Software_Rules

SOFTWARE RULES

1.0 Running the games
SFFL games are run using the esms+ program. The program was created based on the original esms by Igor Oks and Eli Bendersky. Visit the esms+ web page for the best information about this program.

NOTE: Replaying games
The SFFL board's policy is not to replay games because of problems caused by the program or the involved managers. The board always tries to find other solutions for the problems. Replays will be held only in extreme situations.

1.1. What is ESMS ?
The esms+ program, is a soccer management simulator for play-by-email games. A play-by-email (PBEM) soccer game usually consists of an administrator, who runs the league, and managers, each managing one or more teams in the league. The game is a PBEM version of many famous management games, like the Premier Manager, Ultimate FIFA manager, and of course the great Championship Manager series. However, it only consists of the league running part, which includes running a game between two teams using their rosters and team sheets (see below for details), updating the rosters using the after-game stats, and updating the league table, using the results. All other aspects of soccer management, i.e.. Player Transfers should be developed by each league for its best use. These aspects are easy to handle and need no computer programs. This program was written especially not for a specific league, but with possibility to many uses and different ideas, using the same game engine.

It is important to state that whoever uses this program, must understand the rules of soccer and know how is it played.

The creation of this program was inspired in many ways by MSWL, a management simulator created by Alan Sellers in 1989, and all its latest versions. Although the concepts of the esms+ are much different than Alan's program, it borrows some important ideas from MSWL.

2.0 How is a game played

A team in esms+ is a "roster". A roster is a text file, in a special format, which includes all the players of each team and their attributes. The file name is the abbreviation name of the team (recommended 3 characters).

2.0.2
A team sheet in esms+ is a text file, which includes the orders for the game for each team. These orders include the list of the 11 starting players, the 5 subs and different instructions to the program. More on this in section 3.

2.0.3
To play a match, each manager has to send the league administrator a team sheet with instructions for the match, and the administrator must have the rosters of the participating teams. It is very important to state here that the game is not run in "real-time", but all in once. It means that a manager can't interfere on a specific minute and tell the administrator to substitute a player or change tactic. All the manager's work is to send a team sheet with instructions. All these instructions are included in the team sheet sent by the managers in the correct format, the program reads these instructions and implements them during the game. After the game is finished, the program generates commentary file for the game and the administrator sends it to the managers of the playing teams. The commentary files are discussed in further details in section 5.

Then, the administrator is using the different supplementary tools of the esms+ program to update the rosters and the league table.

2.1 Rosters

Lets take an example line from a roster file:

Name Age Nat St Tk Ps Sh Ag KAb TAb PAb SAb Gam Sav Ktk Kps Sht Gls Ass DP Inj Sus
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
N_Amoruso 22 ita 2 4 6 10 26 300 300 300 300 30 0 2 5 66 10 2 4 0 0

The header line is pasted above the player stats for easier explanation.

2.1.1 Player names
Its recommended length of a player name is not more than 12 characters in order not to make a mess in the roster file.

2.1.2 Player age
Each season each player is getting older by one year. It is placed in the roster with no use for the game running program and needed only for statistics.

2.1.3 Player Nationality
Player's nationality, abbreviated in 3 characters. As the age, it is not used by the game running program and placed in the roster only for statistics.

These three attributed were mostly for statistics, and didn't really have any meaning to the program (except of maybe the name, which must be the same in the roster and in the team sheets, or the program will report and error). The rest of the attributes are used and changed by the program.

This is the right place to say that in esms+, the player has no predefined position, and it is up to the manager to decide, depending on the player's skills, where he want the player to play in each game. This feature adds a lot of flexibility and interest to the game.

Now we will move to the basic attributes...

2.1.4 Shot Stopping (ST)
ST is the player's shot-stopping ability. In other words, his goalkeeping ability. For the team's better performance, the manager have to place the player with the highest St as the goalkeeper. Of course the manager is not obligated to do so, and it is up to his consideration.

2.1.5 Tackling (TK)
TK is the player's tackling skills. Mostly used by players playing in the defence.

2.1.6 Passing (PS)
PS is the player's passing skills. Mostly used by players in the midfield, for creating opportunities and assisting goals.

2.1.7 Shooting (ST)
SH is the player's shooting skills. It defines the player's skill to shot to goal and reach these shooting chances.
Note: From what you can see on the player in the example, his highest skill is shooting. Therefore this player will perform the best as a forward. Of course he can play in any position if needed, even as goalkeeper, but his contribution will be worse than as forward.

