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Sim Football is the complete footy fantasy package. You become owner and supreme head honcho of your very own SFL
(Sim Football League) club. Along with 9 other owners in your league, you will control the destiny of your club. You will recruit
a squad of players who will represent your club on the field during 18 rounds of home & away football, plus 4 weeks of finals. The
entire AFL list is available to you, but each AFL player can belong to only one Sim club in each league, and of course there is a Salary Cap to
be adhered to. Your players score goals when their AFL counterparts achieve the scoring criteria required by the Sim position
they are played in. They score behinds by defeating their immediate opponent on the Sim field. After each round a typical ladder
shows each club's wins/draws/losses, points for & against and percentage. The finals are played under the old "final five" system.
The top 5 on the ladder after the home & away rounds play for the Sim Cup and the other 5 for the Sim Shield.
That's a brief description of the activity ON the field. OFF the field, you have a multi-million dollar operation to run. You start
with $3,000,000 and 10,000 members and what happens after that is up to you. After the first season you have the option of
borrowing up to $1,000,000 from the SFL each year, but this must be repaid in 22 equal instalments over the course of the
season. Your income comes mainly from the gate receipts of each match you participate in, 60% to the home team and 40% to
the visitors. Prior to each season you will purchase a coach, then each week you will pay the wages of your squad, make the
contract payments for those players you want to protect from poaching, and meet your loan repayment. You can also spend
money on marketing to increase your membership. And of course there are players to be bought, sold, traded or delisted. The
weekly ladder also shows dollars in & out, number of players in squad, current bank balance, membership, contract pool and
total squad value.
That's a very brief outline of how the game works. The detailed rules can be found in the "Sim Rules" section,
available from the Main Menu. But before you dive into the rules or rush to register a team, please spend a few more minutes
reading the rest of this page. Sim is more than just a game, and it requires a dedicated owner to sucessfully run a club.
My name is Jon Hall and I'm the creator of the game. Sim Football was conceived in 1992 and began in the 1993 season.
For the next 8 years only the one league was in operation, and of the original ten owners, five (including myself) are still playing.
In season 2000 the game moved to the internet and the first new league commenced in 2001. Through it's history the game has
continued to evolve, and strives to reflect as many aspects of AFL football as possible. I'm sure you will find Sim Football to be
the most absorbing and realistic Australian Rules Football SIMulation in existence. Now that's a pretty big claim when you
consider there are quite a few of these games going around, so how can I justify it?
Experience and innovation are the keys. The rules and their implications are analysed annually and adjustments made
when considered necessary, or when the game can be enhanced and made more realistic. However the last major rule change
occurred after the 1999 season and the rules are now considered to be "just about right". Many of the owners have contributed
to improvements with their various suggestions and observations over the years. Perhaps the most significant factor in the
development of Sim has been that the two rule-makers are also club owners. As creator of the game and owner of the amazingly
unsuccessful Aliens, I have been able to view the game from the lower rungs of the ladder, while Sim Commissioner Wes Bourke,
as owner of Coodabeens - one of the orignal "superpowers" - has provided a view from near the top. By combining our experiences,
and by always taking the "big picture" - the good of the game - into account, we have created rules that I believe make Sim
Football a truly unique and - importantly - FAIR game for all owners.
But, wait for the steak knives... there's more! Not only does Sim Football boast unique rules, it also has a rich
history and many special features, some of which are:
The Murp & Hall Medals, awarded to the Best Player & Leading Goalkicker respectively in each league. These are two of the
four trophies an individual owner can claim with pride, the others being the Sim Cup and Sim Shield. There is also the Sim Spoon,
but that's not one to boast about.
The Dr. McClelland Trophy, awarded annually to the multi-owner with the best win/loss ratio across all leagues in which they
compete.
League and Club Stats and Records, heaps of them. Every club's entire history is recorded, including high and low scores, finals
appearances, win/loss ratios and bloodline. And there are individual league and overall Sim all-time records to be aimed for, with
a place in Sim history guaranteed for the holders.
The Club Home Page. Each owner has their own individual Home Page on which to display their club history, B & F winners,
latest news, or whatever info they want to share about their club.
The Message Board. The Sim on-line chat forum. Leave a message for another owner, or better yet, an insult! Propose a deal
or offer a player for sale. Whatever message you want to pass along to the rest of the Sim community, you can do it on the
Message Board. It's also used for real-time chat, which can be pre-arranged, or you could simply be on-line at the same
time as another owner. It's also used to broadcast - 'live' from SFL House - dramatic moments such as the Coach Draft.
