Sport of the Week – Three-sided Football

Sport of the Week – Three-sided Football - with John Hartley and Geoff Peterfy 0:00 8:23

You know that game soccer? Or football as it’s better known around the rest of the world? Well, take that rectangular pitch, turn it into a hexagon, then add an extra goal… and an extra team and a whole lot of anarchy and you’ve got three-sided football

How Three-Sided Football Began

In theory three-sided football began in 1966 and in practice the first match was held in 1994. Unlike many of the other sports we discuss, three-sided football is not one of war originally. The background is so convoluted (many people claim to be the originators) so I pulled it directly from Wikipedia:

“It was devised by the Danish Situationist Asger Jorn to explain his notion of triolectics, his refinement on the Marxian concept of dialectics, as well as to disrupt one’s everyday idea of football.”

Triolectics means having three truths and dialectics refers to arguments with two sides, both believing to be true. So at its root, three-sided football was actually just an example to prove a philosophical point. You asleep yet?

While researching three-sided football, everything I came upon was strangely political. It all seemed like one large manifesto, with rules and overviews claiming that three-sided football is not just a sport, it’s about breaking down standard conventions of us versus them. No longer was it simply one team against another team, it’s a crazy anarchic system where chaos reigns and no one side can effectively take on another side. The game may have started as a philosophical one, but with leagues popping up throughout London, it’s possible this sport becomes a little less abstract in the future.

Where is Three-Sided Football Played?

The sport is mainly popular in Europe, with the base popularity spanning out from London and leaking into areas like Spain and Rome. It’s starting to branch further out into Europe, but the sport appears to be completely non-existent in the Western Hemisphere.

Three-Sided Football Rules

Unlike traditional football, the object of the game is to give up the fewest goals. It does not matter if you score zero or ten goals on your opponents as long as you have given up the fewest goals. That is essentially the only hardened rule other than there needs to be three goals and there must be three teams. From there, variations abound.

From all the rule variations, the adaptations that make the most sense seem to be three 30-minute periods, with the goals rotating after each period and two referees to manage the game. Teams own two sides of the hexagon: the side with their goal and the side that runs parallel to it.

Setup of the field is easiest inside of circular stadiums, like in the case of the Plaza de Toros in Bilbao (where bullfights take place).

It is expected that the 2020 3SF World Cup will take place in London

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