Sunday league players past and present

Hi all

I'm after one or two quotes from Sunday League players past and present for a future post on my blog site.

What do you think has contributed to the Sunday game's decline?

What could be done to rectify the decline?

Will there even be a Sunday League scene in 5/10 years time?

Complete social environment has changed in the last 30 yrs , there was quite literally nothing else to do on a Sunday late 70's, early 80's other than go to church, eat lunch,  go for a walk, watch songs of praise . If you werent into those you probably played football.

Now all the shops are open, people more commonly working weekend patterns, pubs are open all day, 2 or 3 football games live on the telly, increase in higher education university attendance taking away generations of potential players, kids playing organised football in leagues from the age of 6/7 means by 21/22 they have already had 15 yrs of it,nightclubs open til 5/6 a.m

When i started playing there were 10 divisions. Now it's half that. Even Saturdays used to have 4 and are down to just 1. The whole scene is dieing a death. All the experienced heads just go pot hunting lower down and all the young lads just wanna play with their mates in any division even though they have bigger talent. Plus, a few lines and more voddy means they couldnt give a flying fooook if they made it up on a Sunday morning nowadays. Then after the game its straight home unlike years ago when the social event of the week was a laugh with the squad afterwards down meggies.  Dont think there is even an answer on how to get it back going again. If you drop a player for not turning up nowadays the only thing you ever see from him again is a transfer form! Then on the management front you bend over backwards for the ungreatful scrotes and get nothing but abuse in return. Until they grow up, realise and apologise about 10 years down the line! And lets not forget the comittee with 3 different bank accounts jammed full of our payed in money who demand you pay so far in advance for the next season you are still playing the last seasons games when payments due!

I completely agree with moosey here. I played a lot of local league football in the 1960s and 70s and there were I believe 7 divisions at least on a Sunday.

We owned a motor parts shop during the 70s onwards and although cars changed, so that people didn't need to work on them as much, we found that the complete way of life changed, after supermarkets began opening on Sunday mornings. Men went shopping with their wives, or the wives took the cars shopping, instead of the men cleaning and tinkering with them.

Although I could have played at a higher level, I used to love the relaxed atmosphere of playing and usually loosing with Weelsby Rovers at Sidney Park on a Sunday morning.
Jack Wattam used to play and I think he was well in his 70s; he was a bit stiff but could still run. I remember playing him a lovely through ball but he didn't get it and his son Barry who also played said, "You should have played that ball 30 years ago Malc."

We also had a team in a younger player's league on a Sunday afternoon, but I think it only had about 14 teams.

Great times.

Quoted from moosey_club

Complete social environment has changed in the last 30 yrs , there was quite literally nothing else to do on a Sunday late 70's, early 80's other than go to church, eat lunch,  go for a walk, watch songs of praise . If you werent into those you probably played football.

Now all the shops are open, people more commonly working weekend patterns, pubs are open all day, 2 or 3 football games live on the telly, increase in higher education university attendance taking away generations of potential players, kids playing organised football in leagues from the age of 6/7 means by 21/22 they have already had 15 yrs of it,nightclubs open til 5/6 a.m

I was secretary of a Sunday Football team for many years until the last couple of seasons. I'd echo everything Moosey says, plus the cost is getting rather expensive now. I don't know how much it is now but in my last season a couple of years back it was £36 for a pitch at Bradley and £20 for a ref without all the extras like pegs, net straps, first aid kit, drinks, ball etc etc, never mind the cost of a kit. A lot of teams struggle to find a sponsor so in that case it's a very dear do, and you can only charge players so much in subs per game.

Also going back several years, the pubs kicked you out at 11pm, if you wanted more to drink you went to a nightclub, which in turn kicked you out at 2am. Nowadays a lot of pubs are open until 4/5am. Many a time I got up on a Sunday about 8am only to see a post on Facebook 2 hours ago of one or more of our players just getting in.

Young kids don't seem to be coming through anymore too. You used to always see a group of kids having a kickabout but the kids of today are more interested in playing FIFA (whatever year it is) rather that playing the game for real.

The local Saturday league has gone now and I can see Sunday league going the same way in the not too distant future. When I first became involved in local footy, there were 10 Divisions of about 15 teams each, now we're down to 5 Divisions of about 10 teams, with some Divisions of about 8 due to teams dropping out.

BTW Moosey, are you still playing for New Waltham or have you moved elsewhere as I don't see your name in their squad.

Quoted from Mallyner

I completely agree with moosey here. I played a lot of local league football in the 1960s and 70s and there were I believe 7 divisions at least on a Sunday.

Until the mid 90's there were TEN Divisions as we finished BOTTOM of Division 10 one season. Had one of the biggest turnarounds ever though the following season when we won the league.

Quoted from Les Brechin

I was secretary of a Sunday Football team for many years until the last couple of seasons. I'd echo everything Moosey says, plus the cost is getting rather expensive now. I don't know how much it is now but in my last season a couple of years back it was £36 for a pitch at Bradley and £20 for a ref without all the extras like pegs, net straps, first aid kit, drinks, ball etc etc, never mind the cost of a kit. A lot of teams struggle to find a sponsor so in that case it's a very dear do, and you can only charge players so much in subs per game.

Also going back several years, the pubs kicked you out at 11pm, if you wanted more to drink you went to a nightclub, which in turn kicked you out at 2am. Nowadays a lot of pubs are open until 4/5am. Many a time I got up on a Sunday about 8am only to see a post on Facebook 2 hours ago of one or more of our players just getting in.

Young kids don't seem to be coming through anymore too. You used to always see a group of kids having a kickabout but the kids of today are more interested in playing FIFA (whatever year it is) rather that playing the game for real.

The local Saturday league has gone now and I can see Sunday league going the same way in the not too distant future. When I first became involved in local footy, there were 10 Divisions of about 15 teams each, now we're down to 5 Divisions of about 10 teams, with some Divisions of about 8 due to teams dropping out.

BTW Moosey, are you still playing for New Waltham or have you moved elsewhere as I don't see your name in their squad.

I actually dont think the costs are too exorbitant Les, when i started with Schuberts FC we paid 1:50 subs i think if you started , that was 1988(?) ish...last season i was paying 3:50, so for 30yrs to go up a couple of quid isnt a significant strain on players pockets, still effectively only the cost of a pint !!
Admittedly sponsorship has got harder to find so start up costs , kit league fees, etc maybe harder to find now.
Do agree about pitch fees, Bradley in particular, yes nice change facilities but still the same crap pitches as ever for 36 quid...no ta.

I finished with New Waltham end of last season Les...moved along a village for this season.

It all went down hill when Les flagged me offside for White Bear in a game v Steels in the year 2003.

Quoted from lukeo

It all went down hill when Les, correctly flagged me offside for White Bear in a game v Steels in the year 2003.

Amended for you Luke.  

Ah Yes enjoyed getting up on a Sunday morning and scoring goals