The football winter transfer window draws to an end, putting to bed a month of cacophony and loony business deals. As the game becomes a little more commercialised with every passing year, there are a bunch of philosophers who use a variant of football to restore the essence of the sport.
Three-sided football (3sf) was the brainchild of Danish thinker Asger Jorn, who conceived the game in 1966 to explain his concept of triolectics—a restructured version of Marxist dialectics. Jorn was a part of Situationist International, a group of avant-garde artists and political intellectuals.
But, it wasn’t until 1994 that the game was actually played, in Glasgow, by youngsters who were inspired by his work. It gave rise to the first 3sf league in the world—the Deptford League. Philosophy be damned, this is one of the wackiest ways to spend a Sunday evening.
The rules of 3sf are simple, but, even more so, they are flexible. The sight of it will leave passersby scratching their heads, but, to the teams on the pitch, it makes perfect sense. (Note, colour-coding will be a good idea). The game involves a hexagonal pitch with three goalposts, three teams, one ball and a whole lot of oscillating strategies.
The game is divided into three periods, with teams rotating sides. Each team owns two sides of the pitch, so they get the ball if it goes out on one of their sides. Kick off will probably have to be decided on rock-paper-scissors. Thankfully, you don’t have to break your head over the offside rule!
The winning side is not the one to score the most, but rather the one to concede the least. This is where alliances will be formed and broken over. Team A and B could gang up on Team C, but only until they concede. A new understanding might then be reached between C and A to storm B’s goal. But, if team C and A are attacking B’s goal and C suddenly turn its attention to Team A’s goal, it would be a classic case of backstabbing. Chaotic, as opposed to organised system of the conventional game. Spare a thought for the ref.
The first 3sf World Cup was played in Denmark in 2014, and a second in Germany in 2017. The third will be held in London in 2020. It still remains an informal sport—much like three-player chess—though FIFA has unofficially recognised the sport.
The next time you head out to play ball with your chums, challenge yourself, mentally and physically, with this alternative. The beautiful game just got a lot kookier!