As you can probably now appreciate, Sim Football is a very complex game. The complexity is probably the main aspect that
differentiates Sim from other similar games. While most games have some of the features of Sim, none of them come close to
matching the combination of realism, functionality and inter-activity. And not only does Sim do more, it does it
better. Here are some features of Sim that operate far better than their counterparts in other games:
The unique Order Of Merit (OOM) system that assigns dollar values to players according to their average stats from the
previous season. This eliminates any possibility of personal bias when players are 'valued.' Sim players are valued according
to a strict formula and there is no human judgement involved. In the same area, Sim doesn't give players a 'designation' such
as "back" or "utility". A player may be played anywhere provided he meets the criterion (where one exists) for the position.
No sharing of players. Only one Sim club per league can own an AFL player. What is the point of assembling a champion
squad if someone else can pick exactly the same players and then play against you?
The 18 rounds and 4 weeks of finals completes a full Sim season within the 22 rounds of the AFL home & away rounds,
meaning you always have your entire squad as your disposal. Other games continue into the AFL finals, when up to 90%
of your squad may not be playing - ridiculous.
Players score Sim goals by meeting certain statistical criteria, rather than by simply kicking goals or compiling large
numbers of stats on the AFL field. Anyone can read a list of stats and work out who are the best kick getters, goal kickers
etc. But the Sim system of qualifying and scoring means you have to look deeper. You need players capable of securing
different combinations of stats, and who are versatile enough to play in a number of Sim positions, depending on where
their AFL club decides to play them.
The last point is significant in standing Sim Football apart from the rest. The freedom to move players into many different
positions allows an owner to keep up with the AFL coaches when they throw their players all over the field from week to week.
And Sim scoring, based on specific statistical criteria rather than raw numbers of goals or kicks or whatever, means the game
is not dominated by a few champion goalkickers or stats stars. Almost any AFL player with reasonable stats can score Sim
goals, provided he is selected in a position that suits his stats on the day. And that is why the selection skills of the owner
are so important, both in recruiting the player in the first place, and selecting him in an appropriate position on the Sim field
on match day.
OK, I've finished telling you how good the game is. Now, here are some reasons you SHOULDN'T play Sim Football...
You don't want to, or can't afford the time to spend a few hours a week working on the game.
You are not willing to commit yourself to your club through good years and bad. You'd dump the game if you finished bottom.
You don't want to become part of the unique Sim community, and you have no interest in interacting with your fellow owners.
You can't afford to pay $70 per year for your team, or you think the game is free because other similar, inferior games are free.
Sim Football was designed to be a game without end. It's not just about winning the Cup. It's about creating something
out of nothing, about tending and nursing your creation, watching it grow, and seeing what heights it can reach. It's about creating
your own history. To borrow from James Bond, "Sim is Forever". It's also about a sense of community. As your league develops,
you will come to know your fellow owners, either personally, by email or phone, or through the Message Board. Rivalries will emerge,
certain matches will take on significance, insults will fly, deals will be done, alliances will be forged. So really, Sim Football is a
game for those who are prepared to spend time and patience developing their club on and off the field - Sim really does reward
the dedicated owner. It's for those who want to commit themselves to a long-term relationship with Sim. It's for those who want
to abide by the spirit and rules of the game, participate weekly, and become involved in a unique and enjoyable family of footy
fanatics for many years to come. And of course, most importantly, it's for those who reckon they know a bit about footy and are
willing to prove it!
Welcome to Sim Football
To participate as an owner in a Sim Football league, you must have:
An email address and regular access to the internet.
A very good knowledge of Australian Rules Football and the current AFL clubs & players.
Microsoft Excel on your computer, and basic knowledge of how it works.
The annual subscription of $70 which is payable before the first round of drafting each season.
Please note: It is not considered feasible to play Sim Football from outside Australia.
Current Status:
There will not be a new league in 2010. You may elect to be put on the waiting list to start a new club in League 7,
but it is impossible to say when that may come about.
It is possible that some vacancies may arise in the current six leagues for 2010, so you may nominate to be put on
stand-by to take over an existing team.
To apply for a team:
Click on the "Send Email" link below to send an email to SFL House.
Include your name, home town and state, and either one or two email addresses where you wish to receive Sim info.
Nominate your club name (Maximum 16 characters including spaces, cannot begin with "The") and home ground (Maximum
16 characters including spaces).
Nominate your password, which must be comprised of four characters from a standard computer keyboard.
Indicate your preferences - for example, will you accept a current team, or do you only wish to start a club from
scratch in a new league? * Please note a new league may not be commencing in the near future. See "Status" above.
Send the email - You will be contacted in due course.
You can also use the email link to send a general query or comment.
Please do not nominate as an owner unless you are completely serious about playing the game,
which includes paying the $70 annual subscription.
Warning:
By accepting ownership of a Sim club, you acknowledge that you have been warned that Sim Football can be highly addictive,
and that any anxiety, depression or loss of sleep as a consequence of playing the game is entirely at your own risk. (This
is not an idle boast - it can really happen.)
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