Is it still a Young Man’s game?
Densely populated areas that now have fewer leagues and even less teams to represent them are on the increase. Leagues are having to merge or downsize just to continue and this doesn’t necessarily help matters. The over-the-hill mob have now taken precedence over the open-age players, with their partying days over they are getting fitter again leaving the young upstarts stood shivering outside the local nightclub at 6am in the morning.
Is the younger element in too much of a rush to get home and clean their Huaraches and iron their Cavalli jeans these days?
Boots are left caked in mud until the following week, kit growing mould in the hallway. Having listened to a number of Managers bemoaning the lack of 18-25 year olds wanting to register it appears a worrying trend is affecting attendances across this demographic.
Lads no longer return home after ‘closing’ at 2 in the morning, they can still be found in clubs at 5 or 6 am and the chances of them making it to an 11 O Clock kick off on a cold Sunday morning ready to do battle are slim to none. They will either be wrestling a duvet or at the local MacDonald’s ready for a carbohydrate overload and an afternoon siesta followed by a roast dinner off their Mam. Where would most of them sooner be on a Saturday or Sunday morning? The lure of a fat fry-up and a chuckle watching Soccer AM is far greater to some than the offer of a 90 minute work-out with the added risk of getting hurt thrown into the mix.
If these FIFA Sofa-Superstars could make the transition from wielding a wireless joystick in their designer bedrooms to pulling on a pair of Predator on the pitch then we might see an upturn in the amount of 18-25 year olds playing again. I see countless Tweets about how good people are on the game and how many ‘Worldies’ they just scored. Groups of lads are huddled around the flat-screen cheering and cursing yet not one of them is even playing Eleven-a-side of a weekend!
When did scoring a goal on a LCD TV screen start having the same effect as doing it for real?
Addictions to the Xbox, Nintendo and Play-station are creating a generation of Cyber-Strikers, a venerated cult of lazy lounge-lizards to whom creating team points in a virtual super league means more than actually doing it for real.
You see it’s all about the glamour these days and Sunday football just doesn’t have the same cache as having Messi or Ibrahimavic 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 park after nut-megging 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. Not for me I hear them cry.
Lads – If you are reading this and contemplating your bet at the weekend instead of training for a league match then consider making a different impact. The game needs you back. I’m an enthusiastic exponent for inclusion within the game but we all need to be making an effort to bring this missing generation back to grass-roots level.
Play for fun, Play to win but please play for real.
By
James Davies
