These are my additional internal rules for the Telegraph Fantasy Football 2023/24 Premier League game.
The Telegraph has released its rules for this seasons TFF Premiership game of which full details can be found via this link: TFF Guidelines
If after reading the Telegraphs game information & rules along with these additional internal Super League rules you wish to play in the ‘BLM PREMIERSHIP ’ Super League, then please feel free to sign up and join my Super League online.
The rules and everything are as the Telegraph states them… they run everything… the only difference with this Super League is I am charging £40 per team to join my Super League.
Now my internal fee of £40 may sound like a lot but it works out at approximately £1 per week for the duration of the football season. This internal entry fee is to facilitate making our own cash prizes for the winners and to promote competition within our own Fantasy Football Super League.
There is just three payment options:
All entry fees up front - either in cash (if you see me in person) or if not and you don’t know the score regards paying me remotely then please PM from here (TFP) and I will inform you of the options.
So, what exactly do you get for your money - well £1 of the £40 (per team) internal Super League entry fee goes towards the administration of all my games. This is the only game each year I take an admin fee from and goes towards subsidising all my games that I do. This helps towards my costs for all sorts of admin - phone calls, printing, sending out winners’ medals etc. not to mention having to chase the game providers up to sort things out when problems or issues arise, as they invariably do. Also, this fee helps offset when I am out of pocket, as I have been some years regarding paying the final prizes in this game when finances do not work out or someone’s payment was reversed/cheque bounced etc.
The other £39 per entrant goes into the prize fund and is paid back out as prizes.
Now the final prize positions are given as percentages because the final prize amounts will be affected by the number of entrants I get, what the highest weekly score of the season is (because prize is £1 per point of that score) and if anyone defaults (i.e. any peeps that simply don’t pay up after joining etc., - any occurrences of this nature won’t be tolerated. At the start of TFF Week 2 I will delete without reference any teams that have not been paid for or if anyone’s payment has been reversed etc.,
All team entry fees are requested to be paid once you have joined the league. To be clear NO ONE can win a prize before they have paid the internal entry fee so should anyone who has not paid up post the highest weekly score then that weekly chart prize is forfeited and so is that scores eligibility to win the highest season weeks score prize. That money just stays in the pot to increase the final end of season prize amounts for the eventual winners in the other prize positions or if team is deleted by me for non-payment, then it will depend what the TFF website then does. If it keeps that score listed and it is not beaten, then prize amount will just not be awarded and money used to make other final prizes bigger. However, if the TFF website deletes all league scores of deleted teams from private leagues then another team will inherit the new highest weekly score of the season and duly be paid out at the end of the campaign for that. I go totally on what the website displays at the end of a season. Just making this clear now so there can be no dispute at the end of the game. So, any teams not paid for by the start of TFF Week 3 will be deleted sometime during TFF Week 3 and in any case before the start of TFF Week 4. So please pay promptly to avoid these eventualities as you cannot say you were not warned.
Other things to mention are that if two or more people tie score wise for a chart win the prize is no longer shared (split equally) unless both managers have scored the same number of goals that week also (as that is the tie-breaker). Any tie for final prize positions at the end of the season will be decided by the Telegraphs Tie-Break rules. I will pay out on how TFF list you (so if TFF list you in a joint position this will result in an adding together of the prize’s due for those tied positions and then them being split equally between the tying managers - but only if teams are listed in the same prize position. It is worth noting the Telegraph changes game operator from time to time and some seem to not like ties (going on past experience). They seem to have criteria to split you - whether it be overall game position for the spin off leagues and goals scored in the overall league. I have had a look at the rules for this season and they do indeed have such tie-breakers in effect for this season so please familiarise yourself with them here (16. Tie-Breaks): TFF - Premier League / Terms and Conditions
So, this is something to watch out for as I must abide by their game rules - so even if two or more manager’s tie for number of Goals scored, I will be paying out whom the Telegraph list as 1st. Some years they have listed you if you scored the same number of goals as jointly in that position - some years they have instead used criteria to break ties (as mentioned above). The Telegraph decides this and I pay out on how they list you - so how they list the Super League positions is key. PLEASE REMEMBER THIS!
