Sounds just like me. I gave up at 50 with deteriorating health.
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How much have you played football
- Thread starter Gorton_Tubster
- Start date
super_city_si
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- 48,899
Played all my life up to early 40s then did my knee and couldn’t keep up after so quit playing.
Did some courses and Started coaching a kids team. Was like a breath of fresh air being involved again and playing a little through drills and practice matches.
Did some courses and Started coaching a kids team. Was like a breath of fresh air being involved again and playing a little through drills and practice matches.
KentBlue
Well-Known Member
I don't know why it is but I seem to have had happier memories playing at school rather than for the proper clubs in the amateur leagues etc. Maybe because they WERE my mates and we were under no pressure, just enjoying the fun out of playing. I know when I moved up a 'rung on the ladder' the gloss seemed to go out of it. The training, the rigorous exercises, all the sweat and hard work didn't mean you were in the team for the next game. And I'd always look at the competition for my place (midfield) and think: "I'm better than him, for fucks sake! Why has he been chosen?" And sure enough I'd be on the bench while the golden boy in the year above me would be playing.
Of course I see now that I wasn't as good as I thought I was, the fact that he went on to play semi-pro for a good few years and I spent my time getting drunk, shagging, and threatening pub landlords for not serving me after closing time tells me something.
Of course I see now that I wasn't as good as I thought I was, the fact that he went on to play semi-pro for a good few years and I spent my time getting drunk, shagging, and threatening pub landlords for not serving me after closing time tells me something.
richardtheref
Well-Known Member
From 16 I played every Saturday afternoon in the Northern League and every Sunday for a pub side. Also played 5 a side Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Gave up Saturdays from 19 when I got a season ticket at city. Was constantly getting injured so took up being a ref at 31. After about 5 seasons I ended up reffing 2x Saturday, 2x Sunday and 3 nights a week. Have had 1 knee replacement and awaiting the 2nd one as well as a hip.
Lovebitesandeveryfing
Well-Known Member
I was often out on a pitch and there was a round object I was trying to get near, but I don't know if it can decently be called “playing football”.
I actually became a bit decent playing on tarmac, five or six-a-side, with a Frido ball. The rain-sodden winter pitches just weren't my thing. It's funny because as a teenager I was a half-decent cross-country runner, and loved scrambling across stiles, and coming in to the finish completely spattered with mud.
I actually became a bit decent playing on tarmac, five or six-a-side, with a Frido ball. The rain-sodden winter pitches just weren't my thing. It's funny because as a teenager I was a half-decent cross-country runner, and loved scrambling across stiles, and coming in to the finish completely spattered with mud.
Started playing football at summer schools and things like that as soon as I could walk really.
I tried to play for my school team a couple of times but I just didn't like the kids who were involved. That was a factor for both my primary school and high school teams. Played about 10 games in about five years, if that.
Things got better when I joined a local club, Stockport Dynamoes, in 2004. That was at the under-11s level. They'd recently made the jump up from 7-a-side to needing a full squad for 11-a-side, so I joined up. Dynamoes had apparently been pretty rubbish at 7-a-side level before I joined up with the team, so they got put in Division 4 in the Stockport Metro JFL pyramid, which was the lowest tier.
I scored on my debut in a pre-season friendly against Stockport Junior Blues, who were a couple of divisions above us. A last minute winner, 4-3 at full-time. I thought I'd scored the equaliser and had to be reminded in the celebrations that I'd actually scored the winner, lol.
We played a 4-4-2 formation for most of the 04-05 season, from memory, and I tended to play on both wings - mostly the right but sometimes on the left. Although, looking back, I wish I'd played down the middle in retrospect, because I was skillful and had an eye for a pass but I wasn't particularly fast or good defensively. But I guess the #10 position didn't really exist then like it does now. I started the majority of games but not all of them.
We dominated Division 4. I still remember our record - P22, W20, D1, L1, scoring over 100 goals and conceding less than 20. I played in all 22 games (club rules that everyone had to play at least five mins) and scored a small handful of goals, about four or five. The best one was a looping volley against Chinley in a game we won 14-1 that hung in the air forever and then just dropped in the net. It was miserable for the other teams really. Our main striker scored 78 goals in those 22 games and got given a special award by Stockport Council.
