| Don't people play football anymore? 20:11 - Oct 12 with 5952 views | 1BobbyHazell |
I thought I'd take a trip down memory lane and look up the last club I played for in the early noughties, Kew AFC.
It was a lovely club, 100 years old, very proud of having beaten Ipswich in the 30's, matches on Saturday afternoon anywhere inside the M25, manager always shoehorning in the fact that our results were on teletext (page 48 of 48, had to wait 27 minutes to see it flash up for a few seconds) in his half time bollocking.
Most importantly it had 9 XI's, so it catered for a decent range of ability, all the captains would meet each week to do selection, players moving up and down between teams, all very proper and must have had a good 150 players on the books. It was big on social stuff and they had a new clubhouse built with Rangers being part of it.
So when I went on the website I saw they now have just TWO teams, two. I'm really shocked.
Is this just an anomaly at this particular club or has the number of people playing the game diminished that much?
What are other people's experience of this?
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| Don't people play football anymore? on 20:15 - Oct 12 with 4645 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
Life.
I've been trying to get back into it after a ten year hiatus, but work and extra timber have hampered me.
People have too much on their plate unfortunately .
Sad really. |  | | |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 20:26 - Oct 12 with 4624 views | MedwayR |
I stopped playing a few years ago. I could just about handle the s**t pitches & changing rooms, cold showers, clueless refs & stupid rules from the FA, but what got to me in the end was the sheer number of jumped up little c**ts who seemed to think grassroots football is a place for them to act like tw@ts and try to have a fight, usually hungover from the night before and/or try to injure people. It's just not worth the time, money or effort.
5-a-side & 7-a-side became very popular for a while but I'm not sure if that's still the case. |  |
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| Don't people play football anymore? on 21:22 - Oct 12 with 4549 views | Stanisgod |
As I'm now 61 and my days of tearing up the right wing are gone , I've been considering this walking football thing , loads of it round my area apparently and you only have to watch Karl Henry to get a few tips. |  |
| It's being so happy that keeps me going. |
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| Don't people play football anymore? on 21:23 - Oct 12 with 4549 views | Northernr |
You only have to sit on the tube any weekday night, surrounded by sweaty lads who go home still wearing their shorts, socks and shin pads to know people do still play football - I'm currently playing for three teams a week - but it's weeknights and small sided.
Here's my perception of the choice I have.
I can play midweek on floodlit pitches, the surfaces are improving in quality all the time, the number of pitches is going through the roof all the time, I only need to find five or six of my mates to form a team, I can fit it in around work, I don't have to travel far to do it, it's usually in a school or a college so there's a changing room with decent showers. I play in Elephant and Castle, Kentish Town and Finsbury Park and it's great to see the same six or seven lads every week, we know the other teams in our leagues, it's really competitive, we know the referees, it's still reasonably affordable although prices are going up.
Or I can play Sundays, usually in the morning when I'm hungover to fck from Saturday, usually fcking miles away because the number of grass 11-a-side pitches in London is dropping fast. The changing rooms, if there are any, are usually an ancient condemned building or a vandalised portacabin, and if there are showers they're cold, and you'll be three or four teams to a dressing room. The pitch will be appalling, almost always water logged. The referee will be appalling. The opposition will be there, almost without exception, to hurt you. Matches will frequently descend into a fcking tear up. Your team will always be scrambling around for players.
What you going to do? |  | | |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 23:12 - Oct 12 with 4431 views | PunteR |
I play 7 a side mid week, sometimes 5 a side, sometimes 5 v 6 and swap half time.
Now and then organize an 11 a side, got one next week funnily enough.
I've got quite a few 4G pitches around my way, under the flood lights. Goals 5 a side are pretty good as well.
