Here we have the NY Bruisers v. the LA Surf in a game of socker slam. No, it’s not a typo – it was really called socker slam. According to the Reddit thread I found this video in, it was described as “an insane league that was galaxy brained by TV exexs. Fusion of wrestling and soccer that had bizarre rules like 2 balls can be played at once, players can punch each other, and players can get a ‘brown’ card”.
Pablo Maurer wrote a piece on socker slam for The Athletic where it was described as ‘soccer on cocaine’. And this from R. Thomas Umstead in 2000:
Socker Slam is the parent name for the World Socker League, a fast-moving, full-contact, high-scoring soccer league that takes its cue from the often-outrageous but successful professional-wrestling genre, WSL commissioner Terry Rich said.
Socker Slam demands many of the same skills as traditional soccer with several new twists such as bigger goals, bonus scoring possibilities, limited use of hands and a second “SlamBall” in play for the last two minutes of each of the three regulation periods.
The final score is tallied from all three periods, plus two special shootout segments.
The league started and ended with four teams:
- the New York Bruisers
- the Los Angeles Surf
- the Miami Storm
- the Toronto Loons
WSL commissioner Terry Rich said the league could expand to as many as 12 teams but that never happened as the TV show for Socker Slam lasted only 4 episodes. Can’t think why it didn’t catch on…
If you like socker slam, fancy a game of Snoopy Tennis or Milanese church tennis?