2.1.8 Aggression (AG)
AG Is the player's aggression. The aggression of a player doesn't change, it stays the same for his whole career. In esms+ the aggression is a value between 1 and 100 and it defines how aggressive will the player play. More on aggression can be found in paragraph 4.3.1

2.1.9 Keeping Ability (KAb)
KAb is the player's Goalkeeping ability. A number which ranges from 0 to 1000 and can affect the player's skills. Further description in section 4.1

2.1.10 Tackling Ability (TAb)
TAb is the player's Tackling ability. A number which ranges from 0 to 1000 and can affect the player's skills. Further description in section 4.1

2.1.11 Passing Ability (PAb)
PAb is the player's Passing ability. A number which ranges from 0 to 1000 and can affect the player's skills. Further description in section 4.1

2.1.12 Shooting Ability (SAb)
SAb is the player's Shooting ability. A number which ranges from 0 to 1000 and can affect the player's skills. Further description in section 4.1

2.1.13 Games (GAM)
GAM is simply the number of games the player played. If the player participated in a game, even if he played a single minute, it will be counted as an another game when the administrator will run the roster updating tool.

Note: The next numbers indicate the total number of different actions the player made in ALL the games he played.

2.1.14 Saves (SV)
SV is the total number of saves the player made. Only if the player played as a goalkeeper he can make any saves.

2.1.15 Key Tackles (KTK)
KTK is the total number of key tackles the player made to stop scoring opportunities. Usually defenders will make the highest number of tackles. The player in the example, though playing as forward, made some key tackles as well.

2.1.16 Key Passes (KPS)
KPS is total number of key passes made by the player to create goal scoring opportunities.

2.1.17 Shots to goal (SHT)
SHT is total number of shots to goal made by the player.

2.1.18 Gls:
The total number of goals scored by the player.

2.1.19 Ass:
The total number of assists made by the player.

2.1.20 Dp:
The total amount of disciplinary points accumulated by the player during the games. More on DP in section 4.4

2.1.21 Inj:
The number of WEEKS for which the player is currently injured.

2.1.22 Sus:
The number of GAMES for which the player is currently suspended. More on this in section 4.4

2.2 PLAYER POSITIONS

As was stated earlier, a player in esms+ doesn't have a pre-defined position. The manager will use different considerations to decide where to place the player for the game. The esms+ system includes 4 possible on-field positions for players: GK: Goalkeepers, only one GK is allowed to play at the same time
DF: Defender
MF: Midfielder
FW: Forward
Whilst the esms+ program has no restrictions on the number of players at each position, the SFFL does. The maximum number of players allowed at defence and midfield is 5, at forward 4 and at GK 1). The minimum allowed at each position is 3 in defence, 2 in midfield 1 at forward and 1 at GK.

2.3 Players' "ACTUAL" skills during the game
As you saw in section 2.1, each player in esms+ has 4 different skills + aggression. These are his "raw skills", and he won't always play with the same skill in a game. An "actual skill", is the player's raw skill after some mathematical operations, which depend on tactics and player's fatigue during the game (more on fatigue in paragraph 4.2.1). Important note !!
In any way, if 2 different players has different raw skills, and they both play under the same conditions in the game (position and the tactic of the team), then the player with the higher raw skill will have a higher actual skill. Aggression of the player stays, of course, the same, disregarding any conditions in the game. The "Shot Stopping" (St) ability doesn't change either (affected only by fatigue). How do actual skills depend on player's position? A player which plays as defender will never use his full shooting potential, as being a defender, he will get almost no chances to score. It also depends on the tactic of the team, but it can be generally said that the full raw skill of the player will be preserved only if the player plays on a suitable position. For example if a player with Tk2, Ps4 and Sh10 playing in the defence will have a defensive skill of 2 (it also depends on the tactic, of course), but his actual Ps and Sh will be less than the raw values. Therefore, a player with skills Tk4 Ps3 Sh3 will be more efficient as a defender, despite being a generally worse player than the first one. Players with more than one high skill will be extremely useful as they will be able to perform well on several positions.

2.4 Team tactics
Each manager may choose a tactic for his team for a game. The tactic can be changed during the game by suitable instructions in the team sheets.