Wednesdays nights are always busy with various games going on ,so much so we've struggled hiring pitches recently after we moved it from Friday night footie. |  |
| Occasional providers of half decent House music. |
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| Don't people play football anymore? on 02:07 - Oct 13 with 4370 views | Boston |
I don't play anymore, hate the game really, just pay extortionate amounts to use QPR as a vehicle for me to nip down the pubs in Shepherds Bush. |  |
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| Don't people play football anymore? on 06:00 - Oct 13 with 4337 views | FredManRave |
In reply to the OP, surely it's just a sign of the times. Nothing to do with costs more to do with less free time for the older generation (us) and more, alot more distractions for the younger lads even though we're talking about a mere 15 years ago.
Times they are a changing... |  |
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| Don't people play football anymore? on 07:43 - Oct 13 with 4289 views | terryb |
It is certainly true that "grass route" football has diminished & by an incredible amount. Especially Sunday clubs.
In the '80's & early '90's, the Ipswich area boasted two Sunday Leagues witgh a combined 16 divisions. Now there is one league with three divisions!
I'm sure there are many reasons for the decrease other than what I list, but here are a few (all are just in my view):-
1) An increase in the amount of people that have to work at weekends. This may be on a rota basis only, but it stops them playing.
2) The cost of running clubs. This has increased tremendously & pitch hire from the local council has inflated by depression standards! The entrance fees to leagues, County FA's, referees, kit, balls, insurance (we never bothered in my days but now it is mandatory) etc. are immense.
Of course, the irony is that these costa rise as clubs decrease,.
3) The increase in small sided games or friends hiring a pitch at the Leisure Centre for a kickabout. You do not have to committ (sp?) yourself to being available every week.
4) Televised football. This should have led to an increase in Saturday sides, but it hasn't in my area!
5) The social side of the game has suffered. No longer do players go drinking together after the match (many just change & go home without washing!)
6) Nowhere near as many people prepared to give up a lot of their time to run clubs. I used to be involved with this but reached the stage where it was a definite NO MORE! They have been let down too many times to feel that the hassle is worthwhile.
7) A lack of referees. This isn't surprising considering the grief that they suffer. [Post edited 13 Oct 2016 7:56]
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| Don't people play football anymore? on 08:13 - Oct 13 with 4260 views | aston_hoop |
I make Bob Malcolm look like Lionel Messi |  |
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| Don't people play football anymore? on 09:10 - Oct 13 with 4186 views | 1BobbyHazell |
Good replies fellas, everyone's points make sense. Amazing to hear what's happened in Ipswich.
I played a lot of 5 and 7 a side too and whilst I loved it (still do) nothing could beat the thrill of a proper match for me. Strange to think of that joining the likes of 'watching a test match' as not having much appeal in the age of Instant Access. | | | |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 09:17 - Oct 13 with 4171 views | MrSheen |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 09:10 - Oct 13 by 1BobbyHazell |
Good replies fellas, everyone's points make sense. Amazing to hear what's happened in Ipswich.
I played a lot of 5 and 7 a side too and whilst I loved it (still do) nothing could beat the thrill of a proper match for me. Strange to think of that joining the likes of 'watching a test match' as not having much appeal in the age of Instant Access. |
There's a bit of a panic on in the US about falling ratings for NFL games this season. Same worries about the attention span of younger viewers. Who knows, might they consider cutting the number of ad breaks? |  | | |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 09:23 - Oct 13 with 4162 views | runningman75 |
I used to play Saturdays for Fulham Compton gave up due to kept getting injured , various niggles and pulled muscles should have named myself Sandro. Got fat and sedantry for a few years before taking up running. Still fattish but not as sedantry. | | | |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 11:23 - Oct 13 with 4108 views | Hunterhoop |
As someone who's spent the last 5 years managing and last 8 years playing Sunday League football (Accrington Stanley Bowles), but who has given it up this season, I think a lot of the comments above ring true.
