I should make note this entry is not to discourage anyone from enjoying the beautiful game in all its 11-a-Side glory. Be it taking part or watching, nothing could deter me away from settling down to watch a ‘Super Sunday’ offering or taking to the grass based surface and trying (and failing) to emulate the pros. However, one cannot ignore the fact that more people are playing small sided football (5, 6 & 7-a-side) than ever before where as many amateur 11-a-Side leagues have dwindled. This article is to highlight how 6-a-Side still gives players their weekly football fix, but without all the strings attached hassle that comes with the 11-a-side game.
All weekend footballers have been there; stood on an away side’s pitch (which has taken an hour to find after someone forgot the Sat-Nav), and when we say pitch, it’s really just a field with barely visible lines, goal mouths without a blade of grass, maybe the odd dog foul on the wing and goal posts desperately needing a lick of paint having been on the grounds mans ‘To Do’ List for a few seasons too many now. The showers are cold, the changing rooms are smaller than the referee’s room and there isn’t enough deep heat to apply and assure there won’t be one ache or pain tomorrow as you drag yourself out of bed. And this is before we even get to the game itself. Being 6-0 down, with a player sent off, as the wind lashes the rain into your face and being told by the referee there’s still 20 minutes to go is nearly enough to make anyone hang up their boots there and then. And when the match is over and you make the long trip back home, you return with a very empty feeling inside yourself. You might have won, you might have lost, but for 5 hours out of your Saturday, some who would have needed to negotiate a “pass out” from the W.A.G; the feeling of regret that maybe your weekend football wasn’t quite worth the bother lingers in the back of your mind. Granted that is the worst case scenario for any game of weekend football; only twice have I played with dog foul on the pitch. And this is without mentioning the nightmare that is Sunday morning football. It’s not necessarily the football, it’s the being woken up with a banging hangover by the phone call of your angered manager informing you there’s only half an hour till kick off and they’ve only got 10 men!
‘Small prices to pay’, some may say, in the grand scheme of things; with the main aim of the day in being able to get out there and play your football. But with 1600 teams down (as of December 2011) from over 3 seasons the stats would suggest that the cons are starting to outweigh the pros. However, the 11-a-Side game’s loss is the small-sided (5, 6 & 7-a-Side) game’s gain. Due to the change in lifestyles, with people working longer hours and with 11-a-Side restricting players to only Saturday and Sundays; the small-sided game offers more opportunities for football throughout the week in the evenings under floodlights, which many 11-a-Side pitches may not. This is not to say that small sided football has taken away players from 11-a-Side Leagues, but 5, 6, & 7-a-Sides are offering an alternative to teams whose leagues have folded and are either forced to register with the next closest 11-a-Side league elsewhere, which could be miles away, or not play football at all.
But what else other than travelling, day and kick off time convenience does small sided offer?
Put simply, it’s just all about the football. There’s no travelling to away grounds as every week it’s at the same venue. There’s no rigmarole for managers to fill out weekly team sheets with only one main squad list needed at the start of the season and then free to sign up any additional players throughout. There’s no volunteers needed to wash the kit with less stricter rules on teams kit only requiring teams to bring matching colours. There’s also no need to sweep the changing rooms afterwards, although one would think it unnecessary after only playing on all weather pitches as opposed to bringing half the natural pitch back in with you on your boots. And forget ever having to clean your boots again for the following week.
Small Sided Football requires teams to turn up, pay their match fees and get on with the game.
Taking a look at the amount of towns and cities the length and breadth of the country at www.footballmundial.com will show exactly why this is becoming the county’s most popular recreational sport.
But again, all this is to not negatively criticise the classic format of football. Over the next four years the FA is to invest £200m in grassroots football; this will include improved access and quality of pitches. Hopefully this will lead to the participation of numbers in men’s 11-a-Side teams going the same way that recent numbers of women’s teams and referees have been, over the past couple of seasons, with encouraging increases.
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