Soccer Six

Football tournament
  • National Fives
  • Tennents' Sixes
Current championsLuton Town (1st title)Most successful club(s)Birmingham City (two titles)Television broadcastersBBC
BSkyB (1990)

The Soccer Six was an annual indoor football tournament organized the Football League in England. The first year of the competition was for the Midlands clubs only, but expanded for clubs nationwide every year after.

History

The competition was inspired by the success of Major Indoor Soccer League that ran between 1978 and 1992 in the United States.[1] The popularity of the Soccer Six coincided with the six-year ban English clubs faced from UEFA competitions in 1985.[2]

A pilot tournament sponsored by Atari was run for football clubs in the Midlands at the NEC in Birmingham in 1982. The Football League opened the competition to all First Division clubs in 1982. All 21 top flight teams entered the competition in 1988 plus Manchester City of the Second Division.[3] The venue was switched to the GMEX in Manchester in 1986.[4]

The tournament took place in December of each year until it was cancelled in 1991. Tournament highlights were covered by the BBC's Sportsnight. Sponsorship by Courage and finally Guinness followed. Matches lasted a total of 15 minute split into two halves and had the rolling substitutions rule.[5]

Other basic rules included a team must always have a player in the opposition half, a player could not shoot inside the marked yellow box and if the goalkeeper passed the ball to his team mate, that player could not pass back to the goalkeeper. The sin-bin was in use for the more serious offenders.[6]

Awards

Season Best Player Best Young Player Ref
1987–88 Tommy Gaynor (Notts Forest) Neil Webb (Notts Forest) [7]
1988–89 Peter Shirtliff (Charlton Ath) [5]

List of Finals

Season Winners Score Runners up Ref
1981–82 Birmingham City 1–0 Wolverhampton Wanderers [3][8][9]
1983–84 Birmingham City 2–2
(4–2 p) 		Ipswich Town [10]
1984–85 Arsenal
1985–86 Tottenham Hotspur penalties Arsenal
1986–87 Oxford United 2–1 Arsenal [8][11][12]
1987–88 Nottingham Forest 0–0
(2–1 p) 		Manchester United [1][13][14]
1988–89 Charlton Athletic 2–1 Nottingham Forest [5][13][15]
1989–90
1990–91 Luton Town 4–0 Liverpool [6][16][17]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Six Appeal". When Saturday Comes. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  2. ^ "The Legacy of The Guinness Soccer Six, the Indoor Soccer Boom that Never Was". urbanpitch.com. 22 August 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  3. ^ a b "LIVERPOOL: THE GUINNESS SOCCER SIX". The Anfield Wrap. 23 December 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  4. ^ "Opinion: Bring back six-a-side football!". manuntd.com. Manchester United. 20 January 2024. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  5. ^ a b c "When Soccer Six was the perfect Christmas present for football fans". The Guardian. 22 December 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
    "1988: Guinness Soccer Sixes". That 1980's Sport Blog. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  6. ^ a b "The Joy of Six: Remembering Football's Very Own Indoor League". The Sportsman. 24 December 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  7. ^ "Clough's kids are maturing". Football Post. 12 December 1987. Retrieved 21 July 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ a b "From the archive ~ The glory days of televised indoor tournaments". When Saturday Comes. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  9. ^ Atari Soccer 6 Programme 1983 Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  10. ^ "VCS Owner's Club Bulletin (Summer 1983)" (PDF). Atari Compendium. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  11. ^ "Arsenal" (PDF). Hatters Heritage. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  12. ^ "Gunners Pipped". Birmingham Mail. 11 December 1986. Retrieved 21 July 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. ^ a b "GUINNESS SOCCER SIX". theforestfeeling.com. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
    "BLOG: When did Forest last beat Manchester United in a final?". Hucknall Dispatch. 24 August 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  14. ^ "SOCCER 6: FOREST CLINCH FIRST PRIZE IN A PENALTY SHOOT-OUT". Peterborough Evening Telegraph. 10 December 1987. Retrieved 21 July 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. ^ "Golden Six win". Liverpool Echo. 8 December 1988. Retrieved 21 July 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  16. ^ "The Joy of Six: Extinct football competitions". The Guardian. 26 June 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  17. ^ "SIX OF THE BEST FROM SLICK LUTON". 5 December 1990. Retrieved 21 July 2020 – via playupliverpool.com.