Ultimately, my knees are knackered. I'm only just 30, but patellar tendonitus in both knees, coupled with the fact I had to have full knee reconstruction surgery in 2013 (didn't just tear, but ripped/disconnected my ACL and MCL, as well as damaging the meniscus), all from a tackle in Sunday League mean it's not right for my body to continue atm. I might return in a year or two for a few games here and there, but I'm done playing regularly.
Having said this, and having spent 5 years scrambling around for a squad each weekend, major injuries aren't really the driver. There are a number of factors IMO:
1) Everyone is time poor these days. People don't finish on the dot at 5, home to the family/gf by 6 and get 5 evenings with them each week. Playing Sat or Sun football loses you half a day in reality. 5 aside loses you 2 hours in total after work, just like going to the gym.
2) Aggro - I know Sunday League used to have a lot of hungover thugs playing, and everyone knows it can get tasty. But today, it's just gone over the top. As someone who works in business in the city, I couldn't justify to myself coming into work on a Monday with a black eye because some wannabe gangsta man took a cheap shot at a set piece. Only so many times people believe it's not from Friday night rather than sport. On top of this the rise in mass brawls and, worst of all, knives, is noticeable. We had refs who refused to ref certain teams because the last time they have they were attacked by the team after the whistle! We've had oppostion players threaten to knife you after the game. I mean, who needs that hassle?
3) Perhaps the biggest reason - 11 aside is harder than 5 aside. I am no fan of 5 aside at all. I make no bones about that. IMO, whilst for many it's about fitness and having fun with mates, in some case (not everyone, of course), it's for narcissistic fairies. It's not a team sport. In 5 aside, people turn up, play for themselves (to show off who has the best tekkers), think they're hard because they put in a few cheap shin kicks, all the while playing on a carpet, which makes controlling/passing, etc, piss easy, and they think they're a "baller". No shape is required, no proper tracking back, it's just not proper football. 11 aside is harder for so many reasons. It's a bigger pitch so there is far more running without the ball, which requires fitness and willpower. You have to be much more disciplined about positioning and shape. An average 11 footballers with excellent shape and positioning will beat 11 good footballers with no shape and lazy positioning. It's a team sport; you have to play as a unit. So often, I had supposedly excellent 5 aside players turn up and they'd really struggle. The pitch isn't a carpet so all of a sudden control, dibbling and passing is harder. People don't stand off you as much in 11 aside. Most of the time you have some hairy lump of a centre half or crazy eyed full back about to pile in through the back of you. Some of these 5 aside guys who haven't played much 11 aside in their lives simply bottled it. Headers! In 5 aside, that aspect of the game doesn't exist. In 11 aside high balls into the box and keepers' kicks are a huge part of the game. You'd see these 5 aside lads simply not know what the hell to do. You can really tell who is "hard" and can handle the physical side by how good they were in the air. Point is, all of this, makes 11aside much harder and less "personally" rewarding if what you want to do is just nutmeg someone and look good so you can brag to your mates about your "skillz". Like in most walks of live, if something is harder work, with less reward, people don't do it
4) Availability - it can be very soul destroying for players if they regularly give up their Sunday or Saturday morning to play, only to find you have 4 "fillers" in the squad who really aren't very good. Given everything I said above, if you have big weaknesses in your team in 11 aside it's quite easy to be overrun and not have much of the ball. Hammerings, where all you're doing is chasing shadows, are not fun. And, if, when you get good availability, you actually compete and win, it can make poor availability even more frustrating
5) People willing to stick with it - In 11 aside you need subs. But who wants to be a sub, give up their morning and get 20 mins. Few people are willing to keep coming back until they do enough to start or break into the first team. Absolute kudos to those that do, but most want instant gratification and don't want to overcome an obstacle.
6) Transient nature of communities - years ago, you may have an 11aside team that was broadly the same for year upon year upon year. That just doesn't happen anymore. Far more people move around for work than they used to so your team can change more regularly, which affects team morale, socialising, etc. It also encourages drop outs because you're less bonded together as a team if you only play a handful of games a year or you know you're moving to another city next season....if you're hungover, people are more likely to give it a miss than if it's their friends they've played with for 5 seasons or more who they're letting down.
