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Fantasy League Update - issue #1, gameweek 3
- Roberto Di Statteo
- Aug 30, 2023
- 5 min read
Already gave you a little rundown of the Fantasy League, but here's a more detailed one. If you want to skip past the explanation and just go onto the games that've happened, click here.
Where do I find Fantasy League information this season?
The Fantasy League information will be hosted at toontalk.uk/fantasy-league and, from the main page, you can redirect to the competition page of your choice.
How does this season's fantasy league work?
If you're reading this, you've likely entered the Toontalk Sweet FA Premiership. If you were one of the first 96 to do so, you'll also be in one of eight 12-team divisions which, presently, are just based on where you were on the Sweet FA Premier League list, not any kind of merit.
The Sweet FA Premiership works the same as any other private Fantasy League you've entered. The official Toontalk Fantasy League (designed by Michael Hannard) is not. Within it, and based on the scores in the Sweet FA league, are 10 separate competitions, which are as follows:
The Divisions
The divisions are arranged in a similar way to the actual football divisions. There are 12 teams in each division, which means 22 games per season. The league games will take place in gameweeks 1-5, 7-11, and every odd number after that. Premier League will finish in gameweek 35, then gameweeks 36-38 will contain the playoffs for the lower divisions.
Each league gameweek, your score will be compared to that of an opponent from the same division as you. A win is worth 3 points, a draw worth 1, and defeat gets you nothing. Manager of the Week (the highest scoring manager in that division, that week) gets an extra point; Manager of the Month (the highest scoring manager in that division, that month) gets 3 points, with 2 for second place, and 1 for 3rd place.
The bottom 3 from each league will be relegated at the end of the season. 9th place will go into a playoff with 3rd place from the division below, and the winner would be in the higher division of the two the following season. 4th to 7th go into a promotion playoff, with a 2-leg semi-final and a final. All playoff games will be between gameweeks 36-38.
The Toontalk Cup
The Cup competition is a simple 1-match per leg knockout, with everyone in the Premier and Championship divisions given a bye into Round 2. The cup ties will take place in gameweeks 3 (just gone), 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, and 38.
The Toontalk Tournament
The Tournament competition starts with a league-type round robin and, as the only competition that involves all 96 entrants to the Fantasy League system, that puts everyone on a level playing field, will be the only Fantasy League competition that carries a real-world prize (at least for this season). Prize content is to be determined later. Group stages will be played in gameweeks 4, 7, and 9. Rounds 2-4, and the quarter- and semi-finals are two-leg rounds. They'll take place on all even-numbered gameweeks after 12, apart from 24, 30, and 36. The final, as with all other competitions, is in Gameweek 38.
The Season So Far
The Divisions
Now that that is out of the way, here's a few select bits of information from each division. Click the league table to go to that league's page, where you'll see fixtures, results, and form tables for every gameweek.
Stephen Towers leads the Premier League after 3 wins in 3 matches, a feat also managed by Kim Fong, but Stephen's Manager of the Week award puts him ahead by a point. Not going so well for Kay Waters and Daniel Bishop, who've lost all three of each of their games so far, too. Stephen is up against Susan Kinghorn this weekend; the table would suggest that Kim has the harder game vs Andrew Young, so could this be a chance for Stephen to build a lead early on? Chris Parvin certainly thinks otherwise, having now taken Manager of the Week twice in a row.
The Championship is where I'm sitting 9th after two losses. Ian Thirkeld tops the table with Ibrahim Halawi also picking up maximum points; this time it's a points difference of +55 keeping Ian on top. Dean Hadfield is having a mare and league creator Michael Hannard is in the drop zone! It's top vs bottom next week, with Ian taking on Dean. James Sheppard, Craig Purvis and Liam Frost have top-scored in the first three gameweeks, respectively.
League One is topped by former Toontalk Fantasy League runner Bob Douglass, and propped up by Yin Mo, a far cry from his form in the Scorecast competition. Bob is the only player with a 100% record so far, but week 3 was his first Manager of the Week win. He'll be up against Graham Clark next week, in 5th.
League Two also has only one triple-winner from the first three games as well; that's Daryl Coombs. Steve Beggs picked up his first point in gameweek 3, keeping him above Jack Robson at the bottom. Can Jack get off the bottom while Steve plays the league leader this weekend? Lee Riley, Ashley Birchall and Reid Huntington have the three MotW awards so far.
The National League One is led by Greg Surtees, the only maximum point-getter at this stage. Rory Shoemaker is yet to pick up a point and is already three points adrift. He has an early relegation battle with Mark Tolson which will culminate when they meet each other next weekend. Meanwhile, Greg will play 4th placed John Thomas, and 2nd placed Ross Percy will play 3rd-placed David Munroe, so there could be a different look to this table next week. John and Ross have an MotW each, the other going to Ciaran O'Toole.
National League Two has an early two-horse race forming with Ben Harper and Raju Daju both managing three wins and an MotW each. The other's gone to Ali Roberts in 3rd, and he plays 4th-placed Graham Testo this coming weekend. Callum Wink, David Miller, and Mike Waters are all yet to pick up a point.
NL3 is led by eternal optimist Stuart Latimer, with one point difference above Joshua Lian in 2nd. David Martin has a tough match coming up against Joshua - it could result in a gap opening, or David could launch himself into that title chase. Stuart, David, and Joshua have claimed one MotW each, so far.
... and lastly, NL4 is topped by San Diegan Mag Shade Hartline, above Gokula Maanickam by one bonus point. Matthew Pike and Illka Penttila have a bonus point each as well, as they complete the undefeated teams for the division. Shade plays Ian Garrett next, and Gokula plays Joe Bullimore... the form table suggests they should be able to open up a bit of a gap at the top.
The Toontalk Cup
The Cup and Tournament pages aren't ready yet, so here's just the already-played Round 1. All of the PL teams, CH teams, and half of the L1 teams have been given a bye into the second round.
Commiserations to those of you who've exited before we've even got going! The Round 2 Fixtures are as follows:
The Tournament will be explained after the first games have been played this coming weekend, and I'll post the results of Game 1 as well.
That's all for the first Fantasy League update. I won't usually post stuff as long as this... just thought I'd do a comprehensive one for the first one. Best of luck in the weekend's fixtures everyone!
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