The Dugout
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- The Dugout is a website, dedicated to the PC-game series Football Manager and all versions of its predecessor Championship Manager made before the split between SI Games and Eidos and subsequent contract with Sega. The site is an official SI Affiliate <ref>SI Affiliate page</ref>
- These games are all Football Management simulation games.
- Primarily text based, in recent years they have successfully begun to incorporate more visual aspects and continue to expand the database (which is highly detailed, covering practically every footballing nation worldwide at Professional, and some Semi Pro and Amateur levels). As a topic of conversation and interest much rotates around tactics, young players and an almost never ending supply of, if not impossible, highly unlikely achievements with lowly clubs. The website primarily deals with information pertaining to the games, and also supplies download links for update files on servers separate from those of SI.
- The Dugout itself is composed of a parent site, a highly popular set of forums and additional informational resources.
- The forums contain a highly active and ribald off-topic forum called The Third Half (abbreviated to "The TTH" or "TTH").
Contents |
[edit] History of the site
[edit] The Dugout Origins: 1999
- The Dugout saw first light in 1999 with the merger of four of the largest Championship Manager sites on the internet. Those included:
- CM Scandinavia (created and upheld by Henrik Lofqvist and Jarkko Nymann).
- CM Gamer (ran by Jake Ash and Bardi Golriz who also came up with the merger idea).
- ChampmanToday (under the reign of Robert Ovens and Phil Gornall).
- CM Benelux (maintained by Kim Alsgaard and Mark Geneste).
- The development of the site took two months with content from the all four sites being combined as effectively as possible to create the largest database of Championship Manager information available on the internet. The site was instantly popular, offering information the official CM.com website didn't. Unfortunately this would only last a couple of months and at the end of the year the site was being denied publication by its host without any notification. The Dugout was forced to search for pastures new and as a result was inactive for more than 4 months as it was rebuilt completely. Whilst working on the new site the staff found out that the deletion was based upon a misunderstanding through a 3rd party source. Despite the help of both the owners and founders of Sports Interactive (creators of the Championship Manager series) the host did not want the site back and The Dugout was left without a home again.
[edit] UGO steps forward: 2000
- In February of 2000 an agreement with the gaming network UGO was signed. By coincidence this occurred on the 1st of April and as a result some people actually thought it was a prank.
- The sites popularity increased dramatically thanks to the release of CM99/00 in November 1999 and far exceeded the expectations of the original merger. The first month after the re-opening produced an overwhelming (for the time) 300,000 page views. The small number of crew that was left were soon to be astonished by the remarkable visitor figures that would give them the motivation to continue running and administrating the site. Soon support came in the form of Osiris, Daigle (Toni Impiö) and Saulo (who are all still active at TD to this day). This helped to relieve some of the workload from the remaining crew members.
- With a reliable server the forums began to develop, expanding beyond all other Championship Manager websites aside from the official forum resulting in the expansion of the number of mods. The period spanning August 2000 through to January 2001 is held in high regard by those who remember it as the "golden age" of The Dugout (a renaissance of originality before everybody got tired of the same jokes and internet memes).
[edit] More server struggles: 2001
- In January 2001 disaster struck again as UGO was facing bankruptcy following the break down of the ad-market. The Dugout was faced with the choice to either leave and find another home, or pay a much greater amount of money in order to keep the site online. The Dugout chose to leave. Positive links between The Dugout and Soccer Gaming meant that the site was quickly back on its feet as February 2001. The Dugout moved to Soccer Gaming and its third hosting network since its conception only 18 months earlier. By the end of 2001 The Dugout had reached 2.2 million page views and over 200,000 separate visitors.
- A small publishing arrangement with PC Zone saw The Dugout achieve a few months frontpage advertising. Compiled by Mark Geneste, each issue included tactical guides, player guides, management techniques and information drawn from The Dugouts reservoir of information upon the main site, and also the contributions of Forum members.
- The Forum
- With the influx of CM00/01 fans the forums went from strength to strength, passing the 3000 member mark early on in 2001.
