I started playing fantasy football back when I was in secondary school – about ten years now? Give or take… In all this time I, and many others, have noticed an inevitable pattern. By the time the season is halfway through, every team has a squad that is 75% identical. Between your mini-league of friends, between every person’s fifteen man squad, all players will, without fail, be derived from a pool of about thirty players (maybe about forty if you stretch it).
Think about it. Take last season (2012-2013) as an example. Less than 15 games in, the vast majority of players had most of the following: Robin Van Persie, Juan Mata, Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez, Michu (what is his first name anyway?), Cazorla, Walcott, Benteke, Lukaku, Baines, Ivanovic, Begovic etc. About the only variation between teams came in the defensive department – an area where most players choose to field only three defenders anyway (something else that can e improved upon).
And it takes away from the enjoyment of fantasy football!* You have Van Persie in your team so you get excited when he scores. But wait, every one of your rivals has him as well except that one guy who hates him so much so you’re not really gaining any sort of advantage over the field. And in fact, some have him captain so are earning double points from him… Hmmm… Maybe you should be rooting against him? Seems counterintuitive.
Well, some quick google searching revealed two things. What we are playing in the official game (and what all the sites seem to offer), is what they call salary cap fantasy football. Every player gets a predetermined budget with which to buy any players they choose to create a squad. The option that I was after is draft style fantasy football (familiar to the American sports fans as it is apparently much bigger there). But all my searching found no such game for the English Premier League in this format. The idea is that if a player has been chosen by one team (drafted in), he cannot be a part of any other team in that league.
A bunch of friends and I tried it using a spreadsheet last season. And it was AWESOME! The draft, believe it or not, is probably the most fun part of the entire season (a lot of dedicated articles coming up on this). During the course of the season, you know the players to root for and the players not to. You are constantly scouring match reports, analysing every game in the search for hidden talent and overall, a lot more involved. And best of all, when your player scores, the points are all yours, which means the trash talk you can dish out to everyone else is unadulterated.
There were a few drawbacks of the spreadsheet method. Lots of time spent doing ‘admin work’. A few mistakes and arguments about who got who first etc. Well, when all was said and done, a mate and I decided to develop the idea into a dedicated website. So, here we are. This blog is the start. We’re working hard to get up and running before next season gets under way. If you have any suggestions feel free to follow this blog, like our page on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates.
Here’s to some speedy site-building and a great season 2013-2014!
the website under construction to be completed before the 2013/14 season starts: www.uniquefc.com
Blog is up: www.uniquefc.com/blog
Twitter: @uniqfc Facebook: under construction
Think about it. Take last season (2012-2013) as an example. Less than 15 games in, the vast majority of players had most of the following: Robin Van Persie, Juan Mata, Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez, Michu (what is his first name anyway?), Cazorla, Walcott, Benteke, Lukaku, Baines, Ivanovic, Begovic etc. About the only variation between teams came in the defensive department – an area where most players choose to field only three defenders anyway (something else that can e improved upon).
And it takes away from the enjoyment of fantasy football!* You have Van Persie in your team so you get excited when he scores. But wait, every one of your rivals has him as well except that one guy who hates him so much so you’re not really gaining any sort of advantage over the field. And in fact, some have him captain so are earning double points from him… Hmmm… Maybe you should be rooting against him? Seems counterintuitive.
Well, some quick google searching revealed two things. What we are playing in the official game (and what all the sites seem to offer), is what they call salary cap fantasy football. Every player gets a predetermined budget with which to buy any players they choose to create a squad. The option that I was after is draft style fantasy football (familiar to the American sports fans as it is apparently much bigger there). But all my searching found no such game for the English Premier League in this format. The idea is that if a player has been chosen by one team (drafted in), he cannot be a part of any other team in that league.
A bunch of friends and I tried it using a spreadsheet last season. And it was AWESOME! The draft, believe it or not, is probably the most fun part of the entire season (a lot of dedicated articles coming up on this). During the course of the season, you know the players to root for and the players not to. You are constantly scouring match reports, analysing every game in the search for hidden talent and overall, a lot more involved. And best of all, when your player scores, the points are all yours, which means the trash talk you can dish out to everyone else is unadulterated.
There were a few drawbacks of the spreadsheet method. Lots of time spent doing ‘admin work’. A few mistakes and arguments about who got who first etc. Well, when all was said and done, a mate and I decided to develop the idea into a dedicated website. So, here we are. This blog is the start. We’re working hard to get up and running before next season gets under way. If you have any suggestions feel free to follow this blog, like our page on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates.
Here’s to some speedy site-building and a great season 2013-2014!
the website under construction to be completed before the 2013/14 season starts: www.uniquefc.com
Blog is up: www.uniquefc.com/blog
Twitter: @uniqfc Facebook: under construction
