Sunday football teams, now gone....

[CTID1988]

I did it for 6 months but couldnt stand it in the end, 50% of the people who did it were absolute wankers and thats all it takes to ruin it for everyone.
Im there to play football, not get my legs broken by someone with a coke hangover

 

[frothy]

Played for the corpy in guide bridge for years in tameside prem. our home pitch was oxford park (dogshit park)great pitch, massive, good crowd watching but covered in dogshit. We got there one morning and a bloke was dragging his Alsatian off the centre circle whilst it tried to snap one off , another time our striker slid full length right through one in front of me funny as fook.
Still playing in oz and the pitches out here are miles better and full every week

What of dog shit?

 

[blueju]

What of dog shit?

That wouldn't matter here they are all dry before they hit the ground

 

[stonerblue]

Anyone on here used to play Sunday football in the era of great teams, great leagues?
I used to play for the Joiners Libs, early 80's in the Salford Sunday League....6 divisions, now all gone...some really good players played at that level on some really shitty pitches, ie Littleton Rd, anyway any memories? Apart from the football there was some real characters, incidents...remember a guy once coming on the pitch with a sawn off shotgun!!!

I was playing sunday mornings with adults (00h-err) when i was a 7stone wet through 13 year old. What an education it was. If any of the other players wifes turned up to watch, all the swearing would stop for a few minutes. I don't recall much on field scrapping back then (70's) but it was brutal stuff at times and i loved it. The smells, the mud,the thrill, massive puddles tackle in, meeting up in the morning and the pub after the match.

Sunday mornings in the 80's where a different kettle of fish though. I was never sure which league i was playing in but it was teams from Bury, Bolton and North Manc. The old boys now had the 'vet's' leagues so most teams were young lads in our 20's and 30's. Some were pretty decent teams that wanted to play but generally the 'thuggery' level was much higher than the 70's. Out on the lash all weekend then playing half cut Sunday mornings meant there was always a few 'hardmen' to be dealt with and punch-ups were part of the game. Saturday afternoons were always a much better standard of football as well as i played in a better league.

Weirdest moment must be the TV thrown from a tower block landing in the middle of the pitch at Darnhill.

 

[Cheadle_hulmeBlue]

Are the teams failing because lads don't want to play anymore?

the pubs keep shutting down thats the biggest reason imo. if you go to the smaller pitches like 5 aside ones they are thriving and are packed most weekends. younger age groups swell lots of football teams left.

 

[Alex - City Matters]

At 17, just about carrying on. Been doing it for around 10 years, but University application work and other stuff has really curbed my time along with City of course. The youth scene is still flourishing, thousands of lads playing and the belief that lads don't want to play couldn't be further from the truth. I guess the death of the local pub is the reason for the decline in adults leagues.

Again though, non league is also doing well at the moment. There's been a real push in the last few years to get it going again. Attendances are rising and many are now setting up youth systems; I played for Chadderton last season and we did the unthinkable for a club of that stature winning the league and reaching the County Cup Final, where we were unlucky to be beaten by Curzon Ashton 1-0. We even beat the Salford Class of 92 whatever they're called academy along the way. Played at the Deva along the way in the FA Youth Cup too. This season just helping out, or covering, for Curzon due to my other work etc.

Played for a great team through the years too, right up from Under 9's to Under 17's. We won the County Cup, the League about 7 times (Tameside League, another that is flourishing) and numerous cups. Know four lads I've played with who are scholars at Oldham, one at Accrington Stanley, one at Fleetwood, one at Blackburn and one at Newcastle (who was only released off City this time last year). Many others who are at FC United and other clubs.

 

[Ghandi's Flip Flops]

I played for the Royal Brewery (Harp/McEwans) in the lower divisions of one of the moss-side leagues in the late 80's. They had some pretty decent players, but could never get them all the pitch at the same time due to most of them working on different shifts at the brewery.

I was only 17 at the time and less than 10 stone wet through, and at school level had only ever played in defence, but cos i was small & nippy i got played up front or on the wing for them. I didn't even finish the season with them but it was quite an experience and i still have some fond memories of it.

Best team in the divsion by a mile at the time was 'The Falstaff' pub based in hulme. The season prior they were champions in another league (under another name/pub) and had decided to switch leagues. Some clown at the league decided to put them in our division instead of parachuting them into the top division, and hence they were trounching teams 8 or 9 - nil every week.

Our first game against them i played upfront on my own, and i got kicked from pillar to post and hardly had a touch. Somehow though we went in at half time drawing 1-1. The manager then decided to swap positions with me & our best midfielder which hence resulted in us losing 6-1.

My funniest memory is when we played another team (name i forget now) on that same pitch.
A bloke on our team called Chris found out he was subbing that day, so decided to get his beer allowance (a crate of becks) out from the Brewery lodge when we met up that morning. Game started and when we came off at half time there was a pile of 13-14 empty bottles of becks next to Chris on the touchline.
About 10 mins into 2nd half i had to come off (after getting another bit of a kicking), and there's Chris stripping off his coat ready to come on with about 18 empty bottles of Becks next to him. The Manager stuck him at right back and the face on the opposing left wingers was absolutely priceless. He protested to the ref for a good few minutes about how he shouldn't be allowed to play, but the ref laughed it off. Needless to say he wouldn't go anywhere near Chris for the rest of the game.

 

[dave berry]

Anyone on here used to play Sunday football in the era of great teams, great leagues?
I used to play for the Joiners Libs, early 80's in the Salford Sunday League....6 divisions, now all gone...some really good players played at that level on some really shitty pitches, ie Littleton Rd, anyway any memories? Apart from the football there was some real characters, incidents...remember a guy once coming on the pitch with a sawn off shotgun!!!

Hi.I never got as far as the first division in the Salford Sunday,but won the 3rd & 2nd divisions in the Eccles Sunday paying for the Weavers ( Swinton ).I'm organising a football reunion for next March for lads who played Saturday & Sunday in the Salford area in the 70's & 80's.We had one this year & blokes like Tommy Smith,Dennis Lightfoot,Tony Martin,Craig Gorton & Eric Dey were there.If you fancy it,let me know & I'll give you more details.

 

[worsleyweb]

Keep thinking to myself could I play again at the ripe old age of 41 and 15 stone! Does anyone need a right back for a Sunday team for the upcoming season. Played at a very decent level for nearly 20 years and fancy one last try!

 

[vonkeynotvenky]

Remember watching my Brothers team Throstles Nest play against Astro in some important cup, Throstles Nest had Andy Gorum and Mike and Terry Milligan playing for them at the time and they won 2-1. I however had the mind of Johan Cruyff but all the skill of Bobby Ball.