Headers and volleys

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Headers and Volleys (also known as Heads and Volleys, Heads and Vs, Heeds and Trolleys, Hs and Vs and Technique ) is an informal football variant playable by 3 or more people. The object of the game is to score against a predetermined goalkeeper using only headers and volleys (aerial shots that have not bounced before being struck).

[edit] Objective

The outfield players must try to score goals past the goalkeeper either by headers or volleys. Ground shots do not count and players are not allowed to set themselves up.

The aim of the game for the goalkeeper is to become an outfield player by stopping attempts at his goal. It is the outfield players' task to keep the goalkeeper in goals for as long as possible.

The game is played in one of two ways:

• Continuous Play
• Points

[edit] Continuous Play

The goalkeeper stays in goal until he successfully manages to catch an attempt on goal or if the ball goes over the bar or wide, in which event he is "free". Saving the ball without catching or catching the ball on the bounce does not count.

The outfield player who last touched the ball becomes the new goalkeeper. This continues indefinitely until the players choose to end the game.

[edit] Points

Like continuous play, only the goalkeeper is not immediately free after he has caught the ball or it has gone over or wide. Instead, a pre-determined number of points is selected (usually five) and each catch/miss gets one point for the goalkeeper and each goal gets a point for the outfield players. In the event of the goalkeeper reaching the target number of points first, he frees himself and is replaced by the outfield player who gave the last point away.

Aside from the above, points can also be scored for the goalkeeper in the following way:

• Handball by an outfield player
• Illegal goal (not a header or volley)

In some variations, one or both of these could result in automatic freedom for the goalkeeper, regardless of the score, and the guilty outfield player takes his place.

Due to the informal nature of the game, and its status as a game most commonly played in playgrounds across Britain & Ireland, the precise rules of the game will usually vary. To catalogue such variations (which can usually be used in just about any combination) exhaustively would be near-impossible, but some of the most popular include :

• Sometimes, the starting goalkeeper will start on a certain number of 'lives', usually 6, while the outfield players start on 5. Every time the goalkeeper concedes a head or volley he loses a life. Sometimes the goalkeeper and all outfield players will share lives, thus meaning the player in goal on 1 life may lose, whilst having only conceded 1 goal.

• Depending on the variant of the game, the player who loses all of his 'lives' is either eliminated, or punished in a certain way, the most common being he must stand against the wall while the other players shoot the ball at him. This is sometimes known as a "stinger", there are two main varients of a stinger, normal and bare. A bare stinger is performed by the ball being shot directly at the bare buttocks of the player. The severity of the stinger and the frequency is usually agreed upon at the beginning of the game.

• Variations exist over what constitutes a "clean catch" - in some cases, he goalkeeper must catch the ball with one hand for a header for it to count, while two hands are viable for a volley.

• Another instance that sometimes exists is the "specy" or "speccy". This occurs when the person shooting is off the ground when he/she strikes the ball. This makes the striker immune from losing a life/going in goal if they miss.

• Some varaitions provide immunity for players attempting to score a goal with their head.

• Occasionally an area in which the players cannot volley but may head is designated, this is usually the 6 yard area when playing in proper goals. In some variations, players may also score off a volley using their heal within the designated "header" area.

• Other changes include allowing a certain number of bounces before the ball is struck, allow more touches of the ball before a shot and the goalkeeper losing 2 lives should he/she be scored against with a particularly good goal.

• "Keepers Volleys" is another variation, when the goalkeeper throws/kicks the ball outfield the players cannot score directly from this by heading or volleying the ball, if they do they become the goalkeeper.

• Players are normally in goal because either the player shot 2 shots wide, the keeper caught the ball either with 1 hand or twice with 2 hands (headers don't count), they scored a goal which wasn't headered or volleyed. Headers are worth 2 points and a head has to be scored on the 9th goal. When 10 has been scored the keeper must choose to have either "Blasts" which involves getting the ball blasted really hard at you in the goal and if you miss you go in goal and the next player gets to blast the ball at the rest of the players. "Tunnels" were a pair of players make a tunnel with their hands and the player who was in goal has to survive running through the tunnel wile the rest of the players attempt to kick the players. There is also a penalty shootout which when the player has scored the goal (no rebounds allowed) the player goes up a division. Starting off with something low like division to then going up to the premiership, the fa cup, the league cup and maybe Europe and the champions league depending on what the players choose. The game is often played on substaions using the gates as goals.

• In certain areas a points system is allocated. This can range from a basic 'one point for volleys, two for headers' rule to a complex, sprawling numerical system that awards, for example, three points for back-heeled volleys, four points for flying volleys, five points for over-head kicks and ten points for a header from outside a designated area. Other high-scoring goals could be one scored via a players' buttocks, with a scorpion kick, or even a combination of the above (an attempted over-head kick inadvertently scored with the heel or head, for example)

• Another major vairiation of the game is called 60 seconds, or sometimes 66, after the 1966 England World Cup win. The game remains the same however the goal keeper counts aloud to sixty (or sixty-six). In that time the out field players must score one header or volley. If successful the goalkeeper starts counting from 1 again but this time the outfield players must score 2 headers or volleys within 60 (66) seconds and so on. If the out field players do not score the required amount of goals within the 60 (66) seconds, the last outfield player to touch the ball in play will go in goal. If the ball goes out of play* then the goal keeper pauses counting until the ball is back in play.
• Out of play is determined by the players before the game, it could be to the halfway line or outside of the pitch, park, schoolyard etc

• A variation that originated in 1996 allows outfield players to score "Yeboahs" in reference to the stupendous goal scored by Tony Yeboah for Leeds United. The outfield player can take a first touch on the knee before unleashing the volley. Typically this is only allowed when the player is 18 yards or more away from goal

• Due to the informality of the game it is easy to make new branch off games that differ from the original mandate. An example of this is game of "techkneeque", the basics of this game are the same except for the rule that goals can only be scored using the knee. This version was developed in the town of Ollerton, Nottinghamshire.