Here's the only proof that we won the league: https://www.smjfl.co.uk/40-years/2004-05-season We actually lifted the trophy on the day Kiki Musampa scored that last minute winner against Liverpool, the 1-0 win. So what a weekend that was! Won the league by a mile in the morning, beat Liverpool with a last minute volley in the afternoon, then a big Chinese takeaway in the evening.
Unfortunately, the JFL organisers decided that we'd be too good for Division 3, so they promoted us two divisions to Division Two for 05-06. We just about stayed up by the skin of our teeth, finished 8th out of 10, but Sundays were shit. I got moved to full-back for some reason and I wasn't playing as well, or as often. And I was starting to dislike the vibe. The captain was the manager's son - he cried so much during one game when he was taken off that he ended up being subbed back on. He was never properly subbed off in the three years I played for Dynamoes.
We were getting battered almost every week in the 05-06 and, for that reason, there was a change of management. The new guy couldn't hack it. He was managing a bunch of 12-year-old lads but for some reason it was really, really getting to him. During a Tuesday training session, after about six weeks of being managed by this guy, we held a "crisis meeting" over a bad run of form, and he realised a couple of us weren't paying attention... so he stormed out and we never saw him again.
That meant we got our old manager back and we ended up staying up in the end. But the atmosphere around the club had shifted because things weren't going well. The first thing to go was the club rule that every kid had to play five minutes. These two poor lads, Billy and Sean their names were, were on the bench every week, barely getting a sniff of action. The chairman started coming to games and he always ended up fighting with parents from the other team, meanwhile the Dynamoes lads I wasn't that fond of turned into even bigger pricks. But we got a bunch of new players for the 06-07 season and things got better.
We were about 5th or 6th in Division Two, halfway through the season, and were in with an outside chance of reaching the play-offs (2nd vs 3rd play each other to decide who goes up). But one day, in early 2007, when I was about 12 or 13 years old, I made the decision to walk away from the Metro JFL leagues and never come back.
We were playing a team just above us in the league. It was a tense game with a lot riding on it. I can't remember their name, but they wore green and black stripes. Midway through the game one of the parents on the other team started yelling at her son for doing something wrong. It was a bad pass or something that went out for a throw-in. Basically nothing, the kind of error absolutely everyone makes on a football pitch - especially kids.
While the ball was out of play and she was yelling at her son, I just lost it. I hated how serious games were becoming as we were getting older and I took it all out on this woman. I remember getting so worked up that I started crying, actually. Completely out of nowhere I just shouted at her, "We're just a bunch of fucking kids! For god's sake, what's wrong with you?" The game had to be stopped while I calmed down.
Anyway, the game carried on, and we were 2-1 down going into the last few minutes. That same kid who'd been shouted at by his mum before tried to pass the ball back to his keeper, only to lob it over him into the net, and bring the game back to 2-2. Cue celebrations from us, which was fine initially, but then a bunch of our players ran over to the poor lad and started pointing at him, laughing at him, even pushing him.
I shoved my way through my teammates, put my arm round this lad, and just said "Don't listen to them mate, they're all a bunch of pricks". And I realised right then that I'd hated all of my teammates for weeks, if not months. And I hated the parents even more. It had stopped being about kids playing football and had become entirely about the parents wanting to recapture their failed dreams, and it was always us kids who suffered as a result.
I didn't even tell them I was quitting. I just never came back and never contacted them again. Got my dad to drop my kit off at the manager's house and that was that. Made up some bullshit reason about school work or exams and gave up. After that, I stopped playing for teams and went back to just playing with my mates. When I was 16, 17, at college, we played against the teachers on a Friday night.
That was when a little 11-year-old called Phillip Walter Foden kept asking if he could join in. He never could - the teachers weren't insured. More fool us. Health issues that started for me around age 19, 20-ish meant I haven't kicked a ball since. Don't really miss it, to be honest. It brings out a side of people that I find particularly unattractive and unwelcoming. Glad to have a reason not to put the boots on again.
I tried to play for my school team a couple of times but I just didn't like the kids who were involved. That was a factor for both my primary school and high school teams. Played about 10 games in about five years, if that.
Things got better when I joined a local club, Stockport Dynamoes, in 2004. That was at the under-11s level. They'd recently made the jump up from 7-a-side to needing a full squad for 11-a-side, so I joined up. Dynamoes had apparently been pretty rubbish at 7-a-side level before I joined up with the team, so they got put in Division 4 in the Stockport Metro JFL pyramid, which was the lowest tier.