[edit] New Main Site: 2003
- Whilst this was occurring the Staff had approached Colin Myerscough to ask if he would be interested in programming a new site. He accepted and, after having finished the design in September 2001, work started on the new site. The development took much longer than expected (reached all the way into 2003) due to lack of time and some loss of motivation after having updated on a daily basis for more than two years.
- On March 1, 2003, the site was finally completed and ready to start producing and sharing Championship Manager content with the online community again. A time that would hopefully be the start of a new and more prosperous era for The Dugout. Mark Geneste (the proprietor since the merger) also appointed several new webmasters at this time, Guido (El Guiménez), Martijn (Tijno) and Bas (Basinho) joined the ranks of the TD staff.
[edit] Attempted merger and future plans: 2005
- The server software employed by The Dugout Forums, whilst steady, was by this point beginning to show its age compared to the newer released PHP orientated web boards. After several months planning it was decided that the forum software would be changed entirely. The eventual shift took place in a two stage move through January 2005.
- Later in the year The Dugout was meant to merge with another big site in the Championship Manager/Football Manager scene, CMGamer, now known as FMGamer. To see if this merger could work, the forums of both sites were merged (primarily CMGamer forums 'closing' and the inhabitants moving into a halfway house within The Dugouts own forum). In addition CMGamer programmer Tom Howells would work together with Mark Geneste to deliver the programming for the new site. Unfortunately the forum-merger wasn't a success due to the perceived loss of identity amongst the dwellers of both forums, and the spawning of several 'pirate' boards. In the end the whole merger was called off but not before some interchange of members between the two.
- The current staff are still working on the programming for a new site and have prepared a lot of content to be released. Plans are also afoot to release versions of The Dugout in other languages. The most likely 'foreign' release is to be in the Dutch language given the sites popularity and origins amongst Dutch gamers.<ref>Dugout History on main website</ref> The new spin-off site will not bear the name of the The Dugout, as was initially planned. After merging with a second Dutch site, a new name had to be picked. "Fuck The Ref" is the name of the Dutch spin-off site. It will, naturally, be hosted on TD's servers.
[edit] The End 1999-2006
- On September 19, 2006, The Dugout was officially shut down by Mark Geneste. It was decided that the messageboards had come to hold their own on the FM Scene, so they were to stay as well as all of the other official affiliates of The Dugouts'.
- The main source of the sites closure was thought to be the lack of progress on the new site. The plans for the new site were to big to put into practise, and so, with great regret, the site shut down.
- Mark Geneste released a statement on the messageboards and on the mainsite.
- It said:
'Dear loyal visitor of The Dugout,
With great regret I have to inform you that I have decided to close down the main site I started with others from the scene in 1999, but did not keep up the way it deserved to be kept up during a long time. The decision probably won’t surprise you, looking its non present activity and after almost 7 years, ‘a lack of’ in a lot of things has taken the upper hand and has finally made me decide to put an end to it.
Some will and have said we should have quit a long time ago. Perhaps that’s true, but since I was not in this for the fame or status, but for my own personal pleasure I wanted to wait for a time I was ready for it to do so. So no stopping at our peak or before it has falls into decline, but at a point I could say it was enough. We had a lot of plans during the years, plans that would in the end exceed our own abilities to fulfil them with the knowledge, staff and most important time we had.
I could start telling you what we have accomplished in the past couple of years, but that is all irrelevant now and what is more important is that I had a lot of fun and would like to take this opportunity to thank the hundreds of thousands of people who have ever visited The Dugout and found some enjoyment out of it and who we managed to put a smile on their faces for supplying them with the right information. Other words of appreciation go out to the guys from Sports Interactive who after all made it all possible, but especially Marc Duffy who has more than once showen himself a true fan of the game and scene.
Last but not least I would like to thank everyone who has ever worked or contributed to the site in any form, but especially Toni (Daigle), who has made a tremendous contribution to the site throughout the years and has become a personal friend ever since.
Note: The TD Forum will stay online. Over the years it has developed in a separate community and has proven more than once it can function independent.
Till we meet again.
