THE GAFFA - Rule Book |
Now you have received your free starter pack you will receive a results pack every 10 days. This will be sent by conventional mail or by E-Mail. We provide all the necessary material for you to play the game and you simply send your orders back to us using the 'turnsheet'. We process your orders along with those of the other managers and then our computer system plays your matches in accordance with the rules of the game. Once your matches are played we send you the next results pack which will contain your teams results, match reports etc.
The GAFFA is the UK's most realistic Play-By-Mail and the best value for money available. For managers living in the UK or Eire (or those opting to receive their packs by E-Mail) the basic cost is only £1.85 per turn, so if you like the game tell your friends, if not, tell us.
All our leagues operate on a 10 day cycle and you should receive your pack within 3 days of the matches being played. The Turnsheet (along with any payments due) must be received at the Gaffa Offices by 9am on the date stipulated on your turnsheet.
Please send your payments in with your turnsheets. These can be made by either cheque (made payable to GAFFA GAMES LTD), postal order or cash. If you send a cheque or postal order for less than £5 we have to impose an additional charge of 30p to cover our bank charges so please add this amount onto your cheque. If you want to pay less than £5 we suggest you send cash and so avoid the additional 30p.
You can manage more than 1 team and in this case you will be given separate manager numbers so when making payments please tell us which teams you are paying for.
If you have any problems and must speak to someone in person you can ring 01626 835131 during normal office hours but it is better to write your problem on your turnsheet and we will resolve it on your next turn. You can ring 0891 234033 to leave messages for other managers and to listen to messages left for you. If you would like to introduce a friend to the game you can ring 01626 835957 but please note that this number can only be used to request a starter pack.
Each team will be in a league of 4 divisions each division containing 20 clubs and two matches are played on each turn. This means that each team plays 38 matches per season which takes approximately 6 months to complete.
At the end of one season the next will start automatically so there's no waiting around. Each season there will be a GAFFA Cup competition which is completely free of charge with the winner receiving a trophy, a certificate and 5 free turns.
At the end of each season the top 4 clubs from each division will be promoted and the bottom 4 clubs relegated (unless of course you are already in the lowest division). Our computer system will process your teams matches and we will send out your results and turnsheet which should arrive within 3 days of the matches being played. If there are no management decisions to be made that turn, you need do no more. However, if you wish to take some action on your squad, training or any other of the many management decisions, we should receive your turnsheet by the processing date specified on your turnsheets. It is your responsibility to ensure that your turnsheet arrives with us by the specified date. Gaffa Games cannot take responsibility for late arrival and these turnsheets will not be processed.
The computer will decide whether your player's ratings will go up, down or stay the same. The column headed tendency tells you how your player's ratings have changed during the weeks matches. A '+' means that his ratings have gone up whilst a '-' means that they have gone down. The players will also be affected by the training schedule that you adopt as well as playing too many games.
For each game you must choose which players you wish to play from your squad but remember that you can only have 10 outfield players and 1 goalkeeper selected to play. In addition you can choose 3 substitutes but only 2 of these can be outfield subs(the other must be a goalkeeper).
You must use the section titled 'Team' on your turnsheet to tell us which players you would like to play in each of your games. For each position in your team enter the NUMBER of the player to play in that position and then write the formation that you want to play (e.g. 4/3/3) for that match. The defenders should be first, followed by the midfielders and finally the forwards so if your formation is 4/3/3 the players in positions 2,3,4 and 5 will play in defence, players 6,7 and 8 will play in mdifield and players 9,10 and 11 will be in attack. The numbers of the players that played in each position in the last match are printed on the turnsheet, so you only need to enter player numbers in positions where you want to make changes.
You can play any formation you like but obviously a balanced formation will achieve better results than, for instance, 9 men in defence. You can play players out of position but you may not benefit.
If the substitute has already been introduced to the game due to an earlier injury then, of course, the planned substitution will not take place. Neither will it take place if the player to be replaced is not on the pitch (due to injury or sending off). Please note that for each match you should only request one planned substitution for each substitute and you cannot substitute a substitute.
Example:
You have chosen players 327, 329 and 334 as substitutes
in the team squad section of your turnsheets. If you now enter the
following in the Substitutes section:
| Sub | For | Minute | If | Sub | For | Minute | If |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [329 ] | [328 ] | [64 ] | [Winning ] | [334 ] | [337 ] | [45 ] | [ ] |
Always remember to cross out that which does not apply to a particular game and write in the space next to it your new selection.
You must choose ONE out of each of the sections explained below so you should have one ‘A’ tactic(e.g. A3), one ‘B’ tactic(e.g. B2) etc. Your complete set of tactics therefore might look like[A1,B2,C2,D2,E1,F1,G2,H2,I1,J4,K2,L3,M2,N1,O2,P2]. If any section is left blank or crossed out but not replaced with anything then the computer will assume you wish to adopt the same tactics as in the previous game.