This is the listing of possible tactics in esms+:
2.4.1 N: Normal. No specific style of play, just normal game, trying to use all parts of the team in the most suitable way.

2.4.2 D: Defensive. Focusing more on the defence. D is hard to score against, but won't create many opportunities either, it is the most defensive tactic. Midfielders and even forwards will pay more attention to the defence.

2.4.3 A: Attacking. The most offensive tactic. The players try to score as much as possible, by that almost neglecting the defence. Midfielders try to score more frequently and the defenders involve more in the attack.

2.4.4 P: Passing. The team tries to move the ball quickly using a lot of passes, even when the are not really needed. More players try to help in the midfield to create slow but efficient opportunities. This tactic is more offensive than Normal but least offensive than Attacking.

2.4.5 C: Counter attack. The players concentrate on the defence, while the forwards are waiting for counter-opportunities. This tactic is more defensive than Normal but not as defensive as the Defensive tactic.

2.4.6 L: Long Ball. The most intriguing and unexpected tactic. Can easily win a game with some circumstances, and completely fail with other. The midfield is almost insignificant, as the team tries to defend and reach the forwards with long balls. Thus, this tactic is especially useful for teams with weak midfielders, and against some tactics/formations can prove to be a lethal weapon.

Note: Each tactic, except of Normal has some bonuses against some other tactics, which makes the decisions more complicated and challenging. The bonuses table is below. It also includes the 'Bonus type', which tells where is the bonus added.

Tactic Bonuses vs. Bonus type
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Normal (N) None -
Defensive (D) Long Ball Defence
Attacking (A) Defensive Attack
Cnt. Attack (C) Passing & Attacking Attack & Midfield
Long Ball (L) Attacking & Cnt. Attack Defence & Attack
Passing (P) Long Ball Defence

Conclusion: As you can see, the bonuses "tree" is rather complicated, and you can benefit a lot from predicting correctly which tactic will your opponent use. If you are not sure about which tactic will your opponent use, you can use the Normal tactic, as no other tactics has bonuses against it.

2.5 Team formations
The esms+ has no pre defined formations for teams. The formation is simply the number of DF's/MF's and FW's, so it is clear that a team with 3 defenders, 4 midfielders and 3 forwards plays a 3-4-3 formation. As stated above, the may be at most 5 players at DF, 4 at MF and FW position and no less than 3 in DF, 2 in MF and 1 in FW (except GK where only 1 is allowed). Each manager decides on his favourite formation either by his players' skills, if for example his team hasn't almost any good forwards, he will prefer formations with fewer players in the attack. Or, if a manager feels that a specific formation + tactic just "works well" for his team and sticks to it. Tactics and formation are very much linked, not by the program, which doesn't mind which tactic/formation you play, but by the manager himself. It would be, of course, bizarre to play 3-3-4 Defensive, as the formation and the tactic contradict each other. The most common tactic is the traditional 4-4-2, as it fits in well with almost every tactic, except of Long Ball maybe. As the explanation on the Long Ball tactic says, it is best to be played with as less midfielders as possible, because the midfielders don't do much in Long Ball.

3.0 Team sheets & orders
As was stated before, each manager has to send a "team sheet" for each game. The team sheet includes the list of players and subs for the game, and different "orders" to the program, explaining how to manage the team in different situations. This section describes in detail how to compose a team sheet and understand its possibilities.

3.1 Which "ORDERS" can a manager include in a sheet ?
Except of the list of players, the manager includes different orders in the team sheet, which are actually the instructions for the game. If a manager learns to use these orders correctly and understands them, they can be an important step in guaranteeing his team's success. These are the different orders a manager can give, with explanations:

3.1.1 Tactic for the game: The manager gives the program the starting tactic his team will play. See above for a detailed explanation about tactics.

3.1.2 Penalty kick taker: The manager names the primary penalty kick taker for the game. If the player will be unavailable when a penalty occurs (being suspended or injured before that minute) the program will assign a penalty kick taker by itself.

3.1.3 Conditionals: The conditionals are orders to the program, telling it what to do in different cases of the game. The conditionals depend on the minute and/or the score of the game. The conditional orders are as follows: Change the tactic, substitute one player for another and change the position of a specific player. The conditional orders are given by a set of key words, which will be discussed in detail in the next paragraph of this section. NOTE that the < or > signs can ONLY be used when the condition involves BOTH MIN AND SCORE in it. Now, the technical aspect of a team sheet will be discussed, exactly how to write it, following examples.

