Sub Football Call For Teams For 14th Season

Auckland June 30, 2011

Sub Football Call For Teams For 14th Season

A Kiwi conceived summer football game for mixed, men’s and women’s teams is about to kick off its 14th season in Auckland and launch in Hamilton before going nationwide.

SUB Football creator Bill Davies is calling for teams and referee candidates from businesses, workmates and friends for the upcoming season which runs from late October until early March. The game is easy to play for anyone who can kick a ball and he says it is a great opportunity for those interested in becoming referees.

Davies is a former soccer player and coach who began playing at primary school level in Liverpool. He developed SUB Football to encourage more people to kick a soccer ball instead of carrying or throwing a rugby ball.

It was first played in the Auckland Domain and spread across the region. Last year some 300 teams played 2100 games on 50 pitches and over 400 teams are expected to compete this year.

Bill Davies has taken the game overseas to Ireland, Australia and the Pacific Islands. In Dublin a newspaper sports editor put him in touch with the famous Home Farm Football Club and he ran competitions there for two summers. There will be 32 teams competing in Melbourne this summer.

This season the game will also be played for the first time in Hamilton and Davies is setting up competitions to go nationwide next year.

The main difference between SUB Football and Association Football (soccer) is that the Laws of the Game do not permit players to use force when taking or attempting to take, or keep, the ball from an opponent.

Players who indulge in referee abuse, violence, serious foul play, spitting at another player or official, or racism, are banned from participation.

The game attracts both men and women in single gender or mixed teams coming from business houses, workmates or groups of friends – with unlimited substitutes.

In a SUB Football team, there must be a goalkeeper and 6 outfield players with no less than 5 players on the day. In a mixed team, the goalkeeper may be male or female but not more than 3 male outfield players are permitted.

There is also a strict dress code of uniform shirts, short or long pants and footwear. Boots with metal or rigid plastic sprigs, studs or cleats are not permitted.

Games of 40 minutes duration are played after work during the week from 6 pm, 6.40 pm and 7.20 pm with nights varying venue to venue.

This season SUB Football competitions will be staged at Auckland Domain; Seymour Park, Royal Oak; Walker Park, Pt Chevalier; Riversdale Reserve, Avondale, and Hamilton’s Gower Park. Bill Davies hopes to announce other sites prior to the season kick off.

For more information about the game, referee training and enrolment, visit www.subfootball.com

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