Fantasy football: a tale of two contests

This season I am playing two versions of Premiership Fantasy Football: the official Premier League game, where my bahookie is being kicked, and the Yahoo UK version, where I’m not doing too badly — considering I started two weeks late. Both games are addictively fun, but that’s where the similarity ends.

Chance plays a greater role in the Premier League game: the choice of captain can swing an entire weekend’s performance and, even aside from this fact, only goals, assists, and clean sheets score significant points. Additionally, we have only one free transfer per gameweek.

The Yahoo game is for stattos. There are several attacking and defending categories in which a player can score, categories like Successful Crosses, Shots on Goal, Tackles, Blocked Shots, and Passes Intercepted. The player can therefore have a respectable fantasy weekend without scoring a goal or posting a clean sheet. Also, there are unlimited free transfers and no bench players. “Will he play?” is often the most agonizing question a manager will face.

I can’t say which is better — different strokes and all that — but I can say that fantasy football is a worthwhile pursuit for the newbie and the veteran fan alike. No matter which version you prefer, it may be the only reason you’ll care about a late season matchup between Middlesbrough and Bolton, say, or Wigan and Birmingham. Especially when a sweet league prize is involved.