How the most popular fantasy game in the world is contaminating the minds and morals of football fans
Recently, I watched Inception for the first time. Second and third viewings were necessary yet inevitably fruitless in a plea to understand the plot entirely, nevertheless, a question reigns high in my mind: do I know the difference between dreams and reality? Or more prevalently for football fans, the difference between Fantasy Premier League and reality. It appears that I for one am losing my grip on the latter, and just like Leo di Caprio’s on-screen wife, I’m lost, confused, and predominantly very angry.
The basic premise of the official Barclays Fantasy Premier League, the world’s biggest fantasy game, is very simple in theory: pick a squad of 15 players (2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders, and 3 strikers), set up or join a league with your friends, select your starting XI before each gameweek deadline, and hope for the best. Players earn points based on performance in real life, and statistically midfielders and forwards are likely to earn more points, through scoring goals and providing assists. Defenders lose points when their team concedes a goal, therefore, the best formation usually involves having as few defenders and as many strikers as possible (3-4-3).
The official website provides a wealth of statistics to help gamers make informed decisions, but trawling through stats can make laborious a pursuit that is designed to be a bit of fun. I’m yet to experience any fun in my Fantasy League career.
There are often weeks when choice attacking players are pitted against favourite defenders, and the contradictions become too much to bear. A gamer can make one free transfer per gameweek, after which point a 4-point penalty is incurred for each additional transfer. This usually results in the defiant acceptance that your players are likely to cancel each other out, rather than take a chance and give up a few hard-earned points. As in reality, it’s better to have the points on the board than games in hand in which you might pick up points. For committed Fantasy League players, only on these unfortunate occasions does languishing in front of Sky Sports not constitute an ideal weekend.
There is a definite moral dilemma to being the manager of a Fantasy League team. If you actively support or have any leanings towards a Premier League team, a manager can often find themselves stuck between remaining loyal and selecting the best players. Despite the fact that I have been an ardent Hartlepool United supporter since childhood, harbouring strong feelings for certain top flight teams means I too face this dilemma.
I, like many other beguiled gamers, take it so seriously that dream has become reality, and I’ll swear allegiance to my fantasy team before any of my real life footballing loyalties. When watching a live game, I cheer for my fantasy players even if they’re involved in defeating a team I actually like. For instance, I have a less than high-regard for Dirk Kuyt, but since I accidentally forgot to take him out of my team after a gameweek in which Liverpool played twice, he’s been my best player, amassing an impressive 69 points from the last 8 gameweeks.
Partly in thanks to Kuyt my team, Borussia Muffingladbach FC, have experienced great success in their inaugural season and currently sit top of the league. It appears that there’s nothing like Fantasy League to develop a ruthless, stats-loving streak in anyone. It’s like being educated at the Robert McNamara School for fantasy sports games. McNamara would undoubtedly tell you that consequences may be dire if reality provides a statistical anomaly, but you’re never wrong to act on the basis of statistical analysis.
Fantasy League is clearly not a healthy hobby for real football fans. It takes dedicated supporters with morals and spits out success-hungry monsters, the online equivalent of fans that leave a match early if their team is losing, or stick around till the end and boo their own players off the field. One thing that can be said for Fantasy League is that it provides an education in management, having to make tough decisions based on probability and within a strict timescale: essential skills for any ambitious graduate.
Since going to press, I have won the league. Hoorah!