7) People willing to manage/run teams - it's on the wane. I was lucky. ASB has a great bunch of lads and i never had bad issues with getting money in so I wasn't at a loss, but I know of managers/chairman of other clubs whose teams folded when they said "enough is enough". Pitches cost c. £100 a game. Refs are c. £35 a game, player insurance, league registration, your regional FA registration, balls, kits, cones, etc.....it all adds up. And if you get lads in who, frankly, don't want or intend to pay their fair share, you will end up out of pocket. Equally, it takes up a lot of time. I've been replaced by a committee of several players sharing the duties. They'll do a great job. But, again, speaking to fellow managers, they used to say no one in their team was willing to step up and replace them. Too much hard work that goes unseen, under acknowledged and unrewarded. Instead players moan about the manager picking himself, or this or that...without realising he gave his whole Monday evening to go to a league meeting, or gave up several hours doing the accounting. If no one is willing to take on the mantle and organise stuff, then there won't be a team.
I still think 11 aside is great. Playing it, at any standard really, gives you a much better appreciation of the professional game, both its physicality, fitness and athleticism AND the tactics/shape of what's going on in front of your eyes. As someone that's played 11 aside all through my life, the season I was out with my knee injury, but still managed the side (to promotion, I might add!  ), I probably learnt more about 11 aside tactics and shape than at any other point in my life.
5 aside players simply don't appreciate so much of what is integral to 11 aside professional football and what they see at Loftus Rd or The Emirates or Craven Cottage, etc, etc. That's a big shame, and, I believe, part of the reason so many are quick to criticise and quick to want change...they think it's all so easy.....because it is at 5 aside (and on Champ Manager). |  | | |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 11:30 - Oct 13 with 4102 views | ingeminate |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 09:23 - Oct 13 by runningman75 |
I used to play Saturdays for Fulham Compton gave up due to kept getting injured , various niggles and pulled muscles should have named myself Sandro. Got fat and sedantry for a few years before taking up running. Still fattish but not as sedantry. |
Well I think 90 mins on a Sat/Sun morning is brilliant.
Enjoy 5-aside too but it's like comparing 20/20 to The Ashes.
Sort of. |  |
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| Don't people play football anymore? on 13:27 - Oct 13 with 4016 views | headhoops |
good thread and have to agree with nearly all that has been posted. Still play once a week on a Monday night. Could be 5 a side, can be 8 a side, but its still a team game and competitive even though most of us are 50+
Hunter some of your stuff on 5 a side is just plain rubbish.
Couple of the lads play walking football and say its actually much harder than you think, despite the ease with which Karlinho shows.
Gave up Saturday/Sunday football because of the non-sense. Ran and coached my kids team instead. Here's an idea - most of the issues that surround kids football are parent related. Dad or mum can drop little Johnnie off and pick him up at the end of the game. No grief for the refs, kids or managers. |  |
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| Don't people play football anymore? on 13:46 - Oct 13 with 3993 views | PunteR |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 11:23 - Oct 13 by Hunterhoop |
As someone who's spent the last 5 years managing and last 8 years playing Sunday League football (Accrington Stanley Bowles), but who has given it up this season, I think a lot of the comments above ring true.
Ultimately, my knees are knackered. I'm only just 30, but patellar tendonitus in both knees, coupled with the fact I had to have full knee reconstruction surgery in 2013 (didn't just tear, but ripped/disconnected my ACL and MCL, as well as damaging the meniscus), all from a tackle in Sunday League mean it's not right for my body to continue atm. I might return in a year or two for a few games here and there, but I'm done playing regularly.
Having said this, and having spent 5 years scrambling around for a squad each weekend, major injuries aren't really the driver. There are a number of factors IMO:
1) Everyone is time poor these days. People don't finish on the dot at 5, home to the family/gf by 6 and get 5 evenings with them each week. Playing Sat or Sun football loses you half a day in reality. 5 aside loses you 2 hours in total after work, just like going to the gym.
