Stats & History Defining ‘Eras’ of the Sweet FA

[Dav]

I’ve always wondered what the eras of the league could be, whether purely for historical use or for statistical use as well.

For example, the tweaking of the sim has rendered certain records unbeatable like most goals in a season and theres a lot of outliers from the early seasons in different stats.

I would probably consider S18 to now to be the ‘modern era’ with the introduction of the most recent clubs although you could potentially split that between S18-24 and S25-31 with S25 being the start of the modern era and S24 potentially being the end of a ‘Golden Age’ for the league, considering the amount of growth and activity in that time.

interested to see other people’s thoughts

 

[Marlowe]

I think Season 18 onward is def the start of a modern era, with the introduction of an 8-team finals system.


They stopped having 20+ round seasons after Season 11 too. Could probably call those first 11 seasons the classic era. Then you have seasons 12-17, aka the Boncer years. Season 15 is the first year of the beez Trophy, and then Season 16 there's expansion with the Royals and return of the Swamprats, a couple of major developments of note leading to the modern era and beyond.

Season 29 is the return of Marlowe too, also the beginning of a new era. No scratch that. No, I am gonna leave it in. Wait am I typing all this?

 

[Mobbs]

I have a tainted perspective because the Roys returning in S11 made it feel like a new era to me, however this is also the last time a team departed (Mod Squad after Season 10) and when I began to feel to true pressure of heavily activity-reliant progress. So I tend to see Classic era as ending after Season 10. It could also be further split as said above by the reductionism in season length and also when the team numbers became more rationalised, which happened a few seasons prior (about S08ish).

While there was a jump in S11, Activity went through the roof a few seasons later: a jump in S14, another in S15, and once more in S17.

The final addition of teams to the league in S18 is a pretty big era-change imo, it's been unchanged for 13 seasons since!

So I'd suggest that S01-S10 = Classic, S11-S17=Growth and S18=S31=Modern. But that's just me.

 

[Broken]

The final addition of teams to the league in S18 is a pretty big era-change imo, it's been unchanged for 13 seasons since!

Booo!!!!

On a very general level I refer to anything S15+ as the modern era and anything else as the classic era.

 

[Marlowe]

Booo!!!!

On a very general level I refer to anything S15+ as the modern era and anything else as the classic era.

The pre and post-pantskyle eras.

 

[Broken]

The pre and post-pantskyle eras.

I see S15 as the point where the league went from the sim and game results to there being a shift in focus to posting, post counts and activity. Pants was definitely part of that wave.

On a smaller level, like the OP indicated, you can break it down by the sim version, the league structure, admins, ruling factions, increased internet availabilty/speeds, dominant clubs, whatever floats your boat.

 

[Hate]

It is an interesting thought exercise, for sure.

The early part of the history of the Sweet F.A was largely ran and conducted by very few people and in a manner which was rather unorganised. It bares no resemblance to the league we live and breathe today. I would say, on rough estimate this stopped in Season 08 and while it took a while to reach the standards of organisation we are used to today, the introduction of the committee in Season 08 and more people contributing is probably where I would first divide the league. Deestroy, by this time had given up his fair share of work and the league seemed to move to a bit more of a collaborative effort.

After Season 08, you only see the All-Stars, Roys and Swamprats come and go until Season 16. The major change was it was, as Marlowe pointed out, the start of the boncer34 era which came in Season 12. Between the start and end of his reign, you see the creation of the Hall of Fame, better statistic keeping, archival efforts (a few were already doing this), media enhanced, league activity rose immensely. Games were rarely played on Sunday during this period and before this period, it seems it was a bit of a dice roll as to which day and how many months between you would go before a game. The other major change was the reduction in home & away matches for each season. This is probably more the reason as to why we do not see many people kicking huge numbers per H&A season - but if given the same amount of games, players would most certainly would be in the ball park.

I often filter statistics from after Season 17, as that is the last time we saw a change in clubs. Familiarity is set in stone these days. As Mobbs pointed out, it has been a long time and everything by now seems familiar and in my view, I feel like everyone in the back of their mind just creates a gap there. I would class this as the Modern era and you can throw in a few more divisions afterwards. How one defines them is not something I would attempt to have a go at.

Start
S01 - 08

Classic
S09 - 13
S14 - 18

Modern
S18 - 24
S25 - current

 

[Kennedy Parker]

Eras come in 6 season blocks.

