'Barf of the Net!' Soccer Whodunit Playscript

Looking for something a little different that’s guaranteed to have your students spellbound!?
‘Barf of the Net!’ is a comedy whodunit script which, when read out aloud, provides not only for a hugely engaging courtroom-style drama classroom event, but can also be scaled up into a whole school show. In true ‘Murderplays Mystery Shorts’ fashion, your actors/readers read from their scripts while standing in a line thus, with ‘the minimum of preparation’, your show will be ready to engage and entertain your audience. The piece itself (outlined more fully below) is a comic whodunit for six readers of any age which explores what happens when ‘foul play’ is suspected during a school soccer match. It’s full of character, accusation and comedy, and parodies the ‘win at all costs’ nature of school sports. And, being a whodunit, your audience will be challenged to suggest which two of the four suspects they think is guilty of tampering with the opposition striker’s halftime drink! The script is accompanied by a full event explanation plus all relevant answer sheets (and even poster and ticket templates for larger performances). General running times are…
10 minutes. Audience read through their character sheets.
20 minutes. Act 1 is read out by your performers.
10 minutes. Audience fill in their answer sheets.
15 minutes. Act 2 is read out.
5 minutes. The winners are announced.
(The script parodies British football in particular… but the emotion involved is relevant to any competitive school cup tie.)

Ex-schoolteacher Chris Martin, writing as murderplays, has written a series of murder mystery/whodunit plays which have been staged multiple times worldwide. ‘Barf of the Net!’ is a piece which has been specifically created for classroom use and has been repeatedly staged in both Primary and Secondary settings.
Website description…
The football whodunit that’s in a league of its own!
The ‘Maradonna and Child School’ soccer team have never been in a cup final before and things are not looking good when they find themselves 3 - 0 down at halftime against bitter rivals, ‘Canton Academy’. Yet much of Canton’s success is down to the prowess of their star striker ‘Beef Cake’. Yet when ‘Beefy’ is forced off with a mystery illness ‘Maradonna’ are finally able to seize the initiative and claim victory. But who’s about to be ‘red carded’ for tampering with Beefy’s halftime drink? Jinx Dribbler, Maradonna’s school team captain? Kitt Bagg, Maradonna’s goalkeeper? Miss Chelsea Bunn, the home side’s Cookery teacher?Or… Referee, Stanley Accrington?

‘Barf of the Net!’ is a short whodunit play which captures youngsters’ love of football via a comic exploration of ‘the beautiful game’. The names of its six characters are non-gender specific meaning that the school team involved can be male or female, either 4M/2F or 2M/4F. All characters have significant roles.