SMALL PRINT:IT HAS been a tumultuous start to the Fantasy Premier League and the managers of its two million teams across the world.
On Friday, hours before the start of the new season, the website crashed, meaning many couldn’t enter the game, while few could make last-minute adjustments to their teams and were instead left with injured players, non-starters or Robbie Keane.
The Fantasy Premier League is the most popular game of its type in the world. It allows fans to pick a team of footballers from across the real Premier League, with points picked up depending on those players’ performances: goals, assists, penalty saves, clean sheets, slapping Joey Barton, etc.
It’s free to enter, and sounds harmless, but does make people quite obsessive about previously trivial matters (QPR’s free-kick takers, Sunderland’s goalkeeping options). They then spend Saturday mornings tinkering with their teams, the afternoon wondering who provided the assist for Wigan’s consolation goal, and the rest of the week tinkering with the team again.
So, when the site went down on the first weekend of the new season – having already made contentious layout changes – millions of people were upset.
An apology from the organisers followed. The site promptly crashed again. As recompense, it will suspend the usual transfer costs within the game and allow managers to change their teams for free this week – annoying those who chose Sergio Aguero before his own fantasy debut. (Manchester City fans lauded his two goals; FF managers saw only a 15-point haul.)
The site’s problems, though, also caused consternation for the private leagues set up among companies and friends, many of whom pay an entry fee in return for the chance of cash prizes. The Fantasy Premier League has given them the option of restarting their leagues from this weekend.
This generous move has only caused further angst, with managers’ attitudes depending largely on how well or badly they did this week.
In The Irish Times, the decision about our league has been put to a vote for fear that intra-office discussion would develop into life-long enmity between colleagues.
The results will be announced today, after which we can all get on with our lives and far more important matters, such as if the new Swansea goalkeeper is worth picking up early in the season.
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