2) Aggro - I know Sunday League used to have a lot of hungover thugs playing, and everyone knows it can get tasty. But today, it's just gone over the top. As someone who works in business in the city, I couldn't justify to myself coming into work on a Monday with a black eye because some wannabe gangsta man took a cheap shot at a set piece. Only so many times people believe it's not from Friday night rather than sport. On top of this the rise in mass brawls and, worst of all, knives, is noticeable. We had refs who refused to ref certain teams because the last time they have they were attacked by the team after the whistle! We've had oppostion players threaten to knife you after the game. I mean, who needs that hassle?
3) Perhaps the biggest reason - 11 aside is harder than 5 aside. I am no fan of 5 aside at all. I make no bones about that. IMO, whilst for many it's about fitness and having fun with mates, in some case (not everyone, of course), it's for narcissistic fairies. It's not a team sport. In 5 aside, people turn up, play for themselves (to show off who has the best tekkers), think they're hard because they put in a few cheap shin kicks, all the while playing on a carpet, which makes controlling/passing, etc, piss easy, and they think they're a "baller". No shape is required, no proper tracking back, it's just not proper football. 11 aside is harder for so many reasons. It's a bigger pitch so there is far more running without the ball, which requires fitness and willpower. You have to be much more disciplined about positioning and shape. An average 11 footballers with excellent shape and positioning will beat 11 good footballers with no shape and lazy positioning. It's a team sport; you have to play as a unit. So often, I had supposedly excellent 5 aside players turn up and they'd really struggle. The pitch isn't a carpet so all of a sudden control, dibbling and passing is harder. People don't stand off you as much in 11 aside. Most of the time you have some hairy lump of a centre half or crazy eyed full back about to pile in through the back of you. Some of these 5 aside guys who haven't played much 11 aside in their lives simply bottled it. Headers! In 5 aside, that aspect of the game doesn't exist. In 11 aside high balls into the box and keepers' kicks are a huge part of the game. You'd see these 5 aside lads simply not know what the hell to do. You can really tell who is "hard" and can handle the physical side by how good they were in the air. Point is, all of this, makes 11aside much harder and less "personally" rewarding if what you want to do is just nutmeg someone and look good so you can brag to your mates about your "skillz". Like in most walks of live, if something is harder work, with less reward, people don't do it
4) Availability - it can be very soul destroying for players if they regularly give up their Sunday or Saturday morning to play, only to find you have 4 "fillers" in the squad who really aren't very good. Given everything I said above, if you have big weaknesses in your team in 11 aside it's quite easy to be overrun and not have much of the ball. Hammerings, where all you're doing is chasing shadows, are not fun. And, if, when you get good availability, you actually compete and win, it can make poor availability even more frustrating
5) People willing to stick with it - In 11 aside you need subs. But who wants to be a sub, give up their morning and get 20 mins. Few people are willing to keep coming back until they do enough to start or break into the first team. Absolute kudos to those that do, but most want instant gratification and don't want to overcome an obstacle.
6) Transient nature of communities - years ago, you may have an 11aside team that was broadly the same for year upon year upon year. That just doesn't happen anymore. Far more people move around for work than they used to so your team can change more regularly, which affects team morale, socialising, etc. It also encourages drop outs because you're less bonded together as a team if you only play a handful of games a year or you know you're moving to another city next season....if you're hungover, people are more likely to give it a miss than if it's their friends they've played with for 5 seasons or more who they're letting down.