With regards,
Mark Geneste markgeneste@hotman.com'
[edit] The Dugout Messageboards
- One of the more popular areas of The Dugout website was the online community it created for the fans of the Sports Interactive games series, Championship Manager. The forum is currently into its second genesis (the original remains left behind for posterity). At the time of transfer the original forum numbered over 21,500 members. However the numbers were transient, swelling (and straining the servers) with each release of a new game - then notoriously falling away until the next edition. The forum initially cashed in on the Internet boom of the late very late 90's early 2000's, coinciding with the release of CM3 (and subsequent updates).
- Just prior to the attempted merger with CMGamer the forums transferred to a new software (opened January 1, 2005), and required members to re-register. As a result numbers haven't yet scaled the heady heights of the old board, but the regularity of posts has changed little.
- In recent years the board has become more Off Topic orientated (accounting for around 2/3rds of the messageboard's traffic) with many members not straying far beyond The World Around segment where they can discuss anything non-CM related.
[edit] The forum in general
- The forum includes multiple strata of discussions including (but not limited to) a specialist board for ideas and improvements relating to the games, a board used only for the creation of stories (some successful, some not, many humorous) involving the games which not only showcased the sometimes brilliant writing talents of its members but also brought a new, almost roleplaying side to an otherwise straightforwards management simulation. In addition there are detailed discussion of tactics, training, individual players etc spanning not merely the most recent game but over 15 years of player history and details.
- The forums are predominately populated by English speaking CM fans, though not all necessarily from the British Isles. The forums have a diverse and worldwide attraction bringing people from all 4 corners of this cornerless sphere type thing to their computers in order to join in the regular soap opera of The Dugout.
- The forums also, as a result, have a diverse representation of football club support with a suspiciously high number of high profile West Ham fans (including a Malaysian), as well as the more predictable Liverpool, Manchester Utd, Newcastle, Tottenham and Arsenal supporters (from all walks of life, and some crawls and slithers).
[edit] The off-topic sections, TTH, The Rumour Mill, The World Around
- The most active section of The Dugout are the Off Topic Forums. The largest sub-section of which is the off-topic section called "The Third Half". In here members can take a break from discussions on Football Manager and instead can focus on other topics at hand such as discussion on the recent news, films and games, political events or simply get to know one another better. In the 6 years of its existence it has also gathered quite a few non-CM players, and features topics on numerous other interests that these people do have. As the board has distinctly aged (the average age of TTH has risen steadily) the discussions have matured, but are still usually well tempered with irreverence. TTH can have its fair share of arguments due to the heated nature of the discussions, raging hormones, club/national/political affiliation and the sometimes even controversial topics.
- The Rumour Mill is also a popular stop off, particularly for fans of football clubs active in the transfer market (and subsequent baiting).
[edit] FM/CM International: The "Foreign" sections
- The forums multicultural heritage has led to it also offering several sections where people can post in their own preferred language. At one point there were up to eight sub-forum where people could post in languages such as Russian, Portuguese, Spanish and French. Unfortunately in order to join in the vast majority of The Dugout topics a passing knowledge of English is required, as a result most of these have since been closed down due to inactivity as for the sake of inclusiveness foreign nationals contribute to the English speaking sections.
- These forum are largely Off Topic but include discussions of all topics. Currently The Dugout has two remaining open:
- CMBenelux (for primarily the Dutch speaking posters).
- CM Scandinavia (for the Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and Finnish).
- There remains additional language support thanks to the multilingual staff and forum contributors.
[edit] Forum Administrators
| Name | Nationality | Forum Name | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Geneste | Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg | "Mark" | Site Proprietor |
| Mosje Meijler | Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg | "Brighton" | Senior Forum Administrator |
| Karl | Image:Flag of England (bordered).svg | "DannyMurphy"/"DM" | Senior Forum Administrator |
| Liam McIrish | Image:Flag of Ireland (bordered).svg | "Fry Crayola" | Forum Admin |
| "Ian" | Image:Flag of Wales (bordered).svg | "WelshWebWizard" | Forum Admin, and "favourite" Welshman |
| Frederik Ferong | Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg | "Fredman" | Forum Administrator |
| Simon Gaylord | Image:Flag of England (bordered).svg | "Romanian 1"/"R-One" | Primarily TTH Moderator & possible homosexual |
