Soccer players from the nation's capital and surrounding regions have swapped their boots for controllers this season, with the introduction of the hugely popular Canberra and Regional FIFA Tournament.
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Organised by former Tuggeranong player Russ Gibbs, the tournament was introduced this year when it became clear community football would be delayed for some time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Though not a gamer himself, Gibbs knew the hugely popular video game had a large following among most soccer fans.
"It was something that I took a massive gamble on on my Facebook page," Gibbs said.
"I've got a fair few contacts in the local football community, so I just chucked it up there and said 'Hey, does anybody want to do this?'
"It's just a way to keep the football community together and a way for everybody to have something positive to look towards without it being overly important."
When it started, Gibbs expected roughly half a dozen sides to get involved. But the idea gathered popularity and he quickly expanded it to include southside clubs in the NPL Capital League and regional areas such as Wagga, Yass, and Goulburn.
At the time of writing, the tournament Facebook page has more than 300 likes and nearly 330 followers.
"The response has been huge, I thought we might get half a dozen or eight premier league clubs involved in one knockout tournament," Gibbs said.
"But then there's people asking if we can play doubles, if we can bring Xbox into it.
"The response has been really surprising to an initial idea which was booted out there."
The competition is split for Playstation and Xbox, and has a singles and doubles division for both. The winners will each have the chance to design a custom jersey in the colours of their home side.
These jerseys will be produced by ONTHEGO Sports, which Gibbs thanked for its support of the event. Gibbs also thanked Evolution Trophies in Goulburn, which offered to produce trophies for the winners as well.
Additionally Gibbs has organised a match between the winner of the Canberra and Regional Tournament and Mouad Zwed, a professional E-League player for Melbourne Victory.
With dozens of teams now involved, Gibbs said there is plenty of support for expanding the tournament in future years. He added that teams from interstate had expressed interest in playing as well.
Along with offering players the chance to get their fix of soccer during the delays, the competition also allows them to form friendships with opponents they might otherwise not have the chance to meet.
"If nothing else, we're hoping that by the end of this competition the guys who play each other online might meet each other in real life and might become mates or play each other again outside of the competition," Gibbs said.
Gibbs, who now commentates the Canberra NPL and women's NPL, is most pleased to see the sport continuing to bring people together online, if not literally.
To keep up with the action from the Canberra and Regional FIFA Tournament, like its page on Facebook.
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