Ahead of the Swamp World Cup Emdad Rahman talks mud football with Stewart Miller Dirrrty football! We’re not talking Ruud gullit here, nor Christina Aguilera. Forget the Azurri, the Argies, Brazil or England. We’re about to explore a game involving a spherical object, miles away from cathedrals such as Camp Nou, the Maracana and the Rose Bowl, in a world where the world champions are… Finland. What we see is a game that is far, far away from the paparazzi, playboy prima donnas, crazed fans, and multi million pound sponsorship deals. Hold onto your trolleys as we are about to get down and dirty.
The brainchild of Finnish skiers, who needed a strenuous workout during summer the months in order to keep themselves in primetime condition. The skiers decided to approach Jyrki Vaananen, a well known events organiser, to ask him to make Swamp Soccer an event and in 1997 Swamp Soccer was born. The inaugural tournament had 13 teams. Five years later it had become a world championship event with 260 teams. The event is now one of the biggest football tournaments on the planet.
Swamp Soccer, having started as a local event has expanded into an international event and the following year, Swamp Soccer had become so popular that the organisers decided to hold a 1999 European Championships where 69 teams took part. By the year 2000 Swamp Soccer popularity had increased so much that they organised the first ever Swamp Soccer World Championships.
Since then, more than 200 teams from all over the world play yearly over 500 matches in a muddy struggle for the swamp soccer world trophy.It is a tough sport, but it is also great fun. Teams can compete in several categories, from those who take it very seriously to those who just want to have a laugh and perhaps dress up in funny disguises for the occasion. Mixed male-female teams are welcome, as well as soccer teams with mixed nationalities. Swamp Soccer rules are very similar to traditional soccer's.It has been calculated that players sweat over 20,000 litres during the tournament. Of course, no Finnish sweating event would be complete without a Finnish Sauna. A special-made Sauna is open throughout the games for all players and fans. The Sauna is more than 35 metres long and is equipped with six wood-heated sauna stoves -another world record!.
Hyrynsalmi is now the global centrepiece for this sport and every summer, the northern Finnish town of becomes the world capital of Swamp Soccer. Since 1998 Swamp Soccer has become more and more popular, both in Finland and abroad. In the last few years Swamp Soccer (also known as ‘extreme’ soccer) has increasingly become a global game. Tournaments now occur in Russia, holland, Braazeel, Sweden, Iceland …. and now the UK!
Stewart Miller, the founder of the UK tournament, met Swamp Baron Jyrki Vaananen in Iceland in 2004. They got talking about football in a bar while the Icelandic wind and rain continued to blow outside. A few hours later a partnership was born, and both individuals have been working together since that initial meeting to make Swamp Soccer UK a success.
“Swamp Soccer was only launched last year in the UK” said Stewart. It is very popular in northern hemisphere countries and it’s popularity is growing fast in Scotland and the rest of the UK!”
Swamp Soccer is now a very popular fun tournament, played in a sportsmanlike manner. The rules are similar to regular football, except that there are 3 types of teams, each having their own league: all male teams; all female teams; and mixed teams. Each team consists of 6 players (1 goalkeeper & 5 outfield players). The number of substitutes (and substitutions made during any match) is unlimited. Each half is 12 minutes, with no offside rule. Throw-ins, corner kicks, free kicks, and penalties are taken by using the hands to drop the ball onto a chosen foot. There are no Stuart Pearce piledrivers, David Beckham exocets, or Roberto Carlos benders as all free kicks are indirect. “All matches have referees” said Stewart – “though because the emphasis is on fun - they are not SFA qualified referees.”
I asked whether there was interest in the sport from Scottish football teams.
“Professional footballers are not covered by their insurance policies/teams to play Swamp Soccer. Someone may get hurt you know!
“Swamp Soccer is popular for teambuilding programmes, although at present we only play it once a year in our annual tournament. This helps to keep the magic associated with this unusual sport.”
Stewart, a native of the Scottish seaside holiday town of Dunoon felt that he needed initiatives to attract more visitors to his community; “It used to be a popular holiday destination for Scots, but they now fly on budget airlines to places like Spain, etc, and the seaside resort adds to that holiday feeling. Teams have to cross the sea by a ferry to reach here - that helps to create a holiday ambience.”
Dunoon is located in Argyll, approximately 25 miles west of Glasgow International Airport. It is an attractive seaside town, based on a peninsula, with a population of about 10,000 people.
It can be reached by a 20 minute ferry from the Scottish mainland (Gourock), or it is possible to drive via a very scenic road. The road journey takes about 1.5 hours from Glasgow Airport.Swamp soccer is a great leveller. It is the only form of football where Jimmy fivebellies can make Christiano Ronaldo look an absolute novice. In terms of future plans Stewart hopes to make the UK tournament the biggest in the world and Stewart is more than optimistic; “Dunoon is hosting the world championships next year; and we are going to take this opportunity to introduce the sport to the world.“The interest for the forthcoming Swamp Soccer UK tournament has been amazing. 2007 promises to be an international event with teams coming from Scotland, England, Ireland, Finland, Germany, Belgium and Iceland.”
The second annual Swamp Soccer UK Championships will take place on Saturday 16th & Sunday 17th June 2007. Once again, it will be held at Hunters Quay Holiday Village, in the Scottish seaside holiday town of Dunoon.
www.swampsoccer.co.uk
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