Defending Corners
A1 Player on near post only A2 Player on far post only A3 Players
on both posts A4 Player on neither post
B1 Keeper come for ball B2 Keeper stay on goal line
C1 Mark man for man C2 Zonal marking
Defending set pieces
D1 Always build a wall D2 Build a wall only inside penalty area
E1 Mark man for man E2 Zonal marking
Open Play
F1 Flat back line F2 Use a sweeper
G1 Play offside trap G2 Don’t play offside trap
H1 Mark man for man H2 Zonal marking
I1 Push up to halfway line when going forward I2 Defend deep
Attacking Corners
J1 Use short corner J2 Play corner into near post J3 Play long inswinging
corner J4 Play long outswinging corner
Attacking Set Pieces
K1 Shoot whenever within range K2 Shoot only when clear opportunity
L1 Play ball into box in the air L2 Play ball into the box on the
ground
L3 Play ball wide
Open Play
M1 Shoot whenever in range M2 Play ball into box
N1 Attacking full backs N2 Full backs stay deep
O1 Play ball wide O2 Play ball down the middle
P1 Hoof! P2 Short passes
In the column headed effort, indicate how much effort you want your players to put into each particular game, the range is from 1 to 9. Obviously the more effort you put into a game, the more chance you have of your team receiving bookings, suspensions and injuries etc.
This section should be written in multiples of 0.25 which is 1/4 of a days training, 0.5 obviously is 1/2 a days training etc. If your training totals more than 5 days our staff will either leave the training as it was for the previous turn or will have to delete some of your activities.
| Cost Per Week | Recovery | Pitch | Facilities | Food | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Posh house Hotel | £150,000 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| The Manor Complex | £125,000 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| The Roundmoors Centre | £100,000 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Torremolinas Beach House | £80,000 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Roughstead Camp | £70,000 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Naffleigh | £60,000 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
When a player is placed on the transfer list he will stay on the list for a single turn. If he is not sold he will automatically be taken off the list but, of course, he could be put back onto the list again the following turn. The highest bid always secures a signing provided that it is above the minimum amount set by the manager of the transfer listed player. If you place a player on the transfer list he will still be available for selection and you will still have to pay his wages.
The computer will periodically place players on the transfer list. These will probably be non-league or international players.
You can play against any team in your league and you can choose to be home or away. You do not need to agree the friendly with the oppositions manager because, unless he has also asked for the friendly, he will not be aware that the match has been played, he will not receive a match report and his players and finances will be unaffected by the match. However if you and another manager decide between you that you would like to play a friendly, just agree who will be home and who will be away and then both of you request the match on your turnsheets. You will both then get the match report.
The players, substitutions and match tactics will be the same as chosen for your first league game of the turn.
There is an additional charge of 30p for each friendly played.
There is an additional charge of 25p for each club report requested.
Each turn the computer will pick one team from those entered into the lottery from your league and the winning team will receive £250,000. If the prize is not won it will increase by £250,000 each turn until it is won. Each league will have its own prize so you will only be up against other teams in your league and so your chances of winning are very good.
If you want more money for your team then this is the option for you. There is a charge of 15p for each entry to the lottery.
The cup winner will receive a trophy, a certificate and 5 free turns.
Player Ratings: The rating of a player determines how good he is. Each rating is out of 99. The higher the rating, the better the player. They come under three headings, Fitness, Skill and Form. For a Goalkeeper fitness is his athleticism and strength coming out for a ball. His skill affects his positional play, reflex saves and handling. Form affects his confidence, his authority in the box to be able to organise his defence and his general all round play.
A Defenders form affects his all round play, above or below his normal standard, his fitness affects his speed, stamina and strength in the tackle and skill his positional play, tackling and passing ability. A Midfielders fitness affects his speed and stamina, his ability to get up the pitch to assist the forwards and get back to support the defence. His skill affects his passing, shooting, dribbling, set play and form affects each of his skills to a greater or lesser degree. A Forwards fitness affects his ability to make space, get away from man to man marking, make through runs, to challenge for the ball. His form affects his goalscoring ability and skill his first touch, shooting, dribbling and heading ability.
Crowds: This is your clubs main source of income. The profit and loss will vary depending on your ground capacity. Revenue is also gained from in ground catering, pools and TV coverage.
Injuries: Injuries can occur during any game and can vary in severity from concussion to a broken leg. The period the injury lasts depends on its severity but for a broken leg is generally 20 games or just 2 games for concussion. You cannot pick a player if he is carrying an injury and the player will also not be available for cup games being played in any turn where the player is still injured. At the end of the season your players will return to full fitness.
Suspensions and disciplinary points: This represents a players behaviour on the pitch. Each time a player is booked he will receive 3 disciplinary points. Once a player has reached 21 points he will receive a 2 match suspension. A sending off automatically qualifies for a 2 match suspension. Your club will be fined £5,000 for each suspension. At the start of a new season all disciplinary points will return to zero.
For most people The GAFFA costs less than £1 per match played, since there are at least 2 matches each turn. You can make payments each turn or you can bring the price down even further by paying for a number of turns in one go. If you pay for 8.5 turns you get 1 free turn and you get 3 free turns if you pay for 16 turns.
We accept payment by cheque, made payable to GAFFA GAMES LTD, postal order, or cash. For payments of less than £5 we suggest you pay by cash because, due to bank charges, we must charge 30p per cheque or postal order below £5. We cannot be held responsible for any payment lost in the post and we have found that, when sending cash, it is safer to send notes rather than coins since coins can come out of the envelope. If you do send coins make sure that they are secured safely.
The game is designed so that you will only remain as a manager if you remain in credit so it is best to ensure that you have at least £1.85 in your account. If you forget to make a payment or your payment arrives late you could lose your team. If you change your address please notify us with your turnsheets or with some proof that you are a manager. We do not like to accept change of address over the phone.