winning it is respect, or it would be if it were respected. The fantacy website does not even record the result. The only records exist in copies of old match reports.

Neither one of the trophies nor prize money is awarded to the winner.

Mug of the Year

The Mug of the Year is the second least prestigious of the competitions and its present whereabouts is unknown. It is an occasional award made by the managers to one of their number for the most disastrous or stupid management decision of the season.

No prize money is awarded but it is one trophies of the fantacy football league and therefore it may be awarded to the winner if ever located.

Premiership

The Premiership is the most prestigious of the competitions and is decided on the results of thirty eight separate weekly matches in each of which each of teams the are awarded either a win for which they gain three points, a draw for which they gain one point or a loss for which they gain no points. After the conclusion of all the "real" matches they are each ranked from positions one to twelve in accordance firstly with the amount of fantacy points gained then on goals scored, then on assist points, then on defensive points, then on alphabetical order . Thereafter wins, draws and losses shall be allocated pursuant to the proportional win system i.e. there shall the same proportion of wins as in the "real" Premiership rounded to the nearest integer.

At the end of the thirty eighth week the final table will determine which of the clubs are the champions and which are the cream (and the top five finishing of that group will be paid fantacy money from the top five finishing of the dross and such categorisation will determine the groupings for next the League Cup.

The ultimate of trophies is awarded to the champion and prize money is paid to the champion (which shall be spent in its entirety hosting an end of season party) and to the runner up. The loser faces relegation.

Challange Cup

The Challange Cup is the premier of the fantacy football league's cup competitions. All twelve clubs participate and are paid fantacy money for each match they play. Each match shall be played the week prior to the "real" Challenge (sic) cup round save for the final which shall be played simultaneous with the final match of the Premiership.

In the preliminary stages the teams shall be divided into three groups. Kevin Roberts of Chicken Kiev shall allocate all fixtures at random and from the hat. Each shall play the other three in their group and must defeat their opponent by more than five fantacy points to be awarded a win otherwise the match shall be declared a draw. At the conclusion of the group stage matches the top two from each group and the two highest scoring runners up will progress to the knockout stages.

During the knockout stages once again the fixtures shall be drawn from the hat but those who were previously drawn together in the group stages shall not play each other again other than in the final drawn. In knockout stage matches in the event of a draw the winner shall be decided by way of a penalty shoot out and the team with the most goals scored shall be declared the winner. In the event of a penalty shoot out drawn on goals the requirement for the five point win margin shall be disapplied. In the event that all of the above fails to decide a winner, the game shall be replayed or in the case of the final the cup and prize shall be awarded to the winner of a bout of bare-knuckle boxing between the competing managers.

The winner is awarded the most prestigious of cup trophies and generous prize money.

Penalty Money

Penalty money must be paid to the fantacy football league by teams found guilty of committing punishable breaches.

Dross

The dross shall comprise the bottom finishing six in the Premiership and shall form one of the two groupings for the next League Cup.

Punishable Breaches

45 The punishable breaches of the rules are as follows:

45.1 Fielding an illegal team. There are two ways in which an illegal team may be fielded:

45.1.1 Having, within a team, more than the legal limit of players from any one "real" team at Kickoff of a Gameweek, the sanction for which is that:

45.1.1.1 The league will ‘send to the stands’ whichever player will result in the lowest points total for the manager during that week. The league will send to the stands one player for each offence, each time maximising the loss of points. This is not necessarily the highest scoring of the offending players. In the case that fewer points are scored by playing all offending players, then all are played and whichever other player(s) in the team whose removal would maximise the loss of points shall be ‘sent to the stands’.

45.1.1.1.1 For clarity, ‘offending player’ in the context of paragraph 45.1.1.1 refers to any of the players from the real team whose legal limit has been exceeded.

45.1.1.1.2 ‘Sent to the stands’ means that any points scored by the player that week will not be counted for the purposes of allocating points to the team and he shall earn no gate receipts. He shall, however, receive a salary from his club.

(05.10.08 Scrapping the 3 player concession for the current season).

45.1.1.2 The sanctions contained within paragraph 45.1.1.1 shall be applied to each Gameweek that the illegal team is fielded until the manager has made his squad legal.

45.1.1.3 A ‘skull and crossbones’ shall be inscribed alongside the club’s name on the League Table, which shall remain there until the end of the season.

45.1.2 Having, within a team, more than the legal limit of players in a given position (goal, defence, midfield or attack) at Kickoff of a Gameweek, the sanction for which is that:

45.1.2.1 The league shall first make the team legal by ‘sending to the stands’ whichever player(s) in the position(s) that has/have too many players will result in the lowest points total for the manager during that week. The league will ‘send to the stands’ one player for each offending player, each time maximising the loss of points. The team will then compete in all competitions as usual.

45.1.2.1.1 ‘Sent to the stands’ means that any points scored by the player that week will not be counted for the purposes of allocating points to the team and he shall earn no gate receipts. He shall, however, receive a salary from his club.

45.1.2.2 All points awarded for winning or drawing in the Premiership will then be deducted from the club’s points total in the league table. Any points awarded for winning or drawing in the group stages of any cup competitions they may have competed in shall be deducted from the relevant group table. If the team competed in a knockout stage of a cup competition then they shall be deemed to have lost and their competitor will progress to the next round.

