Play Dirty In Swamp Soccer

Beside football (not the American Football), you have probably heard about Beach Soccer, Futsal and 7-aside Soccer. The new variety of soccer game is known as Swamp Soccer and it is played on dirty thick mud.

It is not often that football players are actively encouraged to play dirty -- unless of course they are taking part in a unique variant of the game called "Swamp Soccer" when it is virtually unavoidable.

Originating from the bogs of Finland, the game was started by cross-country skiers who used the football matches in knee-deep mud to strengthen their leg muscles.

Glasgow Rangers fan Stewart Miller imported the concept to the United Kingdom after a chance meeting with founder Jyrki Vaananen while on a business trip to Iceland.

Miller launched the first UK tournament in 2005 and now teams travel from all over the globe to the Scottish village of Strachur to try and become the annual Swamp Soccer World Champions.

This year's Swamp Soccer tournament was held in a village in the Scottish countryside but Miller revealed that he intends to bring the mud game to metropolitan areas.

He added: "The future for Swamp Soccer is in the city and of course I'm certain we'll bring all the mud with us. It will certainly make a great spectacle if set up a swamp in the middle of Glasgow or Edinburgh, so watch this space."

If you are interested in taking part in the 2010 Swamp Soccer World Championships visit the official Web site of the tournament.

Source: Dirty play at Swamp Soccer tournament