KickAbout Rulebook

There are many competitions within a KICKABOUT season besides the League Championship itself, and it is often these competitions that keep a season alive for a team struggling to maintain the league form needed to win Division Championships.

With the knock-out competitions, such as the Cup [and the Bowl for those are KO’d at the 1st round of the Cup], the games works as a straight one-leg competition, with a replay being played if the first match ends in a draw after ninety minutes. This replay will be on the opponent’s turf, and will go to extra time, and a penalty shoot-out if necessary.

The third knockout competition played within a league is the Trophy, which runs in the second half of the season and encompasses all the Third and Fourth Division clubs and the bottom eight in Division Two. The Trophy is different in that there are no replays. The games, if drawn, go into extra time and, if required, a penalty shootout.

The longest running knockout competition inside every League is the League Cup. The first round consists of the 32 lowest-placed teams in the league from last season, who will play each other on a two-leg basis, the winners going through to meet the remaining 16 teams for round two [ the12 sides from Division 1 and the top 4 in Division 2 ] . These will be played as two-legs also, as will round three and the Quarter-Finals. Both the Semi-finals and Final are straight one-leg games and will be played on Neutral grounds with the games going to a replay and extra time if drawn, again held on neutral grounds. Note that Email and premier leagues might well have differing League Cup set-ups.

You must check your Pre-Season Info booklet for the session times of all these competitions, and your league schedule. If you have more than two scheduled matches on any one session, you will be unable to arrange any friendly games (see later) for that same session, and you do not want to miss putting a team out for a vital cup game.

During the season there will also be REPRESENTATIVE games between sides chosen from the best players in each Kickabout League. Players chosen for the Representative Squad will earn their clubs a £50,000 (50K) bonus, each and every time they are chosen for the squad. The Representative squad manager will usually be the Manager voted Manager of the Year from the previous season for each league. The League that wins the ‘REP’ competition gives all its players a higher chance of turning STAR the following season, and existing STARS may even start the new season still a STAR, so winning the REP competition is a big, big bonus to have.

As every league of KICKABOUT, plays its season in parallel with all the other leagues, the management of Euro games is somewhat different to others. Your normal matches are played on the session you send in your orders, and you can see their results in the newsletter for that session. However, Cross-League games differ from this in that the competitions that feature teams from every league cannot be played until the data for each of those leagues has been entered. Consequently, for matches where your opposition is from another league, you will have to wait until the following session before you learn of the results. The matches are played at the very end of the session for ALL leagues, so the results of the game will be applied to your squad sheets BEFORE your next set of matches are entered. This means that any suspensions, injuries and/or SP’s you gain will already have been added to your squad, and though the SP’s will be carried over until NEXT session, the unavailable players will still count as being so for the current one. This is why you may find you need to rely on your substitutes, as players you pick thinking that they are eligible for the game, may not be. If the result of a cross-league game is of specific importance to you, then you may prefer to call us and find out the result before submitting your team for the next session.

INTERNATIONAL matches also take place, and International managers are generally selected by the GM, based on individual success, club player nationalities and other factors. All players of the selected nationalities have a chance of playing for their country during the International tournaments, based on their current ability and form. Players selected for this International squad all gain their clubs a 25K bonus EACH TIME that they are chosen for the international squad.

Managers who control an International side can also gain benefits for their own club too, in the form of financial rewards for success and a prize of 1 Motivation Point for each time they win a match + 100K if this is against higher rated opposition. Only by beating the best do you get rewards. International managers also receive a free SUPERSCOUT for their club side on the basis that they know more about the players in any particular league through their International scouts. Each Representative and International team is allocated 20 MPs and 2 PPs which can be used up during the season. The maximum aggression that can be played in any match is four points (see later). The player who manages the winner s/ runners-up and beaten semi-finalists of the international competitions will win a cash prize for his club as well.

The squad selection process is controlled by the computer, which will produce a 22 man squad for the managers concerned to select from. Generally it selects the best players in each League, though some specialist players might be conspicuous by their absence at times. The managers concerned then have to select the team in exactly the same way as they would for normal club match.

Selected, experienced managers, will be invited to manage International and Rep squads

Finally, after all the hurly-burly of the important games and matches, we reach the relatively low-key, though crucial Friendly games. Clubs who have no second or third match in any session may play a friendly (one per session only). This has to be arranged by yourself (the Yahoo forums are a good place to oranise these), and will be against a team from your League.

If you are lucky there will be a player-run friendly pool in your league (see the appropriate league's startup newsletter for news of this!)

