Are you a footballer?

[Cornish Steve]

In various discussions, I've seen hints that some forum members are active football players. I'm sure that others have been coaches. I thought it would be good to find out what is everyone's level of football experience.

 

So, how much experience do you have as a football player? In what leagues? What position do you play? What was your greatest moment on the pitch? What about as a coach?

[Matt]

I was always an AMC or right winger but any potential career basically was never going to happen after breaking my hip at 16. Then 2 separate accidents where 3 metatarsals broke (left foot then a year later right foot), a fractured knee and countless broken toes (all from football, not a single one from a challenge)

 

Still play when I can though I desperately want to start my FA coaching badges but living abroad I was told its not possible

Edited August 5, 2014 by Matt

[MikeO]

I was a decidedly average right winger, played for my primary school team and local under 12/14s and got lucky with those around me so won a couple of things. Not good enough to get into secondary school team sadly.

 

Best moment was when I scored all four in a 4-1 win .

 

Expanding the topic a bit.

 

My strongest sport was table tennis, won two bronze medals in the national student games (was unlucky in that I was easily the second best player there but drew the top guy in both semis, singles and doubles) and was asked about going to the world student games, but I wouldn't have qualified by the time they came round. Won a fair amount of other things as well but those two sound the most impressive, though they were by no means the hardest won.

 

Also skied for Surrey schools.

[johnh]

Centre-half and centre-forward. Played for Leeds United Juniors (after National Service I went back to Leeds and they said I was too old!) Played for Yorkshire Amateur in the Yorkshire League, also Harrogate Town and Ossett Town.

Representative games: Leeds & District FA, West Riding County, FA X1 (v Army) North of England (v Stockport County - trial game for the Rome Olympics 1960).

Greatest moment: Playing centre forward and scoring both goals in the West Riding County Cup final win against Farsley Celtic. (1961)

 

PS If you go into the web site for East End Park FC. Click on 'About Us' then click on 'Ground' you will see a photo of me scoring the winning goal in that County Cup final which was played at Skelton Road the ground of East End Park FC.

[MikeO]

Centre-half and centre-forward. Played for Leeds United Juniors (after National Service I went back to Leeds and they said I was too old!) Played for Yorkshire Amateur in the Yorkshire League, also Harrogate Town and Ossett Town.

Representative games: Leeds & District FA, West Riding County, FA X1 (v Army) North of England (v Stockport County - trial game for the Rome Olympics 1960).

Greatest moment: Playing centre forward and scoring both goals in the West Riding County Cup final win against Farsley Celtic. (1961)

 

PS If you go into the web site for East End Park FC. Click on 'About Us' then click on 'Ground' you will see a photo of me scoring the winning goal in that County Cup final which was played at Skelton Road the ground of East End Park FC.

 

Nice one John; to save people the trouble of doing the search it's here.

 

http://www.eep.webeden.co.uk/#/ground/4514735218

[Hafnia]

Played west cheshire premiere level. Played every position competitively except centre half.

 

Was a promising player at 10 years old, the following years I just didn't grow which at 13 i packed in junior football for golf. Started playing again at 20 and strangely it was like I'd never been away, which concluded that I could have been a lot better.

 

At 38 it's back to golf.

[johnh]

Apologies for this being off thread but just remembered this. When I lived in Liverpool, age 15, the local Church started a football team in the under 18 league. One of the teams in the league was Everton Colts and we played them at Bellfield. When they ran out, they all looked like men to a 15 year old. We lost 13 - 0 and after the game the Everton coach came into our dressing room to congratulate us. He said it was their toughest game so far that season. It was the first game they had scored less than 20 goals!

 

PS Thanks MikeO.

Edited August 5, 2014 by johnh

[Ian C]

Played a pretty decent level, mainly as a fullback. Moved in goals for my last year (at about 14) as my coach thought I'd have a bit of talent in it. He must've been right because I was poached off to play basketball by the local club at a pretty high level. Packed in the football then.

[Cornish Steve]

We had a team in primary school. The highlight was playing against Calstock because, if you kicked the ball hard enough, it would end up in the Tamar. We had no football team at the comprehensive school, so each weekend we would play in a local farmer's field, rain or shine, and usually shirts vs. skins. Like John, I ended up playing in a church league because that's all there was. Twice, our U-14 team made it to the national finals in London, playing on Haywards Heath. This little no-name team from Cornwall played against the likes of Nottingham and Derby and Sheffield; it was awesome. Very few of us had ever been to a big city, so the entire experience was out of this world. I remember scoring in the only game we won, which was the highlight for me. Of course, universities in Britain don't have football teams (at least, they didn't back then). In fact, I don't remember there being any university sports teams.

 

I've enjoyed coaching all six of my children. My oldest son was the best of them, making it to All-State, becoming the league's top scorer, and going on to captain his college team. Coaching can be wonderful. The first time we played in an indoor league, we were thrashed about 12-0. With each week that went by, we got better and better. In the playoffs, we made it to the quarterfinals and then had to play the team that had thrashed us; we won on penalties and the parents went totally berserk. I pulled a van Gaal, swapping keepers at the last minute. My oldest son and I would practice penalties in the back yard, so I knew he was good at saving them. Being all square after four, my son scored our final penalty and saved their final attempt.

