Short-lived tournament that re-invented football
BACK in our December 30 edition, reader and former Albion physio Colin Saunders paid tribute to the late Nobby Stiles.
Colin had worked for a while alongside Nobby on the West Brom staff, and we featured a photograph of a unique Albion line-up from the time when they were both based at the Hawthorns.
The picture was taken at the NEC in March 1984, when a West Bromwich side faced Arsenal, Aston Villa, Birmingham City, Ipswich Town, Nottingham Forest, Southampton and Watford in the unique Soccer 6 competition.
Colin still has a copy of the programme from the event, and it provides an exact description of how this forgotten, small-scale game was played:
“Soccer 6, the Football League’s word for it, is the nearest anybody has yet come ot transplanting the thrills and skills of the outdoor game to a restricted area indoor form of football. But there are differences.
“The most obvious, of course, is that there are only six players on the pitch at any one time. Those of you who haven’t seen Soccer 6 before will soon find out why the game is played between squads of ten.
“Each match, including the semi-finals and final, is over 15 minutes and there is no way that six players could last that long.
“Soccer 6 is football at the pace that kills. That is why we have to have unlimited subsitiutes which of course gives the manager or coach scope for some shrewd tactical
changes.
“As far as the individual player is concerned, Soccer 6 is played in bursts. It is not uncommon for a player to be on and off the field two or three times during a match.
“Another difference is the use of a sin bin. Justice, and sentence, has to be instant in Soccer 6. A player can hardly be penalised by suspending him from the next tournament. So two minutes in the sin bin benefits the opponents against whom the offence was committed.
No offside
“No substitutes are allowed during those two minutes. Players can be sent to the sin bin for all the normal soccer offences plus two more which are unique to Soccer 6.
“There is no offside. That would slow the game down. But each team must always have one player in the opposing team’s half within five second after a stoppage. This is to prevent teams packing their defence to protect a lead, and the punishment for this is a penalty.
The ball can be played to any height, but turning Soccer 6 in aerial pingpong is not on. Goals can only be scored from within the two lines
marked 30 feet each side of the half way line. Neither can the ball be played from one scoring area to the other. It must bounce within the 60 feet area in the middle of the field. So play must build up just like it does on a full size pitch.
“Incidentally, if there are any penalty shootouts,
it is a sudden death competition. Not the best of five. The first miss settles it.”
The first Soccer 6 tournament was held in 1982, and was said to have been inspired by a similar competition in the United States. Birmingham City won it in the first two years, and Arsenal in 1984.
Initialy just for Midlands clubs, the contest gradually widened to include all the top flight teams by 1988, with the highlights broadcast on the BBC. It was held at the NEC each year.
The last Soccer 6 tournament took place in 1990, when Luton Town beat Liverpool in the final.