3.2 A TEAM SHEET TEMPLATE
Below is the template for a team sheet in the SFFL: `````````````````````````````````
[Team name] /* The name of your roster, without the ".txt" extension
[Tactic] /* A single character specifying your starting tactic GK [Player name] /* The first player in the team sheet must be a GK
[Pos] [Name] /* Here the other 10 starting players are listed,
[Pos] [Name] /* instead of [Pos] is written the position, which is
[Pos] [Name] /* either a DF, MF or FW, and the player's name
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name] /* These are the 5 subs for the game, again their position and name are
[Pos] [Name] stated
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
[Pos] [Name]
PK: [Player name] /* The primary PK taker. Must be one of the 16 listed ! [Order] [Arguments...] [Condition] /* [Order] and [Arguments] is
[Order] [Arguments...] [Condition] /* exactly what do.
[Order] [Arguments...] [Condition] /* [Condition] is the condition
[Order] [Arguments...] [Condition] /* for the order execution.
... /* More info below.
`````````````````````````````````

3.3 Orders and conditions
Important Note: In the orders, the players are referred not by their names, but by their numbers. The number of the player is simply his position if start counting from top to bottom. Thus, the GK is number 1, the last player in the opening squad is number 11, the first listed sub is number 12, the last listed sub is number 16 and so on. We start with the orders and their arguments. There are 3 different orders available:

3.3.1 TACTIC: Argument - [NewTactic] in a single character, is the order to change the tactic of the team to a given tactic. For example: TACTIC L Switches to long ball when the condition comes true. A manager can include up to 15 conditions on tactic change.

3.3.2 CHANGEPOS: Arguments - [PlayerNumber] [NewPosition]. Tells the program to switch the position of some player to a new position. Place the player number and the new position after the order. For example: CHANGEPOS 11 DF tells the program to switch the player number 11 to defender when the condition comes true. A manager can include up to 15 conditions on position change.

3.3.3 SUB: Arguments - [Pl.OutNumber] [Pl.InNumber] [Position] Tells the program to substitute some player for another, and play the substitute in a given position. The players are again referred by numbers, It is important to put the numbers in the correct order. For example: SUB 10 14 FW will substitute the player number 10 to player number 14 and the sub (n.14) will play forward, when the condition comes true. As the rules of soccer state, only 3 substitutions are allowed per team per game. Now the conditions will be explained. The condition comes right after the order in the same line.

3.3.4 IF MIN = [Minute]: Pretty simple here. If the game reached the stated minute, the order will be executed. For example: CHANGEPOS 2 MF IF MIN = 56 will change the position of player number 2 to midfielder on the 56'th minute.

3.3.5 IF SCORE = [Score]: The [Score] argument is a SINGLE NUMBER which stands for the difference in score between your team and the opponent. 2 is leading by 2 goals, -6 is losing by 6 goals etc. For example: TACTIC A IF SCORE = -1 means that the team will switch to attacking tactic if is loses by one goal.

3.3.6 IF BOTH MIN [Sign] [Minute] SCORE [Sign] [Score]: The most complicated and powerful condition in the game. The order execution can depend both on the score and the minute of the game. The [Sign] argument can be either = , >= or =< which gives this conditional an enormous flexibility. A few examples: TACTIC A IF BOTH MIN >= 45 SCORE =< -1 tells the program to change tactic to attacking if it is later than the 45'th minute and your team is losing by one or more goals. CHANGEPOS 2 MF IF BOTH MIN =< 20 SCORE >= 1 tells the program to switch player number 2 to midfielder if it is earlier than the 20'th minute and your team leads by one or more goals. We hope you now fully understood the rules of writing the team sheet for your team. Anyway, it is recommended to read the following paragraph of this section.

3.4 EXAMPLES OF TEAM SHEETS
In this section we bring you two fully constructed team sheets with full explanation.
Example 1
```````````````````````````````````````
bar /* Team name. The roster is therefore bar.txt
N /* Starting the game with a N (Normal) tactic
GK R_Hesp /* The first player is always a GK
DF J_Guardiola
DF F_De_Boer
DF M_Nadal
DF B_Sergi
MF L_Figo
MF Rivaldo
MF L_Enrique
MF R_De_Boer
FW S_Anderson
FW P_Kluivert /* The 10 field players were listed
GK Vitor_Baia /* These are the 5 subs for the game
MF F_Abelardo
DF A_Celades
DF W_Bogarde
FW Giovanni
PK: S_Anderson /* S_Anderson is the primary penalty taker TACTIC A IF BOTH MIN = 55 SCORE =< -1 /* If losing on min 55, play attacking
SUB 11 16 FW IF MIN = 60 /* Sub player 11 for player 16 on min 60
CHANGEPOS 8 DF IF SCORE = 1 /* If lead by a goal, player 8 will play DF