7) People willing to manage/run teams - it's on the wane. I was lucky. ASB has a great bunch of lads and i never had bad issues with getting money in so I wasn't at a loss, but I know of managers/chairman of other clubs whose teams folded when they said "enough is enough". Pitches cost c. £100 a game. Refs are c. £35 a game, player insurance, league registration, your regional FA registration, balls, kits, cones, etc.....it all adds up. And if you get lads in who, frankly, don't want or intend to pay their fair share, you will end up out of pocket. Equally, it takes up a lot of time. I've been replaced by a committee of several players sharing the duties. They'll do a great job. But, again, speaking to fellow managers, they used to say no one in their team was willing to step up and replace them. Too much hard work that goes unseen, under acknowledged and unrewarded. Instead players moan about the manager picking himself, or this or that...without realising he gave his whole Monday evening to go to a league meeting, or gave up several hours doing the accounting. If no one is willing to take on the mantle and organise stuff, then there won't be a team.
I still think 11 aside is great. Playing it, at any standard really, gives you a much better appreciation of the professional game, both its physicality, fitness and athleticism AND the tactics/shape of what's going on in front of your eyes. As someone that's played 11 aside all through my life, the season I was out with my knee injury, but still managed the side (to promotion, I might add! ), I probably learnt more about 11 aside tactics and shape than at any other point in my life.
5 aside players simply don't appreciate so much of what is integral to 11 aside professional football and what they see at Loftus Rd or The Emirates or Craven Cottage, etc, etc. That's a big shame, and, I believe, part of the reason so many are quick to criticise and quick to want change...they think it's all so easy.....because it is at 5 aside (and on Champ Manager). |
I wouldnt rule out 5 a side as just something to show off tekkers.
It is completely different to 11 a side a bit like comparing Pool to Snooker , but there are elements of the game which require good football techniques . Close control, one touch passing, stamina, there's no chance of letting your foot off the steam.
I usually play 7 a side which has elements of both needed. We play over head rule but no shooting in the box. Plus it requires more positional sense.
Its good fun which is what football should be about.
I've played 11 a side and i defiantly get more out of the game playing 5 or 7 a side these days. Playing RB at 40 years old when up against a 21 year old running up and down the wing all game is not fun. That bench looks good by half time.. | |
| Occasional providers of half decent House music. |
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| Don't people play football anymore? on 13:48 - Oct 13 with 3983 views | CroydonCaptJack |
I used to play in Croydon Sunday League back in the 80s. We started off in the bottom Division which was Div11 then. I have just had a look and there is now a prem division and three others by the look of it.
And that is in the most populous borough on London. |  | | |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 14:11 - Oct 13 with 3949 views | Hunterhoop |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 13:27 - Oct 13 by headhoops |
good thread and have to agree with nearly all that has been posted. Still play once a week on a Monday night. Could be 5 a side, can be 8 a side, but its still a team game and competitive even though most of us are 50+
Hunter some of your stuff on 5 a side is just plain rubbish.
Couple of the lads play walking football and say its actually much harder than you think, despite the ease with which Karlinho shows.
Gave up Saturday/Sunday football because of the non-sense. Ran and coached my kids team instead. Here's an idea - most of the issues that surround kids football are parent related. Dad or mum can drop little Johnnie off and pick him up at the end of the game. No grief for the refs, kids or managers. |
Well, we can agree to disagree.
I've just seen it for 5 years where "good" 5 aside players really struggle to play 11aside. Never seen or heard of it the other way around. The simple fact the size of the pitch is much smaller, the space to cover is smaller, the ball doesn't go over head height, etc, means it's a simpler "narrower" type of football....and, in my eyes, isn't proper football. The pool to snooker or T20 to Test match are good analogies.
And I did say it's only some, certainly not everyone, who play 5 aside for the whole personal "tekkers" thing, rather than fitness/with mates, like most.
So, I'm really not sure what was "rubbish". I made it clear, it's only my opinion having managed an 11 aside team and played with and against 5 aside players. | | | |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 14:25 - Oct 13 with 3932 views | headhoops |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 14:11 - Oct 13 by Hunterhoop |
Well, we can agree to disagree.
