Word reaches the Deptford League of the blooming of three sided football on the other side of the globe. Barnaby Chiverton reports from a windswept pitch in sunny Melbourne on the inaugural game on Aussie turf. Pythagoras 3FC v Athletic Geometry v All Sartres
Follow the action at
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Images sent to us by Museum Jorn of the inaugural game on their very own three sided football pitch – permanently installed in the courtyard of the museum.
Hoping we’ll get to play on it in the forthcoming World Cup.
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Planning for the forthcoming Three Sided Football World Cup is now almost concluded. The dates are confirmed as the weekend of 23rd to 25th May. There will be a conference held at Museum Jorn on the Friday – with the tournament itself taking place on the Saturday. Museum Jorn have sent out the formal invitations.
The Full Schedule will be as follows:
Friday 23rd May
am – arrive Silkeborg
pm – Symposium at Museum Jorn in the Cobra Room. “Implementing the Triloectic. Asger Jorn & Three Sided Football”
2.30. Audience and speakers gather at the museum
3.00. Introduction by Museum Jorn and Symposium mediator Fabian Tompsett. (who organised the first game of three sided football in Glasgow in 1994)
3.15. – 5.15. Presentation of papers
Fabian Tompsett. London Psychogeographical Association. A translator of Jorn and a specialist in situationist game strategy. “Situationist gaming & Three Sided Football”
Mark Dyson. Founder of the London Three Sided Football League, player manager for D3FC and member of WNLA (Workshop for Non-Linear Architecture) from 1992 -1996. Paper entitled “Organising Spontaneity – Triolectics in Action.
Geoff Andrews. Manager and Organiser of Philosophy Football FC, writer and educator. Paper entitled “The philosophers have only interpreted the game – the point is to change it. Jorn, Marx and modern football” Philippe Zerr. Previous member of French situationist/psychogeographical group Pied La Biche, director of the Triolectique films about three sided football. Will present a film about three sided football in France in 2009-2011
Redas Dirzys (DAMTP): Smash Psychic Slavery with Triolectics! [on the experience of applying 3SF in various venues of ‘serious culture’]
Chris Collier (Strategic Optimism) Three’s a Crowd or, Now our Grids are Triangular – Art, Politics and Triolectical Football
5.15. Open questions
6.00. End of symposium.
Saturday 24th May
am – tour of Museum for any participants who wish to attend
pm – Tournament 2.00. Initial matches.
Three games played in conjunction and consisting of 3No 20 minute rotations.
Game 1 (teams A.B.C). Game 2 (teams D.E.F). Game 3 (teams G.H.I).
Teams selected by random lots.
Teams are:
D3FC (Temporary Autonomous Republic of Deptford)
Philosophy Football FC (British team)
Philosophy Football FC (European team)
Polscy Budowlancy (Poland)
Dynamo Windrad (Germany)
AS Minguettes (France). (3SF double French champions ‘2010 & ‘2011)
Silkeborg (Denmark)
Ayazma (Turkey)
Alytus DAMTP (Lithuania)
4.00. Final Matches.
Game 1. The winners of each heat will meet in the final. Again 3No twenty minute rotations. Game will be overseen by Mayor of Silkeborg.
Game 2. The second placed teams from the initial matches will play each other
Game 3. The third placed teams from the initial matches will play each other
5.30. Award of participants medals and the World Cup.
7.00 Dinner.
Sunday 25th May
am. The museum will be organising a tour of the local area called “in the footsteps of Jorn” for any participants who wish to attend
12.00 An impromptu game of Constraint Football will be held amongst the trees in the local parkland around the museum for any participants who wish to play. This will be in the spirit of the games held in the Alytus pine forests and Istanbul Taksim Square.
End of tournament.
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Following the amazing response to the BBC film about D3FC (see last months post), our game in February was so well attended that we were able to set up two pitches side by side. D3FC, Philosophy A and Polscy played in one game and Strategic Optimists, Philosophy B and new team Athletico Aesthetico played in the other. News of our endeavours has even reached FIFA who asked whether they could come and watch three sided football being played and make a film about it. The resulting short documentary really captures the spirt of the game.
Strategic Optimists repeated their last minute victory in the January game with another slick performance – keeping a clean sheet to win 2.2.0 against Aesthetico and PFFC B, while the game between Polscy, D3FC and PFFC A was notable for the incredible defence Polscy put up in the final rotation.