TACTIC D IF SCORE = 2 /* If lead by 2 goals, play defensive
```````````````````````````````````````
Example 2
```````````````````````````````````````
juv /* Team name. Therefore the roster is juv.txt
L /* Play long ball
GK A_Peruzzi /* First player is a GK
DF M_Iuliano
DF I_Tudor
DF Z_Mirkovic
DF G_Pessotto
MF D_Dechamps
MF A_Conte
FW Z_Zidane
FW T_Henry
FW N_Amoruso
FW A_Del_Piero /* Listed the field players. Note that the formation
GK M_Rampulla /* is 4-2-4, which suits the long ball tactic
MF P_Montero
DF C_Ferrara
DF A_Tachinardi
FW J_Esnaider /* Listed 5 subs
PK: A_Del_Piero /* A_Del_Piero will take the penalties SUB 6 13 MF IF MIN = 75 /* Sub pl.6 for pl.13 on the 75th minute TACTIC C IF SCORE = 1 /* As you can see these 3 orders are for the
CHANGEPOS 8 DF IF SCORE = 1 /* same condition and tell the program to
CHANGEPOS 9 MF IF SCORE = 1 /* switch to 5-3-2 counter attack if leading
/* by one goal.
```````````````````````````````````````

3.5 NMR (No Moves Received)
A team that does not send in lineups by the posted deadline or contact the commissioner requesting that the previous lineups be used is considered AWOL. This means a poor team will picked as punishment. If a manager does repeat failure then they will be sacked form SFFL.

4.0 OTHER GAME COMPONENTS?
This section is to complete the full picture of esms+, discussion on all other aspects and components of the game, and detailed explanation on some important terms.

4.1 PLAYER'S ABILITY
4.1.1 Apart from the 4 skills each player has (St, Tk, Ps and Sh), he also has an ability value. Ability is basically a number between 0 and 1000 which is measuring the performance of the players in the recent time. If the ability of a player reaches 1000, he has a skill increase. The program will choose randomly which of the 4 skills of a player to increase, but the highest chance is that the player's highest skill will be increased. For example is a player has St 2, Tk 8, Ps 4 and Sh 3, his tackling has the highest chance to be increased than any other skill. When a player has a skill increase, his ability drops to 300.

4.1.2 If a player's ability reaches 0, he will have a skill decrease, which works by the same rules as skill increase, meaning that the highest possibility is that the player's highest skill will be decreased. The ability will then be set to 300.

4.1.3 There are many terms for an ability being increased or decreased during the game. Below is the list of "events" for which ability is changed:

4.1.4 Goal: A player will get an ability increase for each scored goal.

4.1.5 Assist: A player will get an ability increase for each goal he assisted.

4.1.6 Ktk, Kps, Sht: A player will get an ability increase for each key tackle, key pass, or shot to goal he will make. These bonuses are usually much lower than the bonuses for goal and assist.

4.1.7 Save: The goalkeeper will receive ability points for each save he makes in the game.

4.1.8 Clean sheet: If a team doesn't concede a goal during the game, the goalkeeper and one of the defenders will receive an ability increase. If the goalkeeper was substituted during the game, the goalkeeper who played more will get the ability increase. The defender will be chosen in random.

4.1.9 Victory: If a team wins the game, two of its players will be given an ability increase. The two players are chosen randomly.

4.1.10 Defeat: It is the only case when ability points are decreased. If a team loses a game, two of its players lose ability points. These players are chosen randomly. The ability points awarded have been modified several times in attempt to achieve the best balance. To find out what the current ability point ratings are please email the League Commissioner.

4.2 PLAYER'S FATIGUE

4.2.1It is natural that the soccer players are getting tired during the game. All players are getting tired, some less, some more. This fatigue always affects a player's way of playing. Close to the end of the game, a player will have much less ability for long runs than in the beginning. The feature of fatigue is also included in esms+. Each minute, the program multiplies each player's actual skills by some coefficient, which is very small. However, until the end of the game, fatigue is accumulated and the player plays at approximately 70 - 75 percent of his starting skill. This is why it is highly recommended to substitute players during the game, to bring some "fresh legs" to your team.

4.3 PLAYER AGGRESSION AND TEAM AGGRESSION

4.3.1 As you already know from paragraph 2.1.8, each player in the SFFL has an aggression level. The aggression is a number which ranges from 1 to 100 and it is not changed during the player's career. The more aggressive player will make more fouls, which might lead to bookings or even suspensions.