I've just seen it for 5 years where "good" 5 aside players really struggle to play 11aside. Never seen or heard of it the other way around. The simple fact the size of the pitch is much smaller, the space to cover is smaller, the ball doesn't go over head height, etc, means it's a simpler "narrower" type of football....and, in my eyes, isn't proper football. The pool to snooker or T20 to Test match are good analogies.
And I did say it's only some, certainly not everyone, who play 5 aside for the whole personal "tekkers" thing, rather than fitness/with mates, like most.
So, I'm really not sure what was "rubbish". I made it clear, it's only my opinion having managed an 11 aside team and played with and against 5 aside players. |
yep we will 'amicably' disagree - rubbish was the generalisation re tekkers - think PunteR felt the same.
for whats its worth I also preferred playing 11 a side. Difficult when you are 50+ marking the 20 year old. | |
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| Don't people play football anymore? on 14:29 - Oct 13 with 3923 views | Hunterhoop |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 14:25 - Oct 13 by headhoops |
yep we will 'amicably' disagree - rubbish was the generalisation re tekkers - think PunteR felt the same.
for whats its worth I also preferred playing 11 a side. Difficult when you are 50+ marking the 20 year old. |
I'm probably just being a miserable bugger. I'm a centre half (or centre forward target man) and the bits I like (and am just about half decent at) don't really exist in 5 aside!
And I know what you mean...the last few years, in our "Sunday" League, we've come up against semi-pros who play non-league on Sat and 16yr olds on the books at London clubs. They're a bit quick for someone with my knees and lack of pace! | | | |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 14:32 - Oct 13 with 3921 views | Northernr |
Just to back Hunter's point, I'm brilliant 5, 6 and 7 a side keeper and an absolute liability 11 a side. Although keeping is a bit different - all shot stopping in smaller sided games, all physicality, command of box and kicking in 11 a side. | | | |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 14:43 - Oct 13 with 3907 views | PinnerPaul |
Youth football is booming.
Harrow Youth League is 3 times the size it was when my son played (finished about 10 years ago)
There are certainly loads more youth and ladies sides around now - open age I don't know about though. | | | |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 15:02 - Oct 13 with 3877 views | Mick_S |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 14:43 - Oct 13 by PinnerPaul |
Youth football is booming.
Harrow Youth League is 3 times the size it was when my son played (finished about 10 years ago)
There are certainly loads more youth and ladies sides around now - open age I don't know about though. |
My son plays in the Surrey Youth League - by far the best he or I have been involved with. It's not without it's problems, but is extremely popular - I'd say it's more than thriving. |  |
| Did I ever mention that I was in Minder? |
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| Don't people play football anymore? on 15:30 - Oct 13 with 3843 views | plasmahoop |
I think there have been a lot of good points on this thread. But its not just football, its all sport and other games like golf, snooker, darts too. Essentially people are becoming more individual, it would appear that there is less sport and sociable pub drinking, but there is more takeaways, obesity and cannabis. People surely still need hobbies though don't they, or is everyone just sitting indoors cracking one off in front of the computer | | | |
| Don't people play football anymore? on 16:24 - Oct 13 with 3775 views | Toast_R |
I quit 11 a-side at 16 when I started working Saturdays but had played in a team since the age of 6, mainly because I was pushed into it.
Joined a new team at 22 and over at Wandsworth Common, terrible pitches, weather and basically- what North said. Only did a season and that was of major perseverance. Of course, being naturally crap didn't help.
Started playing 6 a-side at the Tooting and Mitcham league on a Tuesday in 2002. Was good when it first started, organised, teams had to have a kit etc and the league was divided in 4 divisions and some quality. Slowly but surely as the years went by, it fell into disrepair and even the blokes that ran it knocked it on the head. People threatening to stab each other after the matches - that sort of thing, Quit that in 2009 had a brief spell at Goals - decided I wasn't enjoying it anymore. Took up Cycling. [Post edited 13 Oct 2016 16:27]
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