The teams taking part included two Mill Hill teams, Great Harwood, Rossendale Valley and Crown Paints. Futsal is played with a heavier ball with less bounce, and because of this it spends a lot more time on the floor compared to a regular football. It is also played on an indoor court, which is much smaller than a normal football pitch. Because of this, more emphasis is placed on skills, technique, quick movement of the ball, and beating an opponent in a one against one situation.
All of the teams played with an excellent attitude
and there were some fantastic performances from all teams. One week produced two thrilling fixtures in which the first fixture finished 6-6, and the second fixture finished 7-7 – both games producing last minute goals and excitement for all involved.
There were some brilliant instances of fast feet, with players playing with a smile on their face (and no children complaining of freezing weather and poor pitch conditions!).
One rule in futsal states that when the ball goes out of play, there is only a four second window to get the ball back into play. This encourages quick thinking from the player who takes the pass-in or free kick, but also speed of thought from teammates who need to find space in order to allow their team to get the ball back into play as quickly as possible. It was very rewarding to see players improve over the five weeks and find innovative and quick ways to get the ball back in play as soon as possible. In the first weeks you could see the players thinking of ways to do this, but by the end of the tournament this had become natural to the majority of the players.
In the UK we complain that we struggle to find creative, intelligent and skilful players. Futsal is definitely a way to improve the current situation in grassroots football, and to encourage technical players from a young age. The tournament was a huge success, and there will hopefully be many more to come and opportunities for more players to play futsal in 2014!
FILLING THE WINTER BREAK WITH MORE FOOTBALL OR FUTSAL TO BE PRECISE.
Five local under 10 football teams took part in a winter futsal mini-league held at Norden Sports Centre in Rishton, Blackburn. As grassroots football over December and January is usually called off due to waterlogged, frozen and unplayable pitches, we instead played five weeks of fast-paced and flowing futsal.