The 3rd had started with Deptford down by a single goal – PFFC & the Poles sharing the lead 3.2.2. Shortly after the start of the final period a delightful deflection from the overhanging branches of the large Plane tree by the playground tricked the Philosophy goalie and the Poles took pole position. (Setting up two pitches has pushed us to the very edges of the park and the presence of trees is now an unavoidable feature).
Every element of gamesmanship was now deployed to keep the lead. Feigned injuries, repeatedly kicking the ball 100m out of touch, running to a far corner and holding the ball dead – you name it – it was tried and tested. Even with the ten, game hardened players of D3FC and Philosophy A, no gap could be found. The delirium of victory was palpable and as the whistle blew the Slavic Defence entered Three Sided Folklore.
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This has been a bit of dream project for some time now. In fact ever since the Deptford X tournament during the London Olympics in summer 2012 we have joked about the day when three sided football would become so popular that there would be a need for a World Cup.
After the Regents Park Rotorende the idea was raised again – and it got us thinking about the origins of the game within the situationist project – a project which has at its heart the desire to oppose the passivity of modern life within the capitalist spectacle by the concrete organisation of lived experience – of transforming dreams into candid reality through direct action. So we had to ask – why dream of the day when a world cup would be possible when all it takes is for us to organise one ourselves – right here – right now.
But what should such a World Cup be – where would it happen – who would play? And as we were speculating on these essential issues along comes the kind of bolt from the blue that good ideas thrive on for their verification. If you are familiar with this blog then you have probably come across various exchanges we have had with Museum Jorn in Denmark – the keepers of Asger Jorn’s collection and the tenders of his flame. Back in 2013 they asked us whether we intended doing anything to mark the 2014 Centenary celebrations of Jorn’s birth. We hadn’t – as it happened – but then again we figured there would be nothing lost if we proposed they host the first ever Three Sided Football World Cup – in Silkeborg (where they are based) – in conjunction with the programme of events they had planned. Well its taken a couple of months for them to respond, but they have now got back to us to say they want to do it – and they have asked if we would like to organise it.
Game on – stay tuned.
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Dan Curtis from BBC Stop/Start reports on our January game.
Three-sided football: A game of alliance and betrayal
It seems like a typical Sunday afternoon game of football, but there’s a big difference – there are three teams on the pitch.
Deptford 3S Football Club is playing Philosophy Football FC and Strategic Optimists FC, at the same time.
This is the complex and curious game of three-sided football, an invention of Danish Situationist philosopher and artist Asger Jorn.
Played on a hexagonal pitch, the rules are similar to normal football, but it is the team that concedes the fewest goals, rather than scores the most, that wins.
This leads to all sorts of tactical subtleties, as BBC News discovered at a match in New Cross in London.
Video journalists: Dan Curtis and Tom Beal.
Click the hexagon to watch the film
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As reported in the last post, Alexi Duggins of Time Out came along to play in the November game. His report has just been published.
Full report here:
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06.11.13
The Deptford Green Hex was packed to the gunwales this afternoon for our second outing of the 13/14 season. Philosophy FC brought along a very strong team, the Poles were out in force, SOFC had their best turnout yet and D3FC had an eight man contingent. We even had Alexi Duggins of Time Out (with camera crew on board) to sample and report on the special football brew that Deptford now forments.
Faced with so many players, the temptation to swap over to a four team rotorende, rather than a three team standard, was considerable. Discussion between the teams however decided on a standard game with 8 players per team; six on the pitch at any one time and two rotating subs able to swap over when fitness – or injury – determined. SOFC graciously stood down as a team and distributed themselves amongst the remaining three, secure in the promise that if this kind of turnout happens again then they are guaranteed a show.
Philosophy are clearly going to be the team to watch; not only have they brought their brightest and best but their recent games in Regents Park and Istanbul have given them a serious tactical edge. The first rotation certainly goes their way, with the scores at 2.2.0 as the first period comes to a close.
The break before the second unsurprisingly sees a D3FC delegation head towards the Poles and the expectation is of a joint attack on the Thinkers goal once play resumes. But Deptford get it wrong and a feigned alliance quickly sees the Poles unite with Philosophy to grab a quick third against the home team. Stung by the doublecross, Deptford resort to close defensive play to try and encourage The Thinkers and the Poles to play against each other. Happy with their three goal advantage though, PHFC have also closed play down and are now operating with a single lone striker and a four man defense. Their goal is looking impregnable.
