Indoor Game Comes In Many Different Shapes and Forms

August 19, 2005
Written by Mike McGreehan
Courtesy of Contra Costa Times

Rink soccer, or futbol rapido, as it is known in Spanish-speaking countries, has many variations.

Games at the Bladium Sports and Fitness Club in Alameda take place on a surface called AstroPlay®, which is very similar to the FieldTurf seen at more and more high schools.

AstroTurf® -- the stuff invented by Monsanto in the 1960s -- is the surface of choice in many professional arenas, but there are no hard and fast rules regarding playing surfaces.

"Our definition of indoor soccer is small-sided soccer with boards," says Don Shapero, president of the U.S. Indoor Soccer Association. "There is no rule saying it has to be played on artificial turf."

Not all indoor soccer is even indoors.

"In San Diego, there are indoor soccer facilities without a roof," Shapero says. "The rules also don't say anything about a roof."

Variations

Among Bladium leagues, goals scored from more than 15 yards out count as two points, rather than one.

Field markings at the Bladium are somewhat similar to those seen at hockey games, as passes that carry in the air over three lines are not allowed.

Adult leagues at the Bladium play 25-minute halves. Youth league halves are 20 minutes each.

History

Soccer generally is accepted to have European, particularly British, roots. But rink soccer has North American origins.

According to the USISA (or simply, U.S. Indoor), the first indoor soccer match took place Dec. 2, 1885, at a Newark, N.J., roller skating rink. It was the first of a three-match series pitting the Western Football Association of Ontario against Clark's O.N.T. of Newark. The series included both outdoor and rink games. The Canadian team won each of the rink games, and the series.

Boston was the site of the first indoor soccer league in 1923. Those games played 11 a side, just as outdoors. Later in the 1920s, another league formed in New York City, with games taking place at old Madison Square Garden.

The old Madison Square Garden also was the site of occasional indoor matches hosted by the American Soccer League in 1939. In 1950, the National Soccer League scheduled a season of games, some of them televised.

Eight years later, the ASL staged an all-day indoor soccer tournament at old Madison Square Garden, attracting more than 14,000 fans.

It wasn't until the 1970s, though, that the popularity of the current six-a-side game took root. Helping spur popularity were games pitting North American Soccer League players against the Soviet Red Army in 1974.

The first world championship of futbol rapido took place in Mexico in 1997. Mexico won the title with the United States placing second. Also participating in that tournament were Canada, El Salvador, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Portugal, France, Italy, South Africa and Iran.

An outlaw sport

Rink soccer/futbol rapido competes for public acceptance with the five-a-side form of indoor soccer known as "futsal."

Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), soccer's international governing body, recognizes futsal as the one true form of indoor soccer. FIFA even holds world championship tournaments for futsal.

"A lot of countries can't afford these (rink) facilities," says Luis Orellana, soccer director at the Bladium.

Rink soccer has its followers, however. Type "futbol rapido" into any Internet search engine, and many hits will come up from sites in Mexico, where many of the rinks actually are outdoors.

U.S. Indoor, for its part, exists more to promote the sport rather than govern it.

"Our industry has more focus on serving participants," Shapero says. "But the boarded style was accepted by the AAU as small-sided soccer for its Junior Olympic Games (currently taking place in and around New Orleans). And there are indoor soccer facilities that crop up in countries other than our own. As it grows, you'll see more interest in having it become accepted."

For now, futsal is the choice of FIFA and most of the world's indoor soccer-playing people. But futbol rapido has a growing number of participants. Perhaps the sport and FIFA will come together in the future to recognize yet another form of soccer.