 

I have to mention one other incident. I had a video of some guy in the old Division (from QPR, I think) who scored a ridiculous free kick. His teammate placed one foot on either side of the ball, flipped it in the air behind him, and the goal was then scored on the volley. Two of the boys practiced this week in and week out until they felt confident to try it in a game. They didn't score, but it was the talk of the league for months.

 

Like my son, I was a forward - full of energy and never giving up. Unlike him, though, I wasn't that good and didn't score that often. Both of us are on the short side (5'8"), so few of our goals were headed in.

[Cornish Steve]

PS If you go into the web site for East End Park FC. Click on 'About Us' then click on 'Ground' you will see a photo of me scoring the winning goal in that County Cup final which was played at Skelton Road the ground of East End Park FC.

 

An impressive crowd watching the game, John.

[MikeO]

 

I have to mention one other incident. I had a video of some guy in the old Division (from QPR, I think) who scored a ridiculous free kick. His teammate placed one foot on either side of the ball, flipped it in the air behind him, and the goal was then scored on the volley. Two of the boys practiced this week in and week out until they felt confident to try it in a game. They didn't score, but it was the talk of the league for months.

 

 

That was Ernie Hunt for Coventry against Everton :shaking fist:. We lost the game 3-1.

[Cornish Steve]

That's it!

 

[MikeO]

That's it!

 

70/71 was such a depressing season. We'd just won the title and I thought (in my ten year old innocence) that we were invincible. Finished in 14th .

 

We were so shit away from home in that era, just had a look at the stats and we won just eleven away games in four seasons from then on. That's eleven from eighty-four played. Desperate.

 

Sorry to take this off track but you hit a nerve.

[Hafnia]

Centre-half and centre-forward. Played for Leeds United Juniors (after National Service I went back to Leeds and they said I was too old!) Played for Yorkshire Amateur in the Yorkshire League, also Harrogate Town and Ossett Town.

Representative games: Leeds & District FA, West Riding County, FA X1 (v Army) North of England (v Stockport County - trial game for the Rome Olympics 1960).

Greatest moment: Playing centre forward and scoring both goals in the West Riding County Cup final win against Farsley Celtic. (1961)

 

PS If you go into the web site for East End Park FC. Click on 'About Us' then click on 'Ground' you will see a photo of me scoring the winning goal in that County Cup final which was played at Skelton Road the ground of East End Park FC.

Looping header John? Great picture!

[Paddock]

Played right through school, juniors, into seniors. Our senior school team won the all England catholic schools cup, we beat a school from Macclesfield 4-0 in the final that was held at Bellfield. Left school and played in the crosby district league for Marine youth for a bit but by the time I was 14 I had discovered girls and beer and my turning up on a Sunday morning turned more and more sporadic. I was pissing myself to play but Saturday came and went and I usually wouldn't get out of bed on a Sunday morning to go. Consequently I was never picked on the odd occasion I did turn up.

 

I was naturally left footed and could play anywhere on the left but was usually a left back (in school anyway) but preferred left wing (in my after school marine youth days) where I was quite effective except my crossing was shite. I could dribble it past someone a hundred times if I had to but I couldn't cross the road if my life depended on it so got put back to left back.

 

I later made an appearance for a team called Merseyside Wanderers in the Jacobs league and played as a centre forward and dome ok scoring plenty of goals but my habit of having a heavy night before and not turning up dogged me all my career. I was the Gazza of my time but a zillion times shitter (and drunker)

 

In all I was never good enough for anything other than my school team and a couple of amateur sides.

 

I was a fucking first class wreck head though. For anyone that was around Liverpool around that time the Quadrant Park was just taking off...

Edited August 5, 2014 by Paddock

[johnh]

Hafnia

Yes, cross from the right, saw the goalie following the flight of the ball so headed it back the way it came.

Crowd was about 3,500. Good crowds in those days for non-league. We once had over 2,000 for a league game.

[MikeO]

Hafnia

Yes, cross from the right, saw the goalie following the flight of the ball so headed it back the way it came.

Crowd was about 3,500. Good crowds in those days for non-league. We once had over 2,000 for a league game.

 

Great that you have such a clear memory of it.

 

I can remember a goal for my primary school, we were 3-0 down at half time v Cranmere, collected the ball from a throw on the right and smashed it home from just inside the penalty area (think Coleman v Southampton only better ) and we ended up winning 4-3.

 

Amazing that the brain retains stuff like that.

[Zoo]

I was signed with the Everton Academy for a year as a goalkeeper.

 

Most of the success I enjoyed though was at Primary School level. At the time that I was there a lot of us were taking football really seriously and it was rare that we drew again never mind lose one. We managed to do the league and cup double two years in a row which is a record that hadn't been done before.

