Hello NS, and welcome to the signups for the thirteenth edition of the Beach Cup, NS' premier (and only) competition in Beach Soccer. What is that, I hear you ask? Beach Soccer, it's like futsal, but played on a beach. If you want to learn more about the sport, here's the Wikipedia article on Beach Soccer, or alternatively, you can read the blurb below.
The rules of the sport
Players
Each team consists of five players, including the goalkeeper and an unlimited number of substitutions, from a selection of three to five players. Throw-ins and kick-ins mean the pace and flow of the game are much faster than regular football. Shoes are not allowed, although ankle guards are permitted. Goal kicks are taken by the goalkeeper using their hands to throw the ball.
Match length
A game lasts thirty-six minutes, and is split up into three twelve-minute periods. Unlike association football, in professional matches the referee is not the sole arbiter of the end of a period. A separate timekeeping official controls the official game clock, which is stopped for stoppages in play, and typically counts down to zero, as in North American sports such as basketball and ice hockey. Every beach soccer match is won by one team, with the game going into three minutes of extra time, followed by a penalty shootout if the score is still on level terms after normal time. Unlike football, penalty kicks are decided by sudden death rules.
Referees and discipline
Four referees officiate the match, two on the field and one off, controlling the teams benches. The fourth referee is called timekeeper and is controlling the stopwatch on the side. Any fouls committed lead to a free kick on goal, which has to be taken by the player who was fouled, unless awarded for deliberate handling. As in football, yellow and red cards can be issued. However unlike in the main game, when a player receives a yellow card they must leave the field for two minutes and the team must play without that player for that duration of time. When a player receives a red card, they are dismissed from the game entirely. Unlike in 11-a-side football, the team can then bring on a substitute to replace the dismissed player after two minutes.
Field
A beach soccer field is considerably smaller than a regular football field. In international competition, the field is composed entirely of sand and is cleared of pebbles and seashells, along with any other objects which could injure a player.
The field is rectangular in shape, and the touch line is longer than the goal line. The field dimensions are:
Length: 35–37 metres (38.3–40.5 yards)
Width: 26–28 metres (28.4–30.6 yards)
The penalty area is within 9 m (9.8 yards) of the goals, and is marked by a yellow flag situated in touch. Two red flags opposite each other are at the center of the field to represent the half-way line. The goals are slightly smaller than their standard association football counterparts, being 2.2 metres (7 ft 3 in) from the ground to the bottom of the crossbar and 5.5 metres (18 ft) in width between the inside of each upright.
Ranks post-BC12|Beach Cup 12 Everything Thread|Beach Cup discussion thread
Signups and bids
National teams only, maximum of one puppet per user, which must be declared. Anyone can put in a host bid, although we would all prefer it if you've had some experience on the NS Sports subforum before and have an idea on how to host. Here is the example of the winning bid for the last Beach Cup. The code for Free Republics Beach Cup scorinator (as part of xkoranate), is below (save it as an XML file in a beachsoccer folder in the sports folder of xkoranate's file system):
- Code: Select all
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sport version="0.3">
<name>Beach Soccer—SQIS formula</name>
<discipline>Beach Soccer</discipline>
<event/>
<scorinator/> <!-- only one scorinator is needed for this event -->
<paradigm>sqis</paradigm>
<paradigmOptions>
<double type="constantA">0.09</double>
<double type="constantB">0.025</double>
<double type="homeAdvantage">1.333333333333</double>
<double type="homeAdvantageGG">0.133333333333</double>
<int type="attacks">12</int>
<double type="etAttackCoeff">0.333333333333</double>
<int type="shootoutLength">1</int>
<double type="goldenGoalProb">0.5</double>
<double type="shootoutProb">0.65</double>
<int type="pointValues">1</int>
<double type="attackCoeffs">5.25</double>
<double type="NSFSStyleCoeffA">2.0991677816057</double>
<double type="NSFSStyleCoeffB">1.2442581729602</double>
<double type="NSFSStyleExponent">-0.42705203296846</double>
<double type="NSFSStyleOffset">0.072435335725325</double>
<string type="tableHeaderGoalsFor">GF</string>
<string type="tableHeaderGoalsAgainst">GA</string>
<string type="tableHeaderGoalDifference">GD</string>
<list type="tiebreakers">
<string>extratime</string>
<string>shootout</string>
</list>
<list type="tiebreakerNames">
<string>AET</string>
<string>pen.</string>
</list>
</paradigmOptions>
<!-- the style modifier distribution is a bit wonky because negative modifiers are less likely to take effect -->
<dataPoints name="style">
<dataPoint pos="0">-3</dataPoint>
<dataPoint pos="0.4">-1</dataPoint>
<dataPoint pos="0.5">0</dataPoint>
<dataPoint pos="0.65">0</dataPoint>
<dataPoint pos="1">3</dataPoint>
</dataPoints>
</sport>
Feel free to ask any questions, either here or in the discussion thread. (Also, Eastfield Lodge signs up.)
Sign-ups (21/???)
Host bids (2) - won by Ethane/2nd Brazilian Empire