S1-6: Simulation Era. The earliest stages of the league which was basically a random text generator with a footy theme, some people come to observe the scores and that was it. Very little banter or posting outside of a very occasional 'go team X'. Probably the favourite era of Mobbs.

S7-12: Early Competition Era. Started with Frankston Rover 's administration where he wrote the earliest version of SFA rules including team sheet penalties and provided more structure to the league. Awards like the EKA were introduced, the committee room was created at some stage. More of a structure and realism was formed as opposed to a pure RNG experience which was S1-6.

S13-18: Expansion Era. In many ways the defining era of the SFA, consisted of almost Boncer34's entire admin run and okeydoke7's first season as admin. The HOF was established, the competition expanded multiple times notably bringing the Swamprats, Royals, Bears and Warriors in this time frame, Beez Award was first introduced, .seasonlength shortened to fit two in a year. Notorious personas were established, activity rapidly grew, media content saw a huge uplift. Content generally centred around Qooty and the game itself.

S19-24: Drama Era. Probably started with nWo Dragons gimmick that created a big controversy and a string of countless drama filled episodes followed in the subsequent seasons. Notably, #scandal which ended up being the largest media thread on the board. Cumulated in the Haro-BC wars in S24. During this time, personalities and drama on the board took centre stage while the Qooty was at times an afterthought. For Probably the first time Posting prowess was considered more important than on field accolades. The Beez was reintroduced in S22 during this time.

S25-30: Social Era. At this stage the fourth wall had broken down and people blend real life personalities with league interactions frequently. There's on the whole a calming of controversies but there's generally an underlying tension remaining between various 'cliques' within the league. During this time, there is a bit more of a 'return to tradition' as Qooty itself returned to the forefront in some ways, perhaps correlating to many older veterans re-entering the league and actively getting involved. SoO was revived and the HOF returned tothe forefront. Activity and media production kept at high level, but there was a noticeable stylistic shift. The vibe became more like a social media site as general chatter became more commonplace and less of a footy role playing game like previous eras.

S31- : Hard to really define at this point, seems to be the first season that is truly 'post-BC' as many of the big personalities that defined the previous two eras have gone by the wayside. Some seem to think the place is in decline. Generally it happens often and SFA has proven to be a fairly robust concept that reinvents itself often.

I have done no actual research to back up these assertions, but I think you get a pretty distinct vibe from reading threads across different seasons.

 

[Hate]

I have done no actual research to back up these assertions, but I think you get a pretty distinct vibe from reading threads from these different seasons.

Pretty spot on (in your claims).

 

[The Half Back]

Me winning the EKA was a turning point in the SFA according to boncer34.

 

[Marlowe]

Pre-dedicated All-SFA interchange (S01-S9,465) and post-dedicated All-SFA interchange (S9,466+).

 

[Dav]

Eras come in 6 season blocks.

S1-6: Simulation Era. The earliest stages of the league which was basically a random text generator with a footy theme, some people come to observe the scores and that was it. Very little banter or posting outside of a very occasional 'go team X'. Probably the favourite era of Mobbs.

S7-12: Early Competition Era. Started with Frankston Rover 's administration where he wrote the earliest version of SFA rules including team sheet penalties and provided more structure to the league. Awards like the EKA were introduced, the committee room was created at some stage. More of a structure and realism was formed as opposed to a pure RNG experience which was S1-6.

S13-18: Expansion Era. In many ways the defining era of the SFA, consisted of almost Boncer34's entire admin run and okeydoke7's first season as admin. The HOF was established, the competition expanded multiple times notably bringing the Swamprats, Royals, Bears and Warriors in this time frame, Beez Award was first introduced, .seasonlength shortened to fit two in a year. Notorious personas were established, activity rapidly grew, media content saw a huge uplift. Content generally centred around Qooty and the game itself.

S19-24: Drama Era. Probably started with nWo Dragons gimmick that created a big controversy and a string of countless drama filled episodes followed in the subsequent seasons. Notably, #scandal which ended up being the largest media thread on the board. Cumulated in the Haro-BC wars in S24. During this time, personalities and drama on the board took centre stage while the Qooty was at times an afterthought. For Probably the first time Posting prowess was considered more important than on field accolades. The Beez was reintroduced in S22 during this time.

