WEEKLY WHINE

Report from the FCU Champions League

Glasgow, Scotland is probably best known for being Scottish. What a surprise, then, that sixty four individuals should assemble here, from all corners of the world, on a day seemingly like every other. But today is a unique day, and these sixty four individuals know it. It is here that they have been summoned to begin a historic tournament: the FCU Champions League.

The Flag Capturing Union is just three years old, but youth should not be mistaken for aimlessness. Eight member nations now make up the FCU: the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Belgium, Norway, South Africa, and India. In some, the national Capture the Flag league is in its infancy. In others, the league origins are shrouded in the mists of time. But one thing these leagues share is that they decide champions. This year, the champions of each league are competing against one another for the first time to decide the best flag capturing team in the world.

Tournament level Capture the Flag is quite simple. Each team's flag starts at a neutral venue, and the teams then have 24 hours to stow it somewhere within their own territory. Over the following 144 hours, the two teams then try to locate their opponents' flag and take it to their territory whilst simultaneously defending their own flag. If the week elapses with no successful flag heists, the match is declared a draw.

The FCU Champions League bracket draw occurred on MON 02 JUL 2002, giving the teams just over two weeks to prepare. The US champion Chicago Plankton were drawn against Belgium's Antwerp Arthropods in the quarterfinals, with the winner to face the victor of the encounter between the Pretoria Flagfinders of South Africa and the Mexican champions, the Cancún Saltadores. In the other half of the bracket, Canada's Winnipeg Shiverers meet India's Calcutta Cyclones, and the Lillestrom Meadowlarks of Norway oppose the Canberra Berries, winners of five straight Australian championships.

The founder of the Flag Capturing Union, Canada's Bob Blynska, welcomes the teams in a gymnasium in Glasgow. It's THU 18 JUL 2002, and the hands of the clock are moving inexorably toward 13:00 BST - 12:00 UTC. Finally, Blynska's whistle goes Fweep, and the teams dash off to catch their planes. The FCU Champions League is under way.

A large part of success or failure is the budget. Each team must obviously be able to afford airfare for the defenders back to their home, as well as money for the attackers to follow the opposition's flag and get it back to home ground. Strength in numbers is a central tenet of this sport, as the rules dictate that a flag in someone's possession may only be lost when the flagholding players are confronted by a greater number of opponents. Hence, one important part of team strategy is to decide how many of the eight players to send after the opponents' flag and how many to leave defending the home flag.

In this tournament, the Plankton have chosen a 5-3 alignment: five defending their own flag, three attacking in Antwerp. The attackers, Celia Bruwighi, Wayne Chadwick, and Lorenzo Luccini, have followed the Arthropods' defense of Cecil van Hingen, Miles Deguerre, Franzeska Moogily, and Paula Cistern into one of Antwerp's large parks. Since FCU rules require the flag to be stored in publicly accessible locations, the span of hiding places is fairly limited. But the Arthropods have clearly decided to stow their flag in highly visible manner, counting on surveillance to track down their opponents should the flag be stolen.

Bruwighi, Chadwick, and Luccini plot their attack thanks to what is widely considered the FCU's second most important rule: only one defender may be within 100m of their flag's hiding place. Today, Moogily is sitting in front of the blue Arthropods' flag wearing her team's second uniforms: a blue polo shirt with denim pants. The Plankton don't know where van Hingen and Cistern are, but they have seen Deguerre patrolling the area on the western side of the hundred metre circle. Consequently, they chart an escape toward the east.

With 102 hours remaining, the Plankton decided to put their plan into motion. Having taken a train downtown from their suburban hotel, they made their way toward the Arthropods' flag. Since they outnumber Moogily, they would be perfectly able to dash in together and scoop the flag up. Instead, they go for a tactic that has worked previously for them. Bruwighi enters the park in clear view of Moogily, with Chadwick and Luccini approaching from the opposite side.

The diversion works. Moogily gets up from in front of her flag and, craning her neck this way and that, scans the area surrounding Bruwighi hoping to find teammates. She doesn't see Chadwick and Luccini race into the park. Suddenly, Moogily's mobile telephone rings. This is always the method of choice for team members to contact one another; this time, though, it is clear that Moogily has already figured out what her teammates want to tell her. Cistern, van Hingen, or Deguerre must have spotted the rear attack and phoned Moogily to notify her. With the first ring, Moogily spins around, just in time to see Chadwick and Luccini pull the Arthropods' flag out of the ground and head right for her.

There is, of course, nothing Moogily can do except contact her teammates and direct them. Chadwick, flag in hand, follows Luccini toward the side of the park, with Bruwighi rushing past Moogily to join up. Moogily, chasing after them, is shouting into her telephone, undoubtedly waking at least one of her colleagues from bed. Bruwighi, Chadwick, and Luccini beat Moogily to the train station, and the Plankton attackers hop onto a train, prepurchased tickets in hand. There is no time for Moogily to buy a ticket and continue the pursuit, for the train pulls away in under a minute. It is 09:35 CEST on SUN 21 JUL 2002.

That evening, Bruwighi, Chadwick, and Luccini reach the Brussels airport and take off for Chicago. At the ticket counter, van Hingen approached them and said he had phoned his teammates, who had been patrolling Antwerp's airport. He said they were on their way and would probably arrive in 150 minutes. A smirking Bruwighi replied, "Well, our plane leaves in 120 minutes. Just admit defeat now." Sure enough, the attackers took off in plenty of time.

They touched down in Chicago at 00:30 CDT on MON 22 JUL 2002 to eliminate Antwerp from the Champions League. A FCU official meets them after they pass through customs, checking a microchip embedded in the pole to verify the flag's identity.

Chicago-Antwerp was the first of the quarterfinal encounters to be decided. The Shiverers defeated the Cyclones with 66 hours to go, and the Berries brought the Meadowlarks' flag to Canberra with 34 hours remaining.

The Pretoria-Cancún quarterfinal was the most exciting of the lot. The Saltadores took the Flagfinders' flag twice but turned it over each time, the first on a decoy play wherein four attackers took a fake flag back and left the real one with a fifth attacker, who was unfortunately caught at the airport. As the other four returned to México, they were notified of a theft and were able to trap the attacking Flagfinders. That left both flags sitting at home when the alarm sounded at 12:00 UTC, THU 25 JUL 2002.

At that moment, overtime rules went into effect for the first time in the Champions League. In overtime, one catch is added: Only one defender may now be within home territory and must remain outside the 100m circle. An eight hour period follows regulation time, during which defenders retreat to neutral ground and no players are permitted in either hundred metre circle. Overtime begins at 20:00 UTC and is theoretically limited to 48 hours, but as Blynska philosophically points out, "If you can't get their flag in two days of overtime, that's just sad."

Surveillance wins the battle for the Saltadores, whose flag guard Papacatlán Mezcla is able to intercept the four attacking Flagfinders at the airport and discovers that they have a connection in Buenos Aires. He informs his teammates and hops the same flight. His four fellow defenders, waiting in the Azores, are fortunate enough to catch a Buenos Aires flight in the next hour. Just twenty minutes before the flight to Pretoria is due to board, Mezcla's teammates arrive, and the five successfully steal their flag back. Meanwhile, the other three Cancún players have made off with the opposing flag and, by way of Trinidad, arrive in Cancún eleven hours into the overtime.

The semifinals will begin on THU 01 AUG 2002 at 12:00 UTC [15:00 local] in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Chicago-Cancún and Winnipeg-Canberra will be played, and the winners will head for Brasilia on THU 15 AUG 2002 to open the final of the inaugural FCU Champions League. The journey to raise the International Champions' Flagpole continues.