I scored on my debut in a pre-season friendly against Stockport Junior Blues, who were a couple of divisions above us. A last minute winner, 4-3 at full-time. I thought I'd scored the equaliser and had to be reminded in the celebrations that I'd actually scored the winner, lol.
We played a 4-4-2 formation for most of the 04-05 season, from memory, and I tended to play on both wings - mostly the right but sometimes on the left. Although, looking back, I wish I'd played down the middle in retrospect, because I was skillful and had an eye for a pass but I wasn't particularly fast or good defensively. But I guess the #10 position didn't really exist then like it does now. I started the majority of games but not all of them.
We dominated Division 4. I still remember our record - P22, W20, D1, L1, scoring over 100 goals and conceding less than 20. I played in all 22 games (club rules that everyone had to play at least five mins) and scored a small handful of goals, about four or five. The best one was a looping volley against Chinley in a game we won 14-1 that hung in the air forever and then just dropped in the net. It was miserable for the other teams really. Our main striker scored 78 goals in those 22 games and got given a special award by Stockport Council.
Here's the only proof that we won the league: https://www.smjfl.co.uk/40-years/2004-05-season We actually lifted the trophy on the day Kiki Musampa scored that last minute winner against Liverpool, the 1-0 win. So what a weekend that was! Won the league by a mile in the morning, beat Liverpool with a last minute volley in the afternoon, then a big Chinese takeaway in the evening.
Unfortunately, the JFL organisers decided that we'd be too good for Division 3, so they promoted us two divisions to Division Two for 05-06. We just about stayed up by the skin of our teeth, finished 8th out of 10, but Sundays were shit. I got moved to full-back for some reason and I wasn't playing as well, or as often. And I was starting to dislike the vibe. The captain was the manager's son - he cried so much during one game when he was taken off that he ended up being subbed back on. He was never properly subbed off in the three years I played for Dynamoes.
We were getting battered almost every week in the 05-06 and, for that reason, there was a change of management. The new guy couldn't hack it. He was managing a bunch of 12-year-old lads but for some reason it was really, really getting to him. During a Tuesday training session, after about six weeks of being managed by this guy, we held a "crisis meeting" over a bad run of form, and he realised a couple of us weren't paying attention... so he stormed out and we never saw him again.
That meant we got our old manager back and we ended up staying up in the end. But the atmosphere around the club had shifted because things weren't going well. The first thing to go was the club rule that every kid had to play five minutes. These two poor lads, Billy and Sean their names were, were on the bench every week, barely getting a sniff of action. The chairman started coming to games and he always ended up fighting with parents from the other team, meanwhile the Dynamoes lads I wasn't that fond of turned into even bigger pricks. But we got a bunch of new players for the 06-07 season and things got better.
We were about 5th or 6th in Division Two, halfway through the season, and were in with an outside chance of reaching the play-offs (2nd vs 3rd play each other to decide who goes up). But one day, in early 2007, when I was about 12 or 13 years old, I made the decision to walk away from the Metro JFL leagues and never come back.
We were playing a team just above us in the league. It was a tense game with a lot riding on it. I can't remember their name, but they wore green and black stripes. Midway through the game one of the parents on the other team started yelling at her son for doing something wrong. It was a bad pass or something that went out for a throw-in. Basically nothing, the kind of error absolutely everyone makes on a football pitch - especially kids.
While the ball was out of play and she was yelling at her son, I just lost it. I hated how serious games were becoming as we were getting older and I took it all out on this woman. I remember getting so worked up that I started crying, actually. Completely out of nowhere I just shouted at her, "We're just a bunch of fucking kids! For god's sake, what's wrong with you?" The game had to be stopped while I calmed down.
Anyway, the game carried on, and we were 2-1 down going into the last few minutes. That same kid who'd been shouted at by his mum before tried to pass the ball back to his keeper, only to lob it over him into the net, and bring the game back to 2-2. Cue celebrations from us, which was fine initially, but then a bunch of our players ran over to the poor lad and started pointing at him, laughing at him, even pushing him.
I shoved my way through my teammates, put my arm round this lad, and just said "Don't listen to them mate, they're all a bunch of pricks". And I realised right then that I'd hated all of my teammates for weeks, if not months. And I hated the parents even more. It had stopped being about kids playing football and had become entirely about the parents wanting to recapture their failed dreams, and it was always us kids who suffered as a result.