S25-30: Social Era. At this stage the fourth wall had broken down and people blend real life personalities with league interactions frequently. There's on the whole a calming of controversies but there's generally an underlying tension remaining between various 'cliques' within the league. During this time, there is a bit more of a 'return to tradition' as Qooty itself returned to the forefront in some ways, perhaps correlating to many older veterans re-entering the league and actively getting involved. SoO was revived and the HOF returned tothe forefront. Activity and media production kept at high level, but there was a noticeable stylistic shift. The vibe became more like a social media site as general chatter became more commonplace and less of a footy role playing game like previous eras.

S31- : Hard to really define at this point, seems to be the first season that is truly 'post-BC' as many of the big personalities that defined the previous two eras have gone by the wayside. Some seem to think the place is in decline. Generally it happens often and SFA has proven to be a fairly robust concept that reinvents itself often.

I have done no actual research to back up these assertions, but I think you get a pretty distinct vibe from reading threads across different seasons.

thanks for coming to the thread everyone i think we're done here now

 

[boncer34]

Me winning the EKA was a turning point in the SFA according to boncer34.

Was definitely the peak of the league.

 

[boncer34]

S13-18: Expansion Era. In many ways the defining era of the SFA, consisted of almost Boncer34's entire admin run

Duh

 

[The Filth Wizard]

Eras come in 6 season blocks.

S1-6: Simulation Era. The earliest stages of the league which was basically a random text generator with a footy theme, some people come to observe the scores and that was it. Very little banter or posting outside of a very occasional 'go team X'. Probably the favourite era of Mobbs.

S7-12: Early Competition Era. Started with Frankston Rover 's administration where he wrote the earliest version of SFA rules including team sheet penalties and provided more structure to the league. Awards like the EKA were introduced, the committee room was created at some stage. More of a structure and realism was formed as opposed to a pure RNG experience which was S1-6.

S13-18: Expansion Era. In many ways the defining era of the SFA, consisted of almost Boncer34's entire admin run and okeydoke7's first season as admin. The HOF was established, the competition expanded multiple times notably bringing the Swamprats, Royals, Bears and Warriors in this time frame, Beez Award was first introduced, .seasonlength shortened to fit two in a year. Notorious personas were established, activity rapidly grew, media content saw a huge uplift. Content generally centred around Qooty and the game itself.

S19-24: Drama Era. Probably started with nWo Dragons gimmick that created a big controversy and a string of countless drama filled episodes followed in the subsequent seasons. Notably, #scandal which ended up being the largest media thread on the board. Cumulated in the Haro-BC wars in S24. During this time, personalities and drama on the board took centre stage while the Qooty was at times an afterthought. For Probably the first time Posting prowess was considered more important than on field accolades. The Beez was reintroduced in S22 during this time.

S25-30: Social Era. At this stage the fourth wall had broken down and people blend real life personalities with league interactions frequently. There's on the whole a calming of controversies but there's generally an underlying tension remaining between various 'cliques' within the league. During this time, there is a bit more of a 'return to tradition' as Qooty itself returned to the forefront in some ways, perhaps correlating to many older veterans re-entering the league and actively getting involved. SoO was revived and the HOF returned tothe forefront. Activity and media production kept at high level, but there was a noticeable stylistic shift. The vibe became more like a social media site as general chatter became more commonplace and less of a footy role playing game like previous eras.

S31- : Hard to really define at this point, seems to be the first season that is truly 'post-BC' as many of the big personalities that defined the previous two eras have gone by the wayside. Some seem to think the place is in decline. Generally it happens often and SFA has proven to be a fairly robust concept that reinvents itself often.

I have done no actual research to back up these assertions, but I think you get a pretty distinct vibe from reading threads across different seasons.

I love this.

 

[ClarkeM]

I’ve always wondered what the eras of the league could be, whether purely for historical use or for statistical use as well.

For example, the tweaking of the sim has rendered certain records unbeatable like most goals in a season and theres a lot of outliers from the early seasons in different stats.

I would probably consider S18 to now to be the ‘modern era’ with the introduction of the most recent clubs although you could potentially split that between S18-24 and S25-31 with S25 being the start of the modern era and S24 potentially being the end of a ‘Golden Age’ for the league, considering the amount of growth and activity in that time.

interested to see other people’s thoughts

Season 1 to 31 - The Nerd ERA

 

[Headless]

Season 1 to 31 - The Nerd ERA

Huge if true.