Friendlies are vital for youth development and are exactly the same in all respects as competitive matches. There is no aggression allowed in a friendly match, though the computer will apply a random aggression with the consequent results. This random aggression is generated with its base in the number of disciplinary points each side has generated during the season; when two notoriously dirty teams meet in a friendly game, you can bet that it will be anything but!

Winners of friendly games receive 10K, though no success points.

Note that you can only play friendlies against the same opponent twice per season, once at home and once away; there are NO neutral ground friendlies.

Friendlies are EXTREMELY important for bringing on young players, but tend to be treated in a somewhat cavalier fashion by many managers. If somebody contacts you to play a game, make sure you turn up and at the right venue as well! Otherwise the game won’t be played. Also, always check that a prior commitment doesn’t prevent your opponent from playing (a Cup replay perhaps). Friendly slots are too valuable to lose, but it often happens.

Also, when arranging frieldlies remember that if you play your derby opponent in a friendly then it will still be a derby game, and this is the ONLY case in which you are allowed to select aggression for the match; four points is the minimum AND maximum in this case. You must apply this minimum yourself or it will be doubled by the computer.

Kickabout has a thriving on-line community. Since the majority of our players, use Shomatch, Teampick and MarkInfo and receive their session updates via Shomatch, each league within the game has its own online list where managers chat, arrange deals and discuss issues involving the improvement of Kickabout. Currently, these chat groups are hosted by yahoogroups.

The primary on-line group is kickabout@yahoogroups.com where there is lots of lively Kickabout debate and discussion. This is a moderated group and you can request access by sending an email to kickabout-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

There is also a dedicated group for each league. This helps to ensure that the main list doesn't get clogged up with league specific chatter. Managers use league specific groups to arrange friendlies and derbies. Also these groups are used to buy and sell players.

So if you had a team in the Disraeli league, you would apply to join that list ka-disraeli@yahoogroups.com. Again this is a moderated list and you would request access by sending an email to ka-disraeli-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Generally the format of the league lists names follows the convention shown in the above Disraeli example but if you have any problems then just ask on the main list.

Kickabout is hugely addictive and we have many players that have been playing the game for nearly 15 years, with the player community having a real social aspect to it that Spellbinder actively promotes and supports. There are regular Pub meets in London, Glasgow, Norwich & Wigan where players get together to talk, deal, spy, and learn from each other. The GM regularly attends [at least the London meets] and even occasionally buys a drink, though do not rely on this.

The highlight of the Kickabout year is the Kickabout weekend, held at locations around the country (Blackpool, Norwich, Glasgow and Kent have all hosted weekends), when the much prized title of Kickabout Champion is fought over. For most attendees this is a three day booze-fest with much laughter and the occasional session to fill in, unless you are one of the ‘saddoes’ who take the weekend too seriously…..it is after all a game ☺

There are also, bi-annual virtual weekends where an entire league is played across a weekend.

KICKABOUT is paid for by players every Session, with current fees per session running at just £3.00 for the postal and premier leagues, with the e-mail leagues from September 2009 running at £2.75 per session. This fee is irrespective of how many games you play in that session as we unlike other soccer PBM’s, can see no reason for penalising players who achieve success and hence have to play more games. On top of this basic cost, there is a start-up fee to pay upon joining the game, which is currently £7.50, for which you get your rulebook, back newsletters, team-sheets and first two sessions. For brandnew managers, you may be asked to credit your account with enough money to cover the first FOUR sessions (£12.00), as we tend to prefer keeping idle browsers and rulebook collectors at bay. You are in no way losing out with this, as you will still get the sessions you would have to pay for anyway, but it stops the casual players dropping in and out of the game on every other session, and upsetting the flow and feel of league as a result. I you have email though you can get this and your first turn for free. In KICKABOUT, Managers who drop out (or are sacked), are replaced as soon as possible, normally on the same session. Unlike many of our competitors, we cannot see the point in playing computer-run teams we much prefer having real people as Managers running our teams!

