If you lose at swamp soccer, your name's mud

REPUTATIONS to be dragged through the dirt at the Swamp Soccer New World Championships? Beauty, writes Chloe Fussell.

A MUDDY Scottish swamp will host a soccer World Cup in June – for amateurs only. Professional players, the organiser says, are too "precious" to join in – and not just because they might get mud on their jumpers.

Stewart Miller is expecting more than 100 teams from all over the world, including New Zealand, Germany and Finland, to travel to this year's Swamp Soccer New World Championships, the third to be held in Scotland.

Teams of six players compete over two days on a pitch churned into mud by a digger in the tiny village of Strachur, Argyll, near Glasgow.

Miller's hopes of an international clash between professional footballers have been dashed, however, by the players' insurance policies.

"I tried to get a Scotland versus England match, or Rangers versus Celtic, but footballers are too precious these days. They're insured to the hilt and they're not allowed to play in these sports," he said.

"Nobody's ever been injured seriously at swamp soccer – sometimes somebody's got a cut or two in the swamp but nothing big – but the footballers won't do it."

Three leagues (men's, women's and mixed) make up the championships, and teams play games of 24 minutes duration with unlimited substitutes permitted. Fancy dress is allowed at the event, which runs from June 20-22.

Gareth Rimmington, the captain of last year's winners, the Fuddy Muckers, said the key to the game was a good defence and plenty of substitutes.

"The secret tactic was to have one player at the back defending," he said.

"Because there's no offside rule we always had one player right up against the opposition's goal, so if you get a break he can get it from the goalkeeper and throw it up to the attacker."

The group, who have been playing sports together since the age of six when they met at school in Doncaster, northern England, said their new, enlarged team could beat the tougher opposition this year.

Rimmington said: "What's in our favour is the lesson we learned from last year. You need some additional players. We were a bit thin on the ground last year, so we're taking nine players this time.

"It's going to be a lot tougher because we're the team everyone wants to beat."

Other teams at last year's tournament included the New Zealand All Muds and the Mud Flaps.

The sport was conceived by Finnish cross-country skiers looking for a way to train during the snowless summer months. The game was first played in the Nordic swamps.

As well as boasting beautiful scenery, Scotland's wetlands provide good pitches for the sport – with help from a digger and some water if it doesn't rain leading up to the tournament.

The game does not damage the land as the pitch is returned to its original purpose as grazing land for sheep for the rest of the year.

"It's fun but it's also an extreme sport because you're fighting the elements," added Miller, who plans to start similar competitions in Australia and the US over the next few years.

More: www.swampsoccer.co.uk

The Sunday Telegraph