Frequently Asked Questions

WHAT'S THIS SNAKE DRAFT SYSTEM YOU TALK ABOUT?

It’s the fairest system by which to allow everyone to choose his or her players. You’ll take it in turns to select a player. The person with the final go will pick twice as the order reverses and heads back to person 1. This continues in a back and forth process until each user has a full squad of 15 players.

SO HOW WILL THE PRE-SEASON DRAFTING WORK?

The most common way will be the live online draft. You’ll take it turns to pick a player for your team. As soon as that player is picked, he’s unavailable for selection so think carefully about who you want. The further through the draft you get, the more knowledge it’ll take to unearth the potential gems that your friends have missed.

ARE THERE ANY RESTRICTIONS ON WHAT MY SQUAD CAN LOOK LIKE?

Nope, in your 15-man squad you can have as many players as you want from one team; if of course they’re available and want to put all your eggs in one basket. Furthermore, no budget means you won’t have any restrictions in assembling your team of world beaters. You will however need to have a squad of 2 GKs, 5 DEFs, 5 MIDs and 3 FWDs.

WON'T THAT TAKE AGES? HOW LONG DO I GET TO PICK?

Double question eh? It would take a while if everyone was given hours to make each pick which is why it’s best to preselect who it is you want in your team.

You’ll create a list of who you’d most like in your team prior to the draft. Don’t worry though you won’t have to do this from scratch.We’ll have a pre-determined list from which to choose with better players at the top and those we anticipate there being less demand for at the bottom. It’s entirely up to you how you amend this order.

This means that if you’re not around at draft time or someone’s 60/90/120 second (chairman decides) selection window expires, their next available pick goes in automatically. As a result, the draft doesn’t take weeks and it gives you a chance to have a think about what you want your team to look like beforehand.

DOES IT ALL HAVE TO BE ONLINE? THE FUN PART OF AN AMERICAN NBA OR NFL DRAFT LOOKS LIKE THE EVENING WHERE EVERYONE GETS TOGETHER TO PICK THEIR PLAYERS.

Agreed, so why not get all your friends together and make a night of it? In fact, we’d positively encourage that. We’d love to see any photos/ videos of the night so feel free to send them in and they may end up on the website.

I WANT TO PICK FIRST! HOW'S THE DRAFT ORDER SELECTED?

If the order isn’t entered by the league chairman then it’ll be randomised. But if we were you, we’d use this opportunity to set everyone within your league a game/challenge to determine the order. Why not compete in something to work out who should get first pick, who should go last and everything in between? Laser quest results, cracker eating competition – We don’t know, come up with your own ideas. The more original and hilarious, the better. Keep it safe though. Record it and send your videos in - we'd love to see them.

CAN I PLAY THIS ALONGSIDE OTHER FANTASY FOOTBALL GAMES?

Of course! Our site is designed as a game for both newbies and those who already enjoy fantasy football. It’ll bring extra elements into play to really test your skill.

WHAT MAKES THIS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER FANTASY FOOTBALL GAMES?

• Unique drafting process means that there’s drama before the season kicks off as you try to second-guess your friends to work out who you can get in your squad. You’ll find load more info in the ‘drafting FAQ’ over there.
• You’ll have a unique team that won’t be anything like your rivals. No two teams can select the same player meaning that, unlike other games, there’s no chance that your team will be similar to your friends.
• There are no restrictions – An unlimited budget means if you can get them, you can put Aguero, Costa and Rooney in your team, your midfield and defence won’t suffer. Pick as many players as you want from one team too. You’d better hope that team are performing though!
• Bigger rivalries – This game increases competition within leagues. You’ll be playing mind games with your friends all season. Who’s going to out-Mourinho whom? A head-to-head league style means you’re pitted against a different rival each week and even if you find yourself bottom, you’ll get first pick of undrafted players for that week! The knockout stage is waiting for you at the end of the season too to really find out who’s the most skilful manager in your league.
• Transfers – It pays to keep an eye out on the pool of undrafted players. But will it be worth sacrificing one of your squad for?
• Trading players between teams – Try your best to cut a deal that’s going to prise a rival’s player from them.
• You’ll be more of a manager than a ‘squad picker’- There are actual tactics in selecting a squad and reading what the others are going to do not just in the initial draft but throughout the season.

HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL BE IN MY LEAGUE?

We recommend no more than 10 teams in a league and there’ll be a maximum of 12 otherwise you’ll exhaust the regular premier league players. Public leagues will have 8 teams in a league.

CAN I ONLY JOIN IF I HAVE SEVEN OTHER FRIENDS PLAYING?

Nope. We’ll have public leagues so you can join a league of other willing players

(don’t worry you’ll be matched on certain criteria)

Even if you can’t find 7 friends who are willing to take part we’ll fill any spaces in your league with some special characters all with their own personalities. More will be revealed in good time. Have some patience.

HOW WILL THE LEAGUE WORK?

Each league will follow a head to head format meaning you’ll have a fixture against a friend each week. Whoever’s team does best gets a win and 3 points on the board. We go into knockout territory for the last few games of the season to separate the men from the boys. And the Women from the girls. And the men from the girls. And the women from the boys.

HOW DOES MY TEAM SCORE POINTS?

Opta supply all data for premier league matches. We then translate this into points for each player in your team giving you a team total which will hopefully beat your friend’s total for that week. Points scoring will be similar to other popular websites but with a few twists (suffice to say it’ll be a good day when your keeper scores). All rules will appear on the website shortly.

HOW DO I CHANGE MY SQUAD ONCE THE SEASON IS UNDERWAY?

You can make transfers to get rid of your injured, suspended, or out of form players. You can only pick from the pool of unselected players though. The person at the bottom of your league will have a short window to make one transfer before anyone else gets a chance but after that it’s a free-for-all so get in there quickly.

SO THERE'S NO CHANCE OF ME GETTING HOLD OF A PLAYER IN SOMEBODY ELSE'S SQUAD?

You can always propose a trade if you want to try and tempt your fellow rival into a straight swap. They’ll be notified and if the deal looks good enough, they may just click the ‘accept’ button.

I'M TRYING TO ENCOURAGE MORE ACTIVITIES AT WORK. HOW CAN I GET EVERYONE INVOLVED?

What a good idea. We’ll make it worth your while too if you get a certain number of people involved. Why not place friendly wagers or prizes internally. It’ll keep the morale up. Especially for the winner.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

Real Fantasy Football will cost £4.99 per user for a whole season pass which is equivalent to just over 50p a month (and that's not even including the pre-season website access you'll get). This gets you access to the premium fantasy football game.

For £4.99, you can buy:

A couple of pints (depending on where you live)

8 stamps

A hopeful weekend accumulator

James Blunt's first album

OR

A WHOLE SEASON OF ABSOLUTE COMPLETE UNMITIGATED JOY WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

WHY DOES IT COST?

We're a startup business and as much as we'd like to keep it free, there are high costs associated with developing a premium new website and getting the data necessary to provide the best draft fantasy football experience for you.

We don't want to cut any corners and in order to ensure you enjoy the best fantasy football game going, we have to charge a small amount that I'm sure you'll agree is reasonable - Just over 50p per month.

We plan to make it free as soon as we can.

WHY WOULD I PAY TO PLAY? SURELY I CAN SET THIS UP BY MYSELF.

We're a group of friends who tried to do this exact thing last season. We just about stumbled through to the end using another website, an excel spreadsheet and some quite frankly vicious emails to the next/previous person in the draft order explaining the time pressures of making their pick in time. We started out with dreams of transfer windows and trading but they quickly disappeared.

The reality is that you and your friends would have to be the most organised people in the country to pull it off. And none of you would be allowed to go on holiday before the season starts. Or be unavailable at all. Our website offers solutions to all of this (plus extra features) filtering out the hassle and leaving you with the fun bits. We've got a season under our belts and been able to refine the game to make it the best experience for you.

WHEN DO I HAVE TO PAY?

You won’t pay when you initially sign up. Payment will occur once you’ve had a play around with your draft order and had time to round up a few friends to join you.