A strange stalemate settles over the game. Whenever Deptford have possession they try to turn play against the Philosophers but, unable to trust the Poles (whose right back persistently rushes at the Deptford goal whenever he has the ball), their attacks break down as they feel unable to involve a Polish shirt. The last five minutes of the rotation are noticeably ‘lonesome’ (every team playing only for themselves) and the second ends at 0.2.3.
With the start of the third the Polish front three seem at last to decide that an all out burst on the Thinkers is now a necessity and Deptford tentatively send players out to join them. The attacks multiply and numerous shots are parried or sent off target. This is certainly the kind of play required to get the loosing teams back on level pegging. As the attacks multiply and trust between the Poles and Deptford begins to re-established, the Polish team again break the alliance. The Philosophy striker picks up a loose ball and heads towards the Deptford goal. Rather than help repulse his advance, the Polish captain and their right half connect with him in a wonderful one two and put the home side on four conceded. Frustration finally boils over and Deptford players begin a high volume critique of the Polish tactics; one half of the team cursing their Slavic inheritance and the other shouting words of passive aggressive applause; “Come on Poland, you can do it. We believe in you – you don’t have to always come second.” The Philosophers can only but be bemused.
Depford however are simply confused. 4.2.0 down and ten minutes to go. No way to beat the Thinkers now and every direct query to the Polish team just results in a big smile and a nonchalant shrug. The Deptford team dynamic starts to break down – half now attacking the Philosophers for all they are worth and the other half blinded by a red mist of revenge. For reasons best known to themselves, the Poles now launch themselves at the Philisophy goal but D3FC are unable to unite sufficiently. After it quickly becomes clear that the Thinkers goal is not going to give, a three man band of Deptford defiants turn the play and rush the Polish goal. Carelessly guarded by only the goalie and the right back the attack succeeds and the difference reduced to one.
As play recommences the Philosophers pull out of their defensive diamond and urge the Deptford renegades to join them. Against this mixture of PHFC skill and Deptford determination the Poles have no hope and a fourth is quickly despatched. 4.4.0. Only a few minutes to play. Philosophy are clear winners after a text book Sun Tzu masterclass of securing victory by luring the opposition into internal discord. The last two minutes finally see the Poles and Deptford unite in a secure alliance with every player focusing on trying to get at least a single consolation goal against the Thinkers – but in vain. The Philosophy goalkeeper plays a blinder and the final whistle gives them all the honours.
Postscript
The writer of this report, who played for the Deptford team on the day in question, was eager to understand the reasoning behind the Polish strategy and decided to interview the Polish captain. What, I wondered, was the thinking – if any – behind the decision to keep attacking Deptford when victory could only be secured by allying with us? The response was suitably prosaic.
“We had originally figured on getting D3FC well out of the game – with PHFC collaboration – at which point we would turn on them and – with your support – start scoring against them. When it went to 4.2.0 most of us then did start attacking Philosophy – but Robert had a sore leg and didn’t want to leave his right back position to cross the field and attack them. So instead of just staying in defence while we got on with it – he decided to have a bit of fun and rush at your goal whenever the ball came to him. I did advise him of what the outcome would be but he didnt give a toss!”
McKenzie Wark recently pointed out in his essay ‘This Ludic Century’ that “play has to trifle, it has to be indifferent to what (…) is considered a win”. So maybe it was Robert, with his gammy leg, who was the winner in the end?
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19.10.13
Our Game in the Wood, set amongst the mature plane trees of Victoria Park a fortnight ago, was a resounding success, with a number of experienced players expressing the belief that ‘ordinary’ three sided football would never feel the same again. The classic version of 3sf we have played over the last two years has frequently been described as an amalgam of football, chess and poker. The introduction of pinball to this beautiful blend was a master stroke.
Setting the game amongst trees was done in an effort to reunite some of the current players with aspects of the game’s earliest incarnations and this particular set up brought together Stewart Home’s Alytus games and the constraint methodology of WNLA.
Although the workshop for non-linear architecture (wnla) are only understood to have played a single game of three sided football after being introduced to this aspect of Jorn’s thought by Fabian Tompsett at the 1994 Glasgow Winter school, their resulting game was undertaken in an unusual manner. Following a pattern they had practiced over the previous year, the playing of the game was subjected to the constraint techniques of the Oulipo, whereby the pure flow of an otherwise unrestricted derive/constructed situation was directed in its apparent randomness (and given an element of control over its protagonists) by the application of parameters; and in this case, the parameters were a seriously undulating pitch. The application of parameters to experimental situationist activity was discussed by wnla with Fabian & Stewart and the playing of a game under such constraints had actually been suggested by Stewart at the time of Winterschool game on Glasgow Green.
