The joys of Sunday league Football

The smell of deep heat spray, old fusty footballs and a sweaty kit from the week before greets many amateur footballers on a Sunday morning.

Now I have recently returned to playing Sunday football after playing throughout the junior ranks and I have to say so far I am enjoying it. I love how all the players try to rein act their heroes from the day before in the matches... even if they do fail.

There are a mixture of personalities in a Sunday league football team those who think they are professional footballers who roll up on a Sunday wearing a headband, plastered in sock tape and wearing the most shocking coloured boots they can find. The other type that turn up are the middle aged men who are coated in deep heat and pain killers in hope of keeping the body intact for the full 90 minutes.

The club I play for play on a very basic field, mind you not many clubs play on surfaces fit for professionals and the warm starts with stretching... which is reaching up the hook the goal nets around the post. This then goes onto a 5 minute period of the lads gathering in a circle in an attempt to string more than three passes together.

Last week my team attempted to perform a full 30 minute warm up, with only 12 players available it was safe to say that after 60 minutes there was plenty of players who were happy to come off for a rest.

On the flip side being a sub on a Sunday can be a burden. As you face to risk of being forced to do the line. This job can be a nightmare as you are subject to abuse no matter what you do. Many a bribes come out to convince someone to do the job.

Safe to say that the beautiful game is fantastic to watch at elite level but it can be equally entertaining to watch Sunday league football but for different reasons, more of a comical aspect.

Daniel Clark

@ClarkyD92

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