If you heard the Electric Yetis were taking on the InterBears, you might suspect you had just stumbled across the preview to the next Star Wars prequel. But just such a clash could take place on playing fields in Leicester this weekend at WorldNET - a full-scale football tournament between wired football fans from around Britain. And while the high- paced games, flying tackles and off-field drinking exploits will very much be in the real world, the gathering will owe its existence to a bustling part of the virtual world.
More than 1,000 footballers, supporting 40 different teams (the tournament hosts, the Electric Yetis, back Leicester, while the InterBears support Glasgow Rangers) - will be gathering for the two-day competition.
They are all members of internet mailing lists devoted to their teams, and the annual competition has become the chance for them to pull on their heroes' strips in anger, and battle for cup glory.
Not that things are taken too seriously, of course. One of the tournament's organisers, Anne Newbery, says the event - now in its fourth year - is as much a social occasion as it is a footballing one. "The results on the pitch don't seem to matter too much," she says. "It's about getting fans together, sharing a few pints and forgetting old rivalries. It's very good natured."
The event is a unique gathering of people who would otherwise not socialise, and Newbery says that this is down to the communities forged on the internet during the highs and lows of the football season.
"You get people from all ranges of occupations and ages, and on the inter net they're all mixing together as equals. In the pub it's different - you won't get doctors mixing with students, perhaps it's snobbery, or they just wouldn't get on. But people seem to mix well with email, when they're talking about their team."
Indeed, such is the lure of meeting up with virtual friends, some listees are coming to Britain especially to play in the tournament, helping ensure its popularity - only 12 teams look part in 1996 - continues to grow.
"It's becoming harder to accommodate everyone now," admits Newbury. "We need 10 pitches and a clubhouse onsite with enough facilities for 1,000 or more people over two days - it's hard."
But it will be worth it, she says. Apart from the great get-together of fans, the tournament's organisers hope it will do some good in the real world too. They hope to raise enough cash to buy Leicester seven year old Bradley Norman, who has cerebral palsy, a motorised wheelchair.
WorldNET '99 - The Leicester Fiesta - takes place at Leicester's Victoria Park on Saturday and Sunday. For more details go to www.worldnetcup.co.uk