A full-season of KICKABOUT, covering sixteen sessions in all (and including your pre-season Session startup fee), costs £51.00 for the postal and premier leagues; whilst the e-mail leagues all season costs just £46.75. Please note that this payment is non-refundable, as you have reserved your position in the league for the whole season, and if you choose to drop out, then you forfeit your right to any recovery of that money. Our side of the agreement is that we will supply a whole season of KICKABOUT for your payment, which we will always meet. If you choose not to play it, then it is you that is breaking the agreement, not us. And, as a final note, if you submit orders when your account is overdrawn, or does not have enough money in it to cover the current session (i.e. less than £3.00 for postal and premier leagues and £2.75 for the e-mail leagues), you will be charged a double turn fee. This is done to discourage those players who seem to think we are a bank, not a business, and constantly play accounts which are overdrawn. The phrase which sums up our position is

`You must pay to play’

Ignore this, and you will find yourself pushed further into debt. If, after this, you submit a second set of orders without credit, you will be sacked as manager of the team, and your position given to someone else. Try to remember that we are a business, not a hobby; I do have a family to feed after all. If you advise a friend to join KICKABOUT, and he tells us that you did so on his start-up turn, we will credit your account with one session’s turn fees as a thank-you. However, please explain to your friends that they must send in their £7.50 start-up fee if they wish to play KICKABOUT, as just submitting their name and address will get them nothing at all.

It is still possible to play the game by sending and receiving your turns in the post.

There are two ways of paying for your mailing costs throughout the season, either by submitting an SAE each session, or by paying for a whole seasons mailing in advance. The latter option will cost you just £7.50 (£9.50 Overseas) for the whole season, while the former means that you MUST submit an SAE each session, and be liable to a £1.00 surcharge that is needed as we try and stem the rising tide of players who cannot be bothered to do either. Be warned; if you don’t pay for your mailing, and don’t submit SAE’s, then you will find that it gets very expensive!

We aim to keep the game to a four-week turnaround for postal leagues, fortnightly for email leagues so that you gain the maximum enjoyment from our product. Each session your squad sheet will inform you of the next RETURN-BY-DATE, which will be the day we expect your orders to arrive back to us.

Any orders arriving twenty-four hours after this date will be deemed late and you will receive one less automatic Success Point [SP] on the following session, so it is up to you to return your orders swiftly to keep the SP’s flowing. Your turns will generally (all things allowing) be processed the day after the RETURN-BY-DATE and if we do not have your orders then we will use the NO MANAGER RULES (below).

Hopefully your next turn will be back in the post a day or two after that so that you will have plenty of time in which to return your next set of orders. If you have trouble in meeting deadlines, it might be wise to submit a set of stand-by orders for us to follow, rather than use the No Manager rules. This will save you precious SP’s, and will allow you to make a rough guess on what team will actually make the park for any missed games. At the start of a new season, you will be sent a standard orders sheet anyway, and if you choose not to use it, then that is up to you.

If a manager misses a session and doesn’t submit orders then the computer will select his team for him (unless he has submitted stand-by orders), but this tends to be done with little tactical thought, so your team will not do as well as if you had selected it (at least, usually!!). No success points will be allocated to training during that session; all available SP’s are converted into cash at a rate of 100K per SP instead.

Obviously, missing turns is not going to help your team building very much!

If a second session is missed then we will assume that you have dropped out of the game and a new manager will be sought to take over the management of your team. Game over!

If you feel we have made a major mistake somewhere, or there appears to be an error made concerning your orders, then please include some documentary evidence (turn sheets, printouts, etc.) when contacting us about it. Without these we have no way of checking your claims and any errors cannot be rectified. We reserve the right to overrule any claims if we consider it necessary and our decision is final. Please don’t ask for a whole session to be re-run if the error is one that cannot easily be put right. We will do all we can to rectify mistakes on our part, but we obviously cannot do anything that will adversely affect the other players in the game. Such errors are very rare indeed, and though they do occur, we hope that you will never be the victim of one. Finally, please remember that we are human, and with the sheer volume of data entry involved in KICKABOUT, we cannot claim to be 100% accurate for 100% of the time.

To err is to be human after all! [Rumour has it the GM is an alien though]!!!!!

This rulebook is only an outline of what the game of KICKABOUT contains. Much of the game revolves around the Newsletter, and it is from here that news, rules and ideas flow. Things such as the Kickabout Weekends breathe additional life into this already fascinating game, while your fellow managers are also a source of news and views, and you will receive the names and contact addresses of these with your start-up materials and fixture lists. Contacting them to arrange deals, friendly fixtures or just for an exchange of ideas can prove as much fun as the game itself.

Whatever you get out of KICKABOUT, we feel sure that you will come to see why the game is regarded as the most complex, rewarding and fulfilling of its kind on the PBM market today. Good Luck with your side, and may you reap the rewards your planning and luck deserve.

(This rulebook updated with the help of Graeme `Councilor’ Miller)