All about FC Buxton

[mart]

FC Buxton are the fans team of the mighty Buxton FC.

It all started when last year the fans of Ilkeston posted on the Buxton forum a challenge to play one another before the big match that afternoon. A group of Buck fans turned up and introduced themselves as ,although we follow the same team didn't know each other. 15 year old schoolboys and a mix of 20 somthings plus a 53 year old took the field and roundly got beat 8-0.It was on that day that we found out about the Internet Football Association(IFA). A nationwide league of fans teams consisting of premier league right down to the depths of non league plus teams from all the Scottish leagues.

We are now more than a year old have have played Sheffield Utd, Stockport County, Port Vale etc as well as Whitby, and Ilkeston another 3 times(2 wins 1 draw) plus hope to be playing FC United in febuary.

Any one is welcome to come along as we try and encorage ALL fans regardless of ability to be part of our team. Everyone who turns up is guaranteed to play ,as the IFA allows unlimited subs.

We train at the Community school astro every thursday at 7 and play every saturday morning in a old Buxton kit kindly donated by the club before going to watch Buxton.

[mart]

Please pass this on to all your team members and your message
boards/email lists

Thanks

betty

History of The Internet Football Association

http://www.internetfootball.org.uk

In the early nineties many supporters, particularly ex-pats kept in
touch with other fans via email. These people tended to be mainly people
in the technical or academic worlds as email was widely available in
those professions. The first ever internet organised football match was
held at Nottingham on 30th July 1995 between Leeds Lards 6 v 3 Internet
Hotspurs, the attendance was just 12!

At the time of Euro 96, Dave "Voice of Football" Walmsley wanted to show
that football fans could come together in the spirit of the game, play
football and build bridges between their respective teams. This was
after Graham Kelly the then chief of the FA was publicly sceptical about
the ability of English football supporters to behave themselves at Euro 96.

Through the use of email discussion groups, Dave organised a tournament
to be held on June 9th 1996 in Nottingham, one of the host cities for
Euro 96 and EuroNET 96 was born. From that point it grew to represent
the teams of football e-mail discussion groups and message boards across
the UK.

In 1997 Dave Walmsley stepped down as tournament organiser and was
replaced by Roger Goodair and John Boocock who had helped out with the
first event. Dave is honoured by the Dave Walmsley Trophy which is
presented to the man of the match in each annual tournament Final.

Euro 97 was run over two days 28/29 June 1997 and was held in
Middlesbrough at the Wilf mannion Sports Centre. Former Great Britain
and Middlesbrough player, Wilf Mannion presented the trophy. 1997 also
saw League and Cup formats introduced and name Internet Football
Association was born to run these competitions. Euro 98 was held at
Reading RUFC 18/19 July. The first International internet organised game
was held at Reading between England 5 v 1 Scotland

With the expansion of the world wide web EuroNET continued to grow and
soon began to include fans from all backgrounds and walks of life who
communicated via message boards and email lists. To better represent the
world wide interest the tournament now had, the name of Euro 99 was
changed to WorldNET 99 and was held in Leicester 17/18 July at Victoria
Park.

Worldnet 2000 was held in Leeds on July 22/23 for the first time. Our
tournament, now regularly run at the University of Leeds has been
featured heavily on Sky Sports Television, in the print media and on UK
Radio, we've hosted teams from Greece, Africa, Italy Ireland and France
and sees over a thousand fans enjoy two days of football. WorldNET 2007
saw our greatest number of teams ever, 72 playing for both the Cup and
the Plate.

We have grown from the original 16 teams to over a hundred teams. We
currently have an annual two-day knock out tournament, a league and a
cup competition. Our competitions are UK based and encourage fans to
play football regardless of their ability, gender, race or age.

Our teams normally play their league matches in the mornings before "the
big match" and several clubs have been very helpful in ensuring that all
those who have played in these matches are able to attend "the big
match" that follows. Some clubs give free tickets to the visitors,
others ensure that the visitors are able to buy tickets for the match.
This is often done in conjunction with official supporters clubs,
supporter's trusts and ISAs in which many of our players are leading lights.

Internet football is not just about winning. It's about taking part and
building bridges between rival sets of supporters. Having said that we
consider our leagues, competitions and tournaments professionally run
and allow for an element of competition and pride in supporting one's
home team. We have also ensured that we involve ourselves in major
football issues of the day especially anti-racism and anti-sectarianism.
We have been successful in bringing fans of opposing teams together in
the spirit of the game, to the point where quite unusual alliances and
friendships have sprung up. None less than when the IFA cup takes place
and teams criss-cross the Anglo Scottish border in search of cup glory.

Wherever possible we encourage teams to forge links with their parent
clubs - to the point where teams who have won our competitions have been
presented to supporters on the pitch at senior games, have featured in
club programmes and in the case of some clubs have been given official
recognition along with support of a more material kind. This has taken
the form of donations of kit, use of facilities and assistance with
transport costs. The IFA now has members from all the Scottish and all
the English divisions as well as a number of teams from mainland Europe,
Africa and Ireland.

WorldNET 2008 saw the introduction of an 8 team veteran's tournament as
some of us are now getting older! In 2009 the veteran's tournament has
doubled in size to 16 teams and provides a chance for the over 30s to
show off their silky skills. The 2009 Cup and Plate competition has 64
entrants. WorldNET09 is to be held in Leeds on 24/25/26 July where we
will also feature the IFA Cup Final and the IFA England v Scotland
International.

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