 

[Mobbs]

Huge if true.

Huge even if false.

 

[TJASTA]

Season 1 to 31 - The Nerd ERA

based

 

[nahnah]

There are 4 defined eras:
1. Pre nahnah era (s1-s22)
2. The nahnah era (s23-s27)
3. Post nahnah era (s28-s29)
4. The nahnah era reloaded (s30-ongoing)

 

[Marlowe]

4. The nahnah era reloaded (s30-ongoing)

Maybe my favourite era.

 

[HawkPatrol]

That bracket of season 9 to roughly season 18 were some of the greatest times this comp has seen.

Some really definable villians that toed the line between banter and personal attack, but thats what made it so enjoyable for those who were firmly a part of it.

Maybe I'm just stuck in the past, but that era really defined the SFA.

 

[GremioPower]

I’ve always wondered what the eras of the league could be, whether purely for historical use or for statistical use as well.

For example, the tweaking of the sim has rendered certain records unbeatable like most goals in a season and theres a lot of outliers from the early seasons in different stats.

I would probably consider S18 to now to be the ‘modern era’ with the introduction of the most recent clubs although you could potentially split that between S18-24 and S25-31 with S25 being the start of the modern era and S24 potentially being the end of a ‘Golden Age’ for the league, considering the amount of growth and activity in that time.

interested to see other people’s thoughts

I can see two different ways of dividing the SFA Eras, but they are so close to each other that it might be possible unify them:


A. Chronologically:

1) From S01 to S06 – one season per year (6 seasons from 2001 to 2006);

- 2001: S01​

- 2002/2003: S02​

- 2003/2004: S03​

- 2004/2005: S04​

- 2005/2006: S05​

- 2006: S06​

2) From S07 to S18 – three seasons every two years (12 seasons from 2007 to 2014);

- 2007-2008: S07-S09​

- 2009-2010: S10-S12​

- 2011-2012: S13-S15​

- 2013-2014: S16-S18​

3) Since S19 – two seasons every year (13 seasons from 2014 to 2021).

- 2015: S19-S20​

- 2016: S21-S22​

- 2017: S23-S24​

- 2018: S25-S26​

- 2019: S27-S28​

- 2020: S29-S30​

- 2021: S31​

B. By Structure:

1) Early Years – from S01 to S07
2) Consolidation and Expansion – from S08 to S17 (the Ground-8)

S08: the Ground-8 clubs [G8: WON, DEM, FUR, BOM, GUM, DRA, HAW, ROY]​

S09: G8 (-ROY) + SWA/MOD/AFL​

S10: G8 (-ROY) + MOD​

S11-S15: G8​

S16-S17: G8 + SWA/GCR​

3) Stability – since S18 (12 clubs)

S18-S31: G8 + SWA/GCR + LVB/CIW​

It may be possible to divide those ages further, but I think they would be "sub-divisions," rather than distinct eras.

I break the current Era in two, for instance. But that's more due the difference on how the Rats played than anything related to the league itself.

--

The Administrators by age:
First Era (from S01 to S06 or S07)
League Administrators: Mobbenfuhrer (S01-S02); EaglesKickAss (S02-S04); Deestroy (S05-S06); Frankston Rover (S07)

Second Era (from S07 or S08 to S17 or S18)
League Administrators: Frankston Rover (S07); TFLUA-Tiger (S08-S09); doggiesin08 (S10-S11); Boncer34 (S12-S17); okeydoke7 (S18)

Third Era (from S18 or S19 to present)
League Administrators: okeydoke7 (S18-S20); The Filth Wizard (S21-S23); Hate (S24); Cloud_ (S25-S27); Ant Bear (S28-S30); Natural Disaster (S31-...)

 

[GremioPower]

An attempt of unification:

1. Amateur Era (S01-S06)

2. The Middle Ages (S07-S18)
2a. Consolidation (S07-S10)
2b. Stabilization (S11-S15)
2c. Expansion (S16-S18)

3. Professional Era (S19-S30)
3a. From Okeydokey to Hate (S19-S24)
3b. All about the Rats (S25-S30)

4. The Age of NaturalDisaster (S31-...)