Talossan Football

Talossan Football (Futbol Talossan) is a team sport that descends from the games derived from Berber football, which itself is the parent not only of operatic theater, but of all forms of football played today worldwide, including association football (soccer), Rugby football, Gaelic football, Australian Rules football, and Canadian and American gridiron football. Alone among the world's football games, Talossan football retains a distinct resemblance to chess, the ancient board-game adaptation of Berber football.

In the Kingdom of Talossa, Talossan football would be performed by the teams in the Talossan Football League (TFL), which partners with the Royal Opera to celebrate the original form of both performing arts.

Overview

Players

According to the Rules to Talossan Football, players take any of six positions that define their abilities while on the field. These positions are

• Keeper (whose rules of play are very much like an association football [soccer] goalie);
• Quebec (like a gridiron football quarterback);
• Runner (like a gridiron football "eligible receiver");
• Backer (like a player of Australian of Gaelic rules football);
• Nomad (like a player of association football [soccer]); and
• Protector (like a player of rugby or an "ineligible receiver" in gridiron football).

Apart from the single keeper, who may exit and re-enter the field at will, all players leaving the field of play, even if forced by action to do so, may only re-enter play according to specific rules.

1. Protectors may only re-enter the field by crossing the endline behind the goal being defended,
2. Any protector who exits the field by crossing the endline behind the goal being attacked may be replaced by a quebec, runner, backer, or nomad entering the field at that point.

Scoring

A backer shoots in a local game of Talossan football

Points are achieved by the following scoring methods:

• A goal [7 points] (scorable only by a nomad or keeper) is scored by kicking the ball into the goal net.
• A touchdown [6 points] (scorable only by a quebec or runner) is scored by being in possession of the ball in either of two endzones on either side of the goal net.
• A field goal [3 points] (scorable only by a quebec or backer) is scored by kicking the ball through the goal posts (extending upward from either side of the goal net).
• A rump [1 point] (scorable only by a backer) is scored by kicking the ball beyond the goal line between the two rump posts (located nearer the corners of the field than are the goal posts) but not between the two goal posts.
• A safety [2 points] is scored when a player is tackled legally in an endzone of the goal he is defending or when the ball exits play by crossing a boundary line of such an endzone.
• A moat [10 points] is awarded to the opposition at the end of any period of play if a team does not end that period of play with at least one player of each position (quebec, backer, runner, nomad, and protector) on the field in play.