[verreauxi]

Started playing when I was 5 or 6 in mexico, then played recreational leagues in my town (Chicago suburbs) throughout my childhood. There were outdoor leagues and several indoor leagues so you could play all year. The most competitive I got was playing in high school--we were decent. Then in college went back to playing recreational leagues. Took a break from playing when I moved to Cape Cod and Boston, but now I out in western Virginia and there are tons of recreational leagues, so I've been playing year-round (indoor/outdoor) for the last five years. I'm 44 so I'm gonna have to retire soon I reckon. I mostly play defense now, but was a winger when I was younger.

 

So nothing very serious in a competitive way, save for high school, but always enjoyable.

 

 

And I should add, in looking at this thread, there is some impressive dossiers here.

Edited August 8, 2014 by verreauxi

[Sibdane]

Started playing when I was 5 or 6 in mexico, then played recreational leagues in my town (Chicago suburbs) throughout my childhood. There were outdoor leagues and several indoor leagues so you could play all year. The most competitive I got was playing in high school--we were decent. Then in college went back to playing recreational leagues. Took a break from playing when I moved to Cape Cod and Boston, but now I out in western Virginia and there are tons of recreational leagues, so I've been playing year-round (indoor/outdoor) for the last five years. I'm 44 so I'm gonna have to retire soon I reckon. I mostly play defense now, but was a winger when I was younger.

 

So nothing very serious in a competitive way, save for high school, but always enjoyable.

 

 

And I should add, in looking at this thread, there is some impressive dossiers here.

 

Same with me. Played competitively in high school and then played intramurals every year in college. I still go out to the local fields, and it's usually easy to find a pickup game.

 

I usually played attack CM or winger. I miss playing on a real team!

[rubecula]

I was an awful player often put into defence as a left back as I would ALWAYS be late in a tackle (not deliberate)

 

But when I was in the RAF I ended up playing either wide left or at number ten. Scored loads.

 

Best moment came when we beat the French Air Force and the US Air force in a competition and I scored the winner with a Sharpy at Anfield type of goal.

 

Not kicked a ball in anger in about 40 years as there are other sports I was better at.

 

EDIT: I did coach a youngsters team for a while, but we never won a match that I can remember.

Edited August 8, 2014 by Rubecula

[StevO]

I played right mid or right back for most of my childhood, could cross a ball and my shooting was pretty accurate. Went three seasons at my local club on the bench every week, and not getting on once. One week i was about to come on, ref blew up. Was awful, moved to another team and played a lot more but was still not great.

I wasnt bad at five a side for quite a few years, but then moved further north and no one seems to play up here.

[Idiot_Abroad]

I was a fullback in High School for 4 years, and played one year in college as well. Coach was a prick and the school did pretty much nothing to support the team, so I quit and focused on my studies. I play indoor twice a week now. I find it a lot more quick and exciting. I have to stay in a little better condition as well due to the fast pace.

[Paddock]

I was a fullback in High School for 4 years, and played one year in college as well. Coach was a prick and the school did pretty much nothing to support the team, so I quit and focused on my studies. I play indoor twice a week now. I find it a lot more quick and exciting. I have to stay in a little better condition as well due to the fast pace.

Play 11 a side regularly and you'll realise you need to be much MUCH fitter to play that than 5 a side (if that's what you mean by playing indoor)

Edited August 14, 2014 by Paddock

[Matt]

Play 11 a side regularly and you'll realise you need to be much MUCH fitter to play that than 5 a side (if that's what you mean by playing indoor)

I wouldve said the opposite! 60 minutes of 5 a side was always more difficult that 90 mins of 11 a side, I played as a winger!

[Hafnia]

Nothing is harder than playing in a wide position on a boggy 11 a side pitch. Lung busting.

[Paddock]

I wouldve said the opposite! 60 minutes of 5 a side was always more difficult that 90 mins of 11 a side, I played as a winger!

Fucking hell Matt you couldn't of done much tracking back

 

Nothing is harder than playing in a wide position on a boggy 11 a side pitch. Lung busting.

 

Yep, to me anyway 11 aside you had to be much more fitter covering ground on a bigger pitch for starters. 5 a side you don't really have to do too much leg work. I think it's more demanding on your joints and body because there is a lot more twisting and turning involved but 11 a side you have to have stamina and fitness combined.

[MikeO]

Fucking hell Matt you couldn't of done much tracking back

 

 

Yep, to me anyway 11 aside you had to be much more fitter covering ground on a bigger pitch for starters. 5 a side you don't really have to do too much leg work. I think it's more demanding on your joints and body because there is a lot more twisting and turning involved but 11 a side you have to have stamina and fitness combined.

 

I don't think the size of the pitch necessarily makes any difference, it's how much you put into it. Most exhausting sport I've ever played is squash and that's played (obviously) in a tiny area.

[Hafnia]

I think the most exhausting thing in football is this "heading it" - to run, leap, land, and then move again absolutely knocks the wind out of you. Maybe its because I played at 15 st.

[Paddock]

 

I don't think the size of the pitch necessarily makes any difference, it's how much you put into it. Most exhausting sport I've ever played is squash and that's played (obviously) in a tiny area.

There's only 2 of you on a squash court to be fair though Mike chasing a tiny ball going a lot faster.

 

Each to their own like but I found I never struggled for fitness playing 5 a side, 11 a side was a different kettle of fish.