Rules of the Golden Boot Game

Basics

All times quoted in these rules are UK standard times, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or British Summer Time (BST) as appropriate.
For the purposes of the Golden Boot Game strikers include all registered squad members from any of the twenty clubs in the English Premier League. Players are people who take part in the Golden Boot Game using this web site. If you are reading this you are probably a player.
Teams refer to the participants registered to take part in the Golden Boot Game and are made up of eight selected strikers. Clubs take part in the English Premier League and employ strikers.
In these rules Premier League fixtures will be referred to as matches throughout. Games refers to fantasy football competitions such as the Golden Boot Game.

Game Weeks

In the Golden Boot Game all weeks start and end at midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning. This applies equally to calendar weeks and to game Weeks. To distinguish between game Weeks and calendar weeks, game Weeks will always have a capital 'W'. Specific game Weeks will often be referred to as Week #number (e.g. each season starts in Week #1).
The Golden Boot Game season is divided into a number of game Weeks. As befits a game based around the Premier League, the calendar of Golden Boot Game Weeks is defined by the Premier League fixtures schedule for the upcoming season normally released in June each year. Subsequent changes to the Premier League fixtures schedule, for whatever reason, will not affect the Golden Boot Game calendar unless the season is extended beyond the Thursday following the final matches of the original schedule.
A new game Week is allocated whenever there is a calendar week that contains a full set of Premier League fixtures when the fixture list is first issued. Each game Week will last at least one calendar week. When a calendar week has no Premier League fixtures scheduled it is added to the end of the previous game Week. If the Premier League splits a set of fixtures over consecutive calendar Weeks, e.g. to create a Winter Break for clubs, those calendar weeks will together form a separate game Week.
All Premier League fixtures will be assigned to the game Week in which they are actually played regardless of the original schedule. Changes in the Premier League fixtures due to TV scheduling, cup commitments, postponements etc. may mean that fixtures move from their original game Week into another. It is ultimately the responsibility of Golden Boot Game players to keep up to date with the fixture changes for any game Week and select their strikers accordingly.

Team Selection

All the Premier League matches that take place in each Game Week will contribute to the scoring for that game Week. All the game Weeks during the Premier League season will together form the Golden Boot Game season.
Each game Week will have a selection deadline. This will be exactly on the hour at least one hour but less than two hours before the scheduled kick-off time for the first Premier League match to be played in that game Week.
For changes to your team to be effective for any game Week they must be made before the selection deadline for that game Week and before any Premier League matches are actually played during that game Week. Any changes made after that time will not become active until the following game Week.
You can change any number of strikers for the next game Week as many times as you wish at any time up to the selection deadline. Any strikers left unchanged at the selection deadline will be carried forward from the previous game Week. Only strikers who are active for a game Week can score points for your team during that Week.
If you make more than one set of team changes during a game Week the changes will be taken in the order that they were submitted. So the closest team change to the selection deadline will be effective at the start of the next game Week.
If you inadvertently end up with the same striker in more than one position, only the higher scoring position will count for scoring purposes. The lower position(s) will effectively be vacant and will not score any points.

Points Scoring

Your team will consist of 8 strikers chosen from any of the squad members registered for any of the English Premier League clubs. For the purposes of the Golden Boot Game even goalkeepers are considered as strikers.
The strikers in your team are ranked in order according to their selected position in your team: striker 1, striker 2, striker 3 etc. up to striker 8.
For each Premier League goal scored by a striker in your team you will score points depending on the strikers position. Striker 1 scores 8 points per goal, striker 2 scores 7 points per goal etc. down to striker 8 who scores 1 point per goal.
Only goals scored in English Premier League games will count towards points scoring. Own goals will not be counted for the Golden Boot Game.
Goal scorers will be taken from the BBC Sport web site on the day after each match. Any subsequent revision or re-allocation of goal scorers will NOT be taken into account for the Golden Boot Game.
Goals, except own goals, which count in the For & Against columns in the Premier League table will count in the Golden Boot game. Other goals (e.g. in abandoned matches) will not count towards the game.

Team Rankings

Teams will be ranked by the total number of points scored during the Golden Boot Game season. This will include points from all matches played during the corresponding Premier League season. Matches played by Premier League teams in other competitions will not be counted.
If two or more teams are level on points the total number of goals scored by each team will decide the order.
If there is still a tie the number of 8 point goals scored will decide the order, followed by the number of 7 point goals, the number of 6 point goals, and so on until there is a winner.
If both teams have identical records the position will be tied and any prizes for the tied position(s) will be shared.
A team ranked in a particular position will win the prize (if any) for that position. No exchanges or cash equivalents will be provided for any prize. All prizes are strictly non-transferable, only the prize winner can receive that prize.