Cubbies

Cubbies (or Cuppies) is a game originating in Merseyside played in Britain and parts of Sweden. Usually only one goal is needed. One goalkeeper (The phrases "Whos goin in?" and "ill go in" are used to refer to whos going goalkeeper) stands in the goal to stop the football getting in, as in normal FA rules football. The rest of the players try to score in the goal. Often the players play in pairs. Each player or pair is playing against each other and must score x amount of goals to progress to the next round. If you or your pair is left after everyone else has gone through, you are out. The rest of the players start a next round which progresses in the same way. The last player/pair left wins. Pairs are popularly referred to as Wembely Pairs in England. The knockout nature of the game leads to it being referred to in some parts of Britain as FA, after the FA Cup, or Wembley, after Wembley Stadium, the traditional home of the FA Cup final.

This derivation is often more physically demanding than the original game and encourages dribbling with the ball and keeping possession. For these reasons, cubbies is a popular training game with amateur football clubs in England.

Cubbies is popular with school boys as the number of players is not important. The game has never been seen as a serious competitive sport. Attempts were made in the early nineties in Liverpool and mid nineties in the East Midlands to create tournaments for school children but the game's sometimes anarchic nature made adjudicating too difficult and plans were promptly dropped.