Here's my variant suggestion:

Ones and sixes cannot be rolled. Ones already can't be rolled after a goal is scored. Eliminating sixes would eliminate the immediate reply goal. Always eliminating ones and sixes would reduce the maximum difference in consecutive rolls to three (from five).

Option 1: Still use a six-sided die where 1=2 and 6=5. Thus, two chances to get two, two chances to get five, and one chance each to get three or four.

Option 2 (better): Still use a six-sided die where 1=3 and 6=4. Two chances to get three, two chances to get four, and one chance each to get two or five.

Option 3 (best): use an 8-sided die with two faces of each number: 2, 3, 4, and 5 for equal chances (four-sided dice don't work very well, in my opinion).

four-sided dice don't work very well, in my opinion

That depends on what they're made of. I don't see them around much anymore (maybe because I play much less D&D than I used to) but the ones made of compressed rubber (feels like plastic but isn't) bounce enough on any hard surface.

Use of a dice cup might also help with case of too little rolling. And with honest well-rolling people even coins give random enough results.

If you have doubts about a four-sided die, you can roll two of them and take the result as their sum modulo 4. The result is always at least as fair as the fairer of the two dice.

how about eliminating the dice altogether? players simply choose any roll from 1-6 (or 2-5)…

What's the difference in LG between an 8 sided die labeled 23452345 and a 4 sided die labeled 2345 ?

I never saw a die rolling here, it was always LittleGolem saying: believe me or don't, you just rolled a 2 (And I believe him). In real life, a die dropping off the table has to be repeated. Richard should implement this here as well.

Is't even possible to have a 3 or 5 sided die, if your concern is about equal probability.

But why eliminate the 1? Rolling a 2 is often worse.

My suggestion for your Option 3 (2345) and less luck involved:

- with a 2 you have the choice to move 1 or 2=0 fields.

your players can move up to 3pips

if your player plays the ball, the ball can be moved up to 6pips and of course regular ss rules apply on ball movement.

The Twist: instead of a goal, a goal is a SHOT on goal, and to determine if it is a goal a die is rolled and if the die roll is equal or greater than the length of the pips from where the shot is taken, then, it is a goal. If the roll is less than the length(#of pips), it is opponents goal kick.

you can also add that each player gets 3die rolls throughout course of game where he can use a die roll instead of the the 3pip player movement allotment ….

I originally proposed this same variant to the author of the game, he answered me that he tried and the game becomes very very boring. That's it.

yeah, nothing seems better than dice, and i like that unknown factor, it gives the tension