PBeMFF was established in February 2002, and is a play by email fantasy football league game
using the ESMS+ software.

The league was initially founded with 30 teams from England and Scotland in 3 divisions of 10
teams. The league has been under constant refinement in order to find the perfect balance
both for the enjoyment of the game, and for the workload for managers and commish alike.
Added in season 2 was the reserve league, a highly popular feature that allows the younger
players or the reserves to be blooded into the game, that would normally not feature regularly
for the main squad.

Season 3 started in March 2003 and saw the league structure change to that of 4 divisions of 8 teams. The registered teams were also changed for season 3, with the non league teams being expelled and a Welsh and Irish side being brought in, to form a true British league.

It was decided by Matt Birch, the creator of PBeMFF, to create a European Wing to run
alongside the British league. The Wing consists of 32 European teams arranged into four
divisions. These divisions will consist of teams from various European countries.

By having this Wing running alongside the British Wing of PBeMFF, we are able to have a cup
competition involving all 64 teams from both wings, as well as transfers running between
the two wings, twice a season, therefore allowing a manager of one team to purchase,
sell, and loan players with managers of 63 other teams.

Thanks to David McKay the rest of the world wing was started in season 11,
bringing the grand total of teams in PBEMFF to 96.

At the end of season 18 it was decided that we had too many managerless teams
in PBEMFF, so it was decided that once again we would go back to two wings.
Each consisting of 4 divisions of 10 teams.

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Once appointed to a club, PBeMFF managers are expected to act much like
real managers - they are required to submit team sheets each week, conduct transfers, talk
to the media etc.

PBeMFF is not purely about the football matches though, there is a thriving community
spirit within the game. There is also the news page where one can find news articles, both
serious and amusing, all submitted by the managers themselves.
We must also not forget the ever busy PBeMFF forum, which receives
1000 - 1500 hits per day.

The forum is open to anyone who registers, but anyone abusing it to advertise anything
(including other pbem games) or anyone caught posting offensive material will have
their messages deleted, their IP address and email address blocked, and will have
their details sent to the EOFA (the central association for pbem games using the
ESMS and ESMS+ software) banned list.
This also goes for sending unsolicited emails to managers in the game.