45.1.2.3 The Club shall be fined 1 million pounds of Fantacy Money.

45.1.2.4 The sanctions contained within paragraphs 45.1.2.1 to 45.1.2.3 shall be applied to each Gameweek that the illegal team is fielded until the manager has made his squad legal.

45.1.2.5 A ‘skull and crossbones’ shall be inscribed alongside the club’s name on the League Table, which shall remain there until the end of the season.

(Meeting February 2012, 21.02.12)

45.2 Being overdrawn, the sanction for which is that:

45.2.1 All points awarded for winning or drawing in the Premiership shall be deducted from the club’s points total in the league table. Any points awarded for winning or drawing in the group stages of any cup competitions they may have competed in shall be deducted from the relevant group table. If the team competed in a knockout stage of a cup competition then they shall be deemed to have lost and their competitor will progress to the next round.

45.2.2 The Club shall be fined 1 million pounds of Fantacy Money.

45.2.3 The sanctions contained within paragraphs 45.2.1 to 45.2.2 shall be applied to each Gameweek that the illegal team is fielded until the manager has made his squad legal.

45.2.4 A ‘skull and crossbones’ shall be inscribed alongside the club’s name on the League Table, which shall remain there until the end of the season.

Fantacy Meetings

47 Fantacy meetings are the preferred forum for conducting all business relating to the fantacy football league and the only forum for amending the rules. They can also be used for the purchase of players from the Pool, transfer of players between managers and the purchase of LTG’s, as well as any other business or discussion that is deemed appropriate.

47.1 Meetings shall be conducted through the medium of Internet Messenger or some similar internet messaging system that allows for the recording of dialogue between managers as text.

47.1.1 This text shall be saved by one of the participating managers at the end of the meeting and posted to the Fantacy Football email group and shall constitute the minutes of the meeting.

47.2 A meeting shall be deemed to have been convened when a minimum of two managers are in attendance and in dialogue through the medium of Internet Messenger. From this point, until the minutes are saved, it will be possible to conduct transactions and make decisions through the process of voting, that shall be considered valid and the will of the League. It is deemed good form to allow a reasonable amount of time for any managers to arrive who, through the Fantacy Football email group, have previously expressed an intention to attend.

47.3 Meetings may be convened at any time but shall take place on five occasions each season.: For guidance, the recommended dates are as follows:

47.3.1 On the date that the Community Shield is played in the "real world", the Opening Meeting shall be hosted by the manager of the bottom finishing of the clubs in the previous season

47.3.2 On a date during the month of October, hosted by the manager of BSE Eindhoven at the Cow Barn

47.3.3 On a date during the month of December, hosted by a volunteer.

47.3.4 On a date during the month of February, hosted by whichsoever manager has been the winner of the League Cup.

47.3.5 On the first weekend in April (the April Fools’ meeting), hosted by whichsoever manager is the current leader of the Dirty Bastard Boot (in the Bollocks) trophy.

(02.04.11 Meeting April 2011)

47.4 The precise date and time of the meeting will be agreed by consensus through the medium of the Fantacy Football Email Group, in order to facilitate the attendance of as many managers as possible. All dates are variable except those of the Opening Meeting and the April Fools’ Meeting.

47.4.1 The usual time for meetings to start is 1200GMT on a Sunday but this can be varied if there is a clear consensus, as determined through the Fantacy Football Email Group, that it should be otherwise and the host is in agreement.

47.4.2 The Opening Meeting and the April Fools’ Meeting shall be held on the dates specified above, at 1200GMT, unless there is a clear consensus, as determined through the Fantacy Football Email Group, that it should be otherwise and the host is in agreement. If one manager objects to variation of the date and time of either of these two meetings then the meeting must be held at the aforesaid date and time. The reason for this is to allow managers to plan around these dates, to facilitate their attendance at these two most important meetings.

47.5 The role of the host is to make the final decision on the date and time of the meeting, within the parameters set out in sections 47.3 and 47.4, and to provide hospitality to whichever managers wish to attend the meeting in person at the host’s home stadium.

47.6 The usual protocol for the format of the meeting is to follow the following agenda:

47.6.1 The meeting is opened by dealing with any Agenda Items that have been raised in advance of the meeting on the Meeting Spreadsheet. Agenda items usually take the form of proposals for changes to the rules and there is a procedure in place which explains how this is to be conducted.

47.6.2 If the meeting is the Cow Barn (second fantacy meeting of the season) then the positional tribunal shall be held, at which compliance with the bible rule shall be enforced, before any other business is entered into

47.6.3 The meeting then moves onto Business which involves players already under contract with a club or in the Pool.

47.6.4 The meeting then usually ends with business that involves other players i.e. LTG’s.

47.6.5 In the context of a Fantacy Football Meeting, the term ‘business’ refers to the buying and selling of players, either between managers or between managers and the Pool. This includes the buying and selling of LTG’s.

