You see it's all about the glamour these days and Sunday football just doesn’t have the same cache as having Messi or Ronaldo in your team. The feeling of glee felt when beating six of Barcelona’s players to score a 1000 point overhead left foot volley just isn't the same as a tap in on the local pitch after rounding a 42 year Old keeper who left his glasses in the pub the night before.
Apart from that the only extra costs incurred once the game is purchased are the regular munchies needed for the six hour game-fests. You will never spend money on boots or club contributions. All that is needed are copious supplies of Oasis drinks and Monster Munch plus some all-surface Mr Sheen to buff up the TV screen and your wireless controller.
And the only chance of getting injured occurs when reaching across to the coffee-table for your mobile phone so you can boast to your mate about your 'Tekkers', whereas that hairy-arsed Centre-half playing for Concrete Old Boys FC has a scything waist-high tackle with your name on it.
Where is the ambition? People are saying there is no desire from the younger element to better themselves and no team mentality, and too many of them hold themselves in far too high regard. You see it’s all about wanting to play, not searching for an excuse not to. Like going the match instead to watch the Red's or Blues. Numerous leagues indicated that the change in Kick Off times instigated by Satellite TV has an effect, with one team unable to field a team in the LCFA Premier Cup because most of them had gone the game!
And it's not just about a lack of players either. Each team needs a dedicated backroom staff to make it work. A committee of at least 6 active members who make things happen: Manager, Assistant, Coach, Secretary, Physio, Treasurer and Chairman. How many clubs do you know where it is a one or two man band? Where the committee consists of men in their sixties or seventies doing at least two of these roles with no sight of any young blood willing to shoulder this responsibility going forward. I know at least three clubs who have folded in the past because there was no-one ready to fill these shoes. No committee, no club.
Again it's all about the desire to be involved and stay involved and even though there are many exceptions to the rule, and there will be parts of this article that teams and individuals will disagree with, the opinions raised herein have been discussed in depth over the last few years. Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? With the onset of the digital age clubs have the opportunity to use social networking and the web as a tool to recruit new players and talk about the problems affecting the game. Twitter has become a virtual ale-house, a digital meeting pace for footballers to engage in pre and post match banter which engenders a camaraderie and spirit amongst the fraternity.
But will talking help us. Will it encourage people to give up their precious weekend to go and play the game we all love at a cost to themselves?
However I hope this article and the points raised will act as a catalyst for debate between all concerned because if we don’t start finding the answers then things could get worse before they get better. Then what would we all do of a weekend?
Jim Smith is an amateur football reporter for the Liverpool Echo and is also manager of Heswall FC a Sunday league team who play in the Wallasey & District Football league.
You can find Jim on Twitter @JimCorinth and you can read his articles in the Echo here
His
Image by Tony Kerins