Basically I've started writing a new Harry Potter fanfiction piece and I need a bit of help for one scene.

Now, as a Canadian I have little love for soccer, so I find myself woefully lacking even basic knowledge of the sport. It literally amounts to "Kick ball into the net, don't use your hands."

Anyway, basically the fic starts off with Harry going to play a soccer match. What I need to know is how school based leagues are structured in the UK (Or rather, England specifically, in case there's a difference region to region.)

I've tried Google and wikipedia for info, but all I'm coming up with are Club based leagues.

So, anyone feel like helping out a clueless Canadian? Thanks in advance.

 

By 'leagues' do you mean school vs. school tournament matches?

 

Uh, yes? I honestly have no idea, so I'll just trust that you're right in that correction. I basically mean any kind of competitive School vs School soccer program.

 

Mm. Well, from what I've gathered about the sport the teams are just entered into a classic knockout tournament where one team plays against another team from a different school, and the winner goes onto the next round. Practically I imagine you won't need to go into great depths with this: the football team is constructed simply of a group who play after school a day or two a week and the match is typically held after school in one of the school's fields.

Did you need to know about scoring or the practical aspects of the sport?

 

I'm a little unclear on how tiebreakers work. (Though, to be fair, if the game can end in a tie, overtime or shootout it's not surprising that I'm confused.) Basically, which would happen in this situation?

Also, are their any specific Briticisms in the terms? Different names for same position, etc.

This is honestly a tiny part of the story, but I don't want it to come off as total crap that I made up.

 

Basically this. It's often a casual arrangement between schools, and most of the time (in my experience) nobody will ever turn up to watch it, barring the odd few standing on the edge of the field.

It's a lot simpler than my experience of American football (and all sports) through television is, although I'm sure that television exaggerates - surely you don't have crowded bleachers of people coming to watch school football matches?

Don't get carried away. Off the playing field, it has little impact on further life. The "jock" stereotype doesn't exist over here. At all.

 

Sauce.

Edit:

This is very true. Football is essentially a boy's past-time at break - nice little activity to do with your friends. In my experience at primary school in England you'd have all the little kiddies playing together and the girls joining if they're sporty or standing around making daisy chains and having cartwheel competitions wherein one of the boys would manage to thwack one of the girls in the head with a football. It's very painful.

Also see this for tiebreakers.

 

In Soviet Russia you don't kick the ball, the ball kicks you.

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As far as Football in UK Schools goes, I don't think anyone would begrudge you a little imagination; I doubt anyone will knock you for being unfamiliar with something so insignificant. I would suggest keeping as close to the basics as possible, and keeping things very vague; personally, if I was writing it, I would gloss over the league itself and focus on what happened in the match...

However, I would suggest having more knowledge about football than "Kick ball in net, don't use hands". If you don't know anything about the beautiful game, it seems a bit ridiculous that you'd write about it at length.

A good rule of thumb: If you don't know anything about a subject, change the subject before your ignorance becomes apparent.

Ya feel me?

 

In the case of a tie, in a knockout stlyed competition, a further 30 minutes is played. And it the scores are still level, then there is a penalty shoot out. Best of 5 wins, if they are equal then it turns to sudden death, 1 penalty each until someone misses and the other team scores.

There are a lot of differing terms for players, but if you put tactics aside and take it on the most basic level then this will do for you as everyone will know what you mean. The left and right sided defenders go by the names; left/right back, fullbacks, and wingbacks. The central ones go by; centre backs, centre halfs, sweepers. Left and right midfielders go by; widemen, wingers, wide midielders. The central midfielders are known as centre mids pretty much, however if you want to get technicall you can refer to specific players as box-to-boxers, ball winners, advanced playmakers etc. The attacking players can be known as; strikers or forwards. The basic line up in English football at school level is 4-4-2.

Anything else you want to know?

 

Basically the match only exists for Harry to perform accidental magic. He's nervous about it because it's his first match as starting goalkeeper and he doesn't want to fuck up. Then, when he fucks up he uses magic to alter the course of the ball slightly.

