What is it?

The 'Pools Panel' is a little utility to help players play in the h2g2 Fantasy Football competions. The lastest one of which is running here - The Untitled One.

The problem that some players have encountered is that they either miss the first weeks of a new season, or are away at some point during the season and can't post their selections. Thus giving them the grand total of zero for that week.¹

Now this doesn't (at least to the current management) seem fair, as it means that the results are distorted and it could mean that some people drop out of playing altogether as they can't see a way of keeping up with the leaders. Obviously those who play every week without fail may not agree, but this loss of players is a loss to all who take part in the competition!

How does it work?

The 'Pools Panel' randomly selects a weeks worth of results from a database² of past football results³ and compares these random results against the actual scores in that week's competion, and awards points accordingly.

There is a further refinement of the 'Pools Panel' to account for the 'Scorer' and '1st Scorer' points categories. What happens here is for each match that a competitor has missed, a random number out of 22 is selected⁴. If that number is the same as the number used by the 'Pools Panel' to designate a scorer⁵ then they are deemed to have got the scorer correct for a match and are awarded a point⁶

All 'Pools Panel' points are then toted up and added to the league table along side all the other competitors points. A note may well be added to the league table that such and such points are derived from using the 'Pools Panel'.

How do I use it?

You ask in the Post requests to invoke the 'Pools Panel' here: thread attached to this page.

Use of the 'Pools Panel' is at the discretion of the management. And the management may well consult with the other competitors before allowing an individual to use it. Generally speaking the following rules will apply:

• If a competitor is late joining the season, then only the first two or three weeks of play can go to the 'Pools Panel'. If they wander in during week nine, then that is just hard cheese.

• If a player is going to be away mid season, then they need to post a request for a particular week before the close down date of that week's competition.

• Requests for mid season breaks made well in advance are acceptable.

• Repeated requests to use the 'Pools Panel' just because a competitor is too bone idle to play will not be allowed.

• Nor will requests be allowed because a competitor is absolute rubbish at this game and they believe that they will do better by trusting in the power of probability theory.

• The decision of the management, supported by the opinion of the community is final.

¹Yes I know some people manage to score zero even when they do make a selection. But then some people are a bit crap at this football malarky ²Accompanied by a page of dull statistics should anyone care to take a look.³The database is the full 380 games played in the 2002/03 Premiership season.⁴22 representing the number of players on a football pitch at any one time, and hence the set of players who are able (supposedly) to score a goal.⁵Currently using number 22 for no more apparent reason than, "why not".⁶It would be possible to do the full 'Scorer' and '1st Scorer' thing properly only if the names of the whole squad of both teams for each game was written down, and then lots drawn. Whilst this might strike some competitors as being a good idea, the phrase, "on your bike sunshine", comes to the mind of the current management