4.3.2 During the game, the program calculates the total aggression of a team each minute. The total aggression has two sides: On one hand, it adds the team some aspect of "more will to play" and the more aggressive team plays better than the less aggressive team (however the difference is very small). On the other hand, the more aggressive team will make more fouls which may result in penalties and bookings for its players. Note: Generally, the aggression is a "negative" skill of the player and a team. The less aggressive player is better. However all this is much less significant than the 4 skills of the player.

4.4 FOULS, BOOKINGS, AND DP'S

4.4.1 During the game, each team usually makes a lot of fouls, most of them are insignificant, just to stop the attack of the opponent. Fouls is an important feature included in the SFFL and they might lead to many possible consequences. The program takes care only of the "serious" fouls, which deserve a warning or a card shown to the player. \

4.4.2For some of the fouls the players will receive yellow cards.

4.4.3 Two yellow cards in the same game or a red card shown to the player cause his sending off the pitch, and will leave his team with one player less. If a goalkeeper gets a red card, the program will automatically replace him with the most suitable player, which will cause a player less in other part of the field.

4.5 Suspension
If you look at the "Sus" column in the team roster you will see there for how many games the player is currently suspended. The manager will always see how many games can't the player play after each update.

4.6 Penalties
Some of the fouls may cause a penalty kick for the opposite team. The penalty kick will be taken by the named primary PK taker in the team sheet. If the player is unavailable in that moment, being substituted or suspended before, the program will assign another player to take the spot kick.

4.7 Injury
During the game, there is always a chance that a player will get injured. If a player in the SFFL gets injured, the program will substitute him for another player on his position from the bench. If there will be no player on his position on the bench, the program will find any other substitute for the player. If by the time the injury occurred the team already had 3 substitutions, the player will leave the field and the team will remain with one player less.

4.7.1 Injury technical
A player gets injured for a certain amount of weeks. This is not defined by the game running program itself, but by the updating program the league administrator will use to update the rosters. After the update, in the "Inj" column of the player will appear the number of WEEKS the player can't play. After the update the manager will see for how many more weeks can't his player play.

4.8 Keeping a large squad
It is highly recommended for each manager to keep a large squad of players. As you saw in the last sections, a player can get injured or suspended for several games or weeks, players also get tired during the game and need to be substituted. These are the problems the manager of real soccer team has to handle every day. Keeping a small squad can cause you a lot of trouble in running your team. However, it is also important to remember your wages bill.

4.9 Players Ages
Each player in the SFFL has an age. The program doesn't really need this value for anything, it is just for statistics. When the player reaches the age of 35 he will retire. Young players (under the age of 20) get automatic skill increases at the end of each season... etc.

4.10 Home bonus
When a team plays at its home ground, it has an advantage over the opponent. The players know their ground better and the crowd is supporting. Therefore there is an independent home bonus in SFFL. It means that if two absolutely even teams, with the same skill players, same formations and tactics, the home team has more chances to win the game. (The addition is relatively small, though)

5.0 Commentary file
5.0.1For the comfort of the league administrator and the manager, the commentary file game consists of the names of the playing teams. For example if juv and bar played the game, the commentary file will be called juv_bar.txt Another file will be created from that game, which is needed only to the updating program.

5.1.1A commentary file mostly includes... commentaries for the game. If you open a comm. file, you will see the minute on the left side and the event on the right side. The comm. file includes lots of different phrases for different events, just like in Championship Manager. Therefore it is very interesting to be read line by line, not knowing what is written on the next line and feel the "tension" of a real game.

5.1.2In the end of the commentary file, you will see the game statistical summaries for each team. How many minutes each player played, how many goals scored, assisted etc. You will also find there the change of ability points as a result of the game.

5.2 How do i get my match commentary? The game commentary for a particular game will be emailed to the managers of the teams who played in the game