And yeah, Averis, I'm gonna keep it pretty vague. It's all about this one match, then it really never shows up again. I just didn't want to start spouting completely incorrect things about why this match matters.

Thanks a lot, Palindrome. You've pretty much answered all of my questions.

Everyone feel free to let this thread die now.

 

That's a rather good rule, Averis. The problem is working with a character with a predefined set of characteristics and environment. I know tons of shit about mountain climbing, but having Harry Potter in that situation, despite how accurate and real I could make it, would totally suck.

That said, Harry Potter and soccer don't exactly go hand in hand. I assume you're writing about him staying with the Dursleys and somehow bonding with a couple of Muggle kids in the neighborhood, who later invite him to a match. That would be plausible, but don't go into too many details. Readers are into magic, not penatly kicks.



EDIT: Ninja'd by OP. You introduced magic into soccer (lol) so you're on the right track. I think.

 

Lol, not at all. The story is just really AU and magic is not nearly as structured. It's more of an X-Men type setting, with the Government trying to ruthlessly control magical people. Witch burnings? That shit actually happened, etc. (Of course, they were piss poor Wizards and I'll justify it in the story.)

Anyway, so Harry is outed as a Wizard (may change the term to Witch, since it carries more of a negative connotation) and he runs from home and is dragged into the conflict between Dumbledore and Tom Riddle.

 

You wouldn't need to be invited to a match; the school tends to just find volunteers and encourage people to join the football club.

Edit: I sniggered at Harry possibly being a witch. Poor gender-confused kid.

 

If you want a way to include magic, with Harry being a goalkeeper, then a penalty kick is the best way. 90% of young goalkeepers do not take a gamble and dive early, which results in a goal most of the time as players are coached to aim for the corners. You could have Harry not dive yet save the ball anyways. Simple and to the point.

 

Yeah, was going to go for something like that. Basically he commits to the wrong direction and by the time he's diving at the opposite corner he knows it's too late. Game would go into overtime, clocks almost over, etc, so his high strung emotions causes his magic to nudge the ball just a little so it misses.

Because his hand was so close almost no one noticed, except the guy who took the shot. Anyway, after a while, Harry is exposed as a Witch, making him run away to avoid the government.

edit:

Yeah, I was going for the original meaning, as in someone who 'Casts spells to harm people,' rather than pertaining to gender. Even so, I may not do this so people don't go LOLHARRYISAGIRL!?!? STOOPID AUTHOR!

 

Lol, see edit in my previous post.

 

Not sure if there's something different in England specifically, but this is how it generally goes:

If the game ends normal time with scores tied, normally the game would be a tie - except this is a knockout tournament, so we need a clear winner. So the game is extended into overtime - basically, playing for 30 miins more and hoping that one team has more goals at the end of 120 mins.

If the scores are tied after overtime, we go into penalties, where each team takes turns taking a penalty. After 5 penalty kicks from each time, whichever team has more goals wins.

If after this, each team has the same number of penalty kick goals, then the teams take turns taking a penalty kick - team A takes penalty, team B takes penalty, compare - until one team scores and the other doesn't. The one that scores wins.



EDIT: One of the biggest ninja's I've ever seen. I think I left this page open for almost an hour...

 

With regards to Harry being a witch - that term is already taken up in the Potterverse by girly-wizards.

I'd ditch the "original meaning" if I were you and find a different word. Perhaps "warlock"? The original meaning of that is something akin to "traitor", and it's commonly used for practitioners of magic who have betrayed goodness/God/humanity/morality etcetera to do something that's normally forbidden.

It's already used by at least Dumbledore as "Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot" - but that may be an honorary title granted after he defeated Grindelwald, to say that he's the single most powerful magical duellist that they know of.

 

I thought about it, but Burn the Warlock! just doesn't seem to have the same effect in my mind. It just works better in the context of the story, though it's hard to explain without going into details.

I get what you're saying, though. If I do end up choosing Witch I'll be making it perfectly clear that it doesn't mean the same thing as canon.

Also, taken from wikipedia:

Regardless, Warlock is also taken if we go by this criteria.

Sauce.