As we intend to recreate this game in a future match (once a suitable pitch is found) I will refrain from a detailed description until the relevant post. Its applicability to our game in the wood stems from the fact that it was only with Stewart’s breathtaking genius in setting the Alytus games amongst trees that the real potential for constraint games was fulfilled. By detourning the fledgling rules of 3sf in such a way Stewart not only made the game more fun – thus alluding to the essential ludic nature of situationist activity – but he made an important contribution to the avoidance of the recuperation that the game will inevitably face by undermining the seriousness with which is it played – and in which it is held.
For a better understanding of the flavour of the Alytus game, this link is a pretty effective taster:
Following our publicity about the holding of such a repeat game, D3FC and Polsky Budovlancy were asked by a number of participants at the London Anarchist Bookfair whether they could provide the third team. The challenge was accepted and, with the pitch all set up, their arrival eagerly awaited. Unfortunately, for reasons yet to be conveyed, the assorted anarchists failed to show. We did however have enough players to run a three a side game and instead of playing a team of Assorted Anarchists, we instead introduced a further component of 3sf past and played D3FC v Polsky v AAA. The Absent Assorted Anarchists being a mnemonic stand in for the Association of Autonomous Astronauts who played the very first ‘game in a wood’ on the slopes of the densely forested One Tree Hill in South East London in 1998:
http://transpont.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/three-sided-football-and-one-tree-hill.html
With our teams recombined, kick off got underway at 1.00pm, with the match set to repeat the Alytus game’s three fifteen minute rotations.
Initial play was focused on trying to come to terms with the trees. To start with it was difficult to see them as anything other than obstacles to be avoided and the first rotation had the feel of ordinary 3sf but with a collection of rather motionless extra players getting in the way. By the end of the 1st a single goal had been conceded by each team, though D3FC could easily have been three or four down had it not been for some excellent defending by a carefully positioned straining trunk about 4 metres out from their goalmouth.
The second rotation got off to a more cunning start, with the crafty Poles having realized the potential for concealment offered by the thickness of the trees. It was difficult to always keep a grasp of who was where amongst the assorted timbers and they decided to plant a hidden player out of view of an attack. Just as D3FC were bearing down on their lonely goal defender, the concealed player jumped out from behind a tree, shimmied past the attacking player and passed through the boughs to the other forward who had positioned himself – invisibly – far to the right of the D3FC goal. Before the attackers could regroup an open goal was easily taken. Our first taste of the potential had been savoured.
This type of play now dominated the game, players darting in and out of cover and passing to voices rather than visible players. By the end of the second though the scores remained close with the Poles in red holding off the others 2.3.3.
By now however another aspect of the game had come into play. In the first half of the game the trees had been avoided – we had attempted to shoot past them. This had not always been effective and on a number of occasions the ball, just as in a game of pinball, had ricocheted off to change the direction and course of play. This had often had a more positive than negative affect on the unfolding of the game, so by the third the deliberate forceful shooting towards a collection of trees had become strategy rather than consequence. In tight situations where an obvious pass could not be judged – invariably because you had no real idea of who was where – the best thing became the random deflection. This flushed out the concealed players and – counterintuitavely – cleared the way for a more educated attack.
With all these strategic options now available the game rapidly quickened. AAA & D3FC utilized both to level the scores at 3.3.3 and with the alliance holding put another beyond the Poles to leave them trailing. Switchbacking on the run of play, D3FC took advantage of a sudden Polsky team up and now placed one neatly past the absent anarchists to take a solo lead. Only six minutes now remain and Deptford decide to try and hold out, taking the ball into the far corners of the pitch and hold it there.
Polsky and AAA are united in wearing this down and despite valiant efforts an equalizer is headed in from a cunning deliberate rebound from the really big tree to the left of the Deptford goal.
4.4.4. with only ninety seconds to go. Alliances break down and the game becomes a mad scramble. The ball is ping ponging around the pitch as everyone fights for a final second advantage. AAA bear down on the reds, D3FC pile in to help and a goalmouth scramble sees the Poles concede. Desperate not to end up trailing, Polish Tomasz picks up the new ball and races through the trees to find space to place a shot. Hemmed towards the AAA goal by a concerted wall of Deptford defenders and with only seconds to play he fires a beautiful arcing ball towards the far post. The goal is empty and the net assured but the same defending tree that saved Deptford in the 1st gets in a glancing block and the ball careers wide.
Game over. 4.4.5
This will be repeated.
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d3fc 