Procedure for proposing and enacting changes to the rules

49 The Procedure for proposing, ratifying and enacting changes to the rules is as follows:

49.1 At least seven days prior to each meeting, the Fantacy Football League Administrator, or his delegate, shall make available to all managers, through the medium of Googledocs or some similar document sharing service, a spreadsheet that shall make it possible to:

49.1.1 Record proposed changes to The Rules with any options that are to be voted upon. There shall also be a facility for managers to record their vote in respect of each option.

49.1.2 Record business conducted during the course of the meeting.

49.2 Any manager who wishes to propose a change to the rules shall first put their suggestion into an email and post it to the Fantacy Football Email Group for general discussion.

49.3 If their appears to be some merit to the proposal, the proposer, or his delegate, will insert the Proposal, including any options that are to be voted upon, into the Fantacy Football Meeting Spreadsheet in preparation for the next Fantacy Football Meeting. This must be done at least seven days in advance of the scheduled date of the Meeting.

49.4 The Proposal will be debated and voted upon at the meeting. Votes may be cast in advance of the meeting on the spreadsheet.

49.4.1 All votes, whether cast before or during the meeting, must be registered on the relevant spreadsheet in order to be counted.

49.4.1.1 If the proposal has been raised in the aforementioned manner then a majority of the managers in attendance at the meeting plus any managers who have cast their vote in advance on the spreadsheet must vote ‘yes’ in order for the proposal to be agreed.

49.4.1.2 If the proposal has been entered onto the spreadsheet less than seven days in advance of the meeting then a majority of all managers in the league must vote ‘yes’ for the proposal to be agreed (i.e. at least seven votes in favour).

49.4.2 The vote must be concluded at the meeting since this is the only forum at which changes to the rules can be made.

49.5 If the vote at the meeting results in a change to the rules, the proposer, or his delegate, will summarise, in the form of a Rule, the outcome of the vote and post it to the Fantacy Football Email Group with an 'object by' date of seven days ahead of the date it was posted.

49.5.1 If no objections to the wording are raised it will be assumed that the rule, as written, represents a true reflection of the wishes of the meeting and the rule shall be deemed ratified. The proposer, or his delegate, will enter it into the Rule Book in the appropriate position.

49.5.2 If there are objections to the wording of the rule then all parties should try to resolve any differences through dialogue on the email group.

49.5.2.1 If these objections can be resolved at any time within a fourteen day resolution period, the rule shall be deemed ratified as a true reflection of the wishes of the meeting. The proposer, or his delegate, will enter it into the Rule Book in the appropriate position.

49.5.2.2 If there is no resolution within fourteen days the rule change shall be abandoned and a new proposal will have to be put forward to the next meeting to allow full clarification and further voting if necessary.

49.6 Alongside the new rule shall be entered three dates: the date the rule was agreed (meeting date, with reference [including link] to the relevant spreadsheet), the date it was entered into the Rule Book and the date that it will be enacted.

49.7 The enactment date shall be the date that the rule was entered into the Rule Book, unless the meeting voted and agreed that the rule should be enacted at some other time (e.g. at the beginning of the next season). Exceptionally, the meeting may vote to enact the rule with immediate effect but this should be avoided because there can be no ratification prior to implementation and a rule shall be in force that does not exist in the Rule Book.

49.8 Ratification timescales can be varied only if the meeting votes to do so at the time of agreeing the rule.

49.9 If the new rule replaces an already existing rule, it shall be entered immediately below the already existing rule which shall be 'greyed out', not deleted, so that the changes can be tracked and the Rule Book will represent a complete record of all rules that exist now and have ever existed.

49.10 The Rule Book shall take the form of numbered paragraphs with numbered subsections to aid easy referencing.

49.11 The Rule Book shall be available for inspection at all times on the Fantacy Football website.

49.12 For the purposes of email filtering, all correspondence that relates to the Rules or Rule Book shall include the word 'rule' in the subject line. All correspondence that relates to the ratification of a rule or rules shall include the word 'ratification' in the subject line and all correspondence that relates to proposals for future rule changes shall include the word 'proposal' in the subject line. For example: "rule ratification: fantacy meetings", "rule proposal: illegal teams". The words 'rule', 'ratification' and 'proposal' should be avoided in all other correspondence as far as possible.

Extraordinary clarification of rules between meetings

50 In exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary for the League Administrator to seek clarification from the League on how a rule is to be administered in order to progress with publishing the results for a given week.

50.1 The Fantacy Football League Administrator, or his delegate shall:

50.1.1 Inform the league through the fantacy email list of the issues involved and propose at least one solution.

50.1.2 Make available to all managers, through the medium of Googledocs or some similar document sharing service, a spreadsheet that shall explain the issue and offer at least one solution for managers to vote upon. There shall be a facility for managers to record their vote in respect of each option.

50.2 The issues shall be debated through dialogue on the Fantacy email group.

50.3 Managers shall record their votes on the spreadsheet within a timescale determined by the League Administrator but with the intention of clarifying the rule in time for the results to be published before the next Gameweek begins.

50.4 The option that records the highest number of 'yes' votes shall be adopted. In the event that only one option is to be voted upon, it shall be agreed if a majority of the managers who record a vote on the spreadsheet vote ‘yes’.