Grass roots. Now that’s entertainment.

I brushed upon grass roots football in my previous blog Support your local team and it's something that I have a massive opinion on.


I love to play football and always have done. For me it's the greatest sport on the planet, I remember school holidays and playing for 12 hours a day, we didn't need feeding, football was our food! My friends and I played in all weather, it didn't matter to us, as long as we had a football and goal.

My dad took me to lads and dads when I was 7 and we formed a team called Kestrels, every team had an animals name, god only knows why. We were rubbish though, why? because we were young. I remember losing games by margins of 20 goals, I've cried after losing and I wasn't the only one! Did we quit? no! and why? because we loved the game so much! as time went on we grew older and a little wiser and went through a season losing only one cup game, we were giving out the 20 goals now.

 

Back then there was no over protective health and safety rules, we carried wooden goals to the pitch and if someone got a splinter, our parents did call a solicitor they just took it out! Unbelievable to think a problem like that could be solved so easily! I continued to play football all through high school and our team only split up due to us being too old for the league.

I love grass roots football and I still play now. It's gritty, real and there's no pampered superstars. These players play for the love of the game, they don't get paid to play, in fact it's the opposite WE PAY to play! This morning I went to watch two different Sunday league matches. Two of my old Sunday league teams, one won 4-1 and the other lost 4-0. 3 hours of football and I'd seen 9 goals! how much did it cost me to see this? NOTHING this entertainment was free! there's no worrying about finishing 8th instead of 7th because it'll cost a million pound to the big fat chairman in his big fat office. These lads give their blood, sweat and tears and then go to work on Monday.

Fans want goals, it's a fact of life, big money changes hands for goal scorers and why? because goals win games and winning games wins trophies! Football isn't rocket science. With grass roots you'll get what you want. Sadly my new Saturday team lost 8-1 yesterday, bad for me but fantastic for a neutral wanting to kill time on a Saturday afternoon.

I'm not saying don't watch the Premier league, Championship and other professional leagues. What I am saying is if your at a lose end, go to your nearest grass roots ground and if they sell pies, buy one, if they charge £2 to get in pay it. why? You may ask. The answer is simple, because the more money we pump into grass roots the stronger our national side will become! It doesn't take a genius to work this out. If we invest in the clubs they can invest in better training facilities, more coaches can have their coaching badges paid for.

For me this is what supporting your local team really means and by supporting grass roots football we can make our national team strong again. 

Thank you for reading.