I didn't even tell them I was quitting. I just never came back and never contacted them again. Got my dad to drop my kit off at the manager's house and that was that. Made up some bullshit reason about school work or exams and gave up. After that, I stopped playing for teams and went back to just playing with my mates. When I was 16, 17, at college, we played against the teachers on a Friday night.
That was when a little 11-year-old called Phillip Walter Foden kept asking if he could join in. He never could - the teachers weren't insured. More fool us. Health issues that started for me around age 19, 20-ish meant I haven't kicked a ball since. Don't really miss it, to be honest. It brings out a side of people that I find particularly unattractive and unwelcoming. Glad to have a reason not to put the boots on again.
dennishasdoneit
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 25 May 2008
- Messages
- 11,301
- Team supported
- Manchester City.
All my life really ..over 50 years .
Off to play tonight. 6 a side. Outdoor, decent quality Astro turf ( if there is such a thing ..) Good quaity lighting we play" 4 touch only "to keep the ball moving .with " proper keepers " making it harder to score.
Tonight will be a sad occasion however. It's the exact year anniversary of one of the lads being killed in a rta enroute to the game.
We will hold a minutes silence before kick off...
I've played for many different teams in different areas ,left midfield whilst I was " good enough " .used to be extremely fit and he able to run 90 mins none stop Sunday league ,due to plenty of middle distant running, swimming and Tennis.
Things have changed ..but I'm just happy to be still turning out. Never been much of a goal scorer..altho that seems to be changing in later life ..two recent 4 goal hauls!! ...I am waiting ..still. to be discovered by City....all I ever do really nowadays is pass and move ,quick 1-2s.....Enjoy the game tremendously and recently( a few years ago now tbh) decided to put more time and energy into keeping fit and playing than watching . I even managed two games in 3 days last week ,and more importantly avoided injury .!
Biggest drawback is getting injured ,and in later life not being able to walk without pain the day after or day after the day after !
Always wear a City top when playing.....I used to be the only one for decades...Things have changed now..
Off to play tonight. 6 a side. Outdoor, decent quality Astro turf ( if there is such a thing ..) Good quaity lighting we play" 4 touch only "to keep the ball moving .with " proper keepers " making it harder to score.
Tonight will be a sad occasion however. It's the exact year anniversary of one of the lads being killed in a rta enroute to the game.
We will hold a minutes silence before kick off...
I've played for many different teams in different areas ,left midfield whilst I was " good enough " .used to be extremely fit and he able to run 90 mins none stop Sunday league ,due to plenty of middle distant running, swimming and Tennis.
Things have changed ..but I'm just happy to be still turning out. Never been much of a goal scorer..altho that seems to be changing in later life ..two recent 4 goal hauls!! ...I am waiting ..still. to be discovered by City....all I ever do really nowadays is pass and move ,quick 1-2s.....Enjoy the game tremendously and recently( a few years ago now tbh) decided to put more time and energy into keeping fit and playing than watching . I even managed two games in 3 days last week ,and more importantly avoided injury .!
Biggest drawback is getting injured ,and in later life not being able to walk without pain the day after or day after the day after !
Always wear a City top when playing.....I used to be the only one for decades...Things have changed now..
Asa's left peg
Well-Known Member
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- Location
- Sandbach via Rusholme
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Do you know where Selhurst Park is ?I played 5 a side and 7 a side from the age of about 18 and continue to do so to this day (early 50s now).
I played 11 a side at university too, but being honest I was a bit shit. Not very technically gifted really, just a blocking defender.
eyalluvitt
Well-Known Member
Same as me at 45,I became last pick and was putting in Walker Esq performances so I sadly binned it offSounds just like me. I gave up at 50 with deteriorating health.
Stoned Rose
Well-Known Member
47 and still smashing the 6 a side regularly.
Started when I was 7. Got to county schoolboys level but hit 14 and turned into a massive bellend. Weed, cigs, drink, birds, not turning up, playing stoned, shit attitude and that was that.
Still love it to this day though.
Started when I was 7. Got to county schoolboys level but hit 14 and turned into a massive bellend. Weed, cigs, drink, birds, not turning up, playing stoned, shit attitude and that was that.
Still love it to this day though.