The ‘BLM’ CUP competition. Every team entered into the ‘BLM PREMIERSHIP’ Super League will automatically be entered into the ‘BLM’ CUP. All the teams in the ‘BLM PREMIERSHIP’ before the real FA Cup 3rd Round starts will be entered into a random draw. I use the Draft Logic Cup Fixture Generator for this and film the cup draws to show all is random and above board. I then post the video on The Fan Pub forum (in this thread) so anyone can watch the draw here.
Those who I have an e-mail address for will be sent a link to each rounds draw video when I publish it at TFP forum. The Cup will work on a knock out basis. I will produce a list of the ties and e-mail this out to everyone in the league (I have an e-mail address for) so you can see whom you’re up against and will also post it here on theTFP forum thread. So for this reason, do keep me advised of your current e-mail address if you’re a new player to my Super League or have changed it since last season - assuming you wan’t to be e-mailed the Cup draws and results directly.
So, when the FA Cup 3rd Round starts (the round when Premiership & Championship teams come into it), that week’s scores only will decide who goes through to the next round. Basically, whoever has the highest score for that one week only, out of the two teams drawn against each other goes through. On occasions there may be an odd number of teams in which case the last three teams out of the bag will be in a three-way tie and the two teams with the highest score that FA Cup week will go through to the next round. In the event of draws, to decide which team goes through to the next round, the scores will be compared for the following week (and so on if need be) until there is a difference in scores. The team with the higher score will go through, the other will be out. As soon as a round is completed a draw will be made for those teams left in the next round of the cup and those ties will take place on the next FA Cup week. Our Cup competition is trying to mirror the real FA Cup competition. Non-FA Cup games can also score you points in our cup game if you are lucky enough to have any Premier League games (with your fantasy players in) taking place in the same scoring week as the FA Cup games.
However, you can pretty much be assured when it is an FA Cup weekend it is also a Cup scoring week in our own Super League Cup competition (for those left in it). Based on previous seasons experiences there may be times when we have to miss out a round (or in the future add an extra round) to get our number of teams down to just eight, to match the real FA Cup quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. In any event it will be done fairly, notice will be given in time for managers to make adjustments if they wish / need to (i.e. transfers) but when the real FA Cup quarter-finals take place we will also only have 8 teams left in our Cup competition.
Also, to make the 8 teams needed for the Quarter-finals there may be the need for the preceding round to be an all v all round between all the remaining teams left if there are not enough teams left to make separate games and still leave 8 teams after. For instance, if I have 12 teams then separate games would leave me with only 6 teams so in this case it would be an all v all round with the 4 lowest scoring that Cup week going out and the remaining 8 going through to the Quarter-finals.
My league is only open to new entries until the start of the first game in TFF Week 2. This is to make sure it is fair and an even playing field for all, no waiting longer to see what kind of start you got off to and sticking what you think is your best team in then.
FYI in past Telegraph fantasy games I have noticed those joining a private super league late were not entered into the Starting XI spin off league so if you join late, you might have no chance to win this particular spin off league should this still be the way they do it. Again this is at TFF’s discretion and not something I have control over so just pointing this out as a possibility.
Also, in case it was not made clear earlier in these rules you can enter multiple teams into this Super League so long as you pay the internal entry fee which is £40 per team.
Finally, there is no league of league prize this year - I think this is because the Telegraph is a free game to play this season (no buying of credits needed) so naturally they have had to reign in their national prizes. However, this now means people outside of the UK can play to (as well as those under 18 years of age) - but both groups are not eligible to win the Telegraphs national prizes. But in my league your fine wherever you are in the world (or your age) to pay to play and win any prizes in my league.
Super League Name: BLM PREMIERSHIP
Super League Passcode: ASHT9M0E
best regards,
bluelionman / Noel Symonds
Fan Pub Founding Member
Sods Law! 
