Whats wrong with amateur football?

[Gunner]

Posted this on the other forum, felt it was worth highlighting here too... 

 

http://www.scottishamateurfootballforum.com/whats-wrong-with-amateur-football-t15150.html

 

keen for anyones thoughts, good or bad...

 

cheers

[trotter1962]

Good post. For me one of the issues is some people just don't look like they are actually enjoying playing.

Football in general has negative connotations:

Supporters don’t offer support to their team but offer criticism to opposition and officials.

It’s like they want to build themselves up by making their opponents look worse

Look at the America presidential campaign. The 2 candidates are both running campaigns that are saying “  I am rubbish but the other one is much worse”

 

We need to make participation in sport a much more enjoyable experience. How do we do that? No idea sorry

[Northboy]

Is it really so bad?

Plenty of people playing and enjoying it every week and keep doing so year after year. Like everything, there will be some who are more committed than others and issue do arise but that's life. On the other hand there are many working hard for their teams and communities.

[eyeswideopen15]

Great read, some great points and some good ideas to build on,

The point u raised about a fixture being able to be played at any point that week is spot on, the Ayrshire league already allow this to a point as well and I don't know why the "bigger" clubs that allows moan about end of season fixture back logs don't take advantage of it tbh.

[bridgewaterboy]

This might sound daft but I personally think there are too many teams  about these days, players are now not willing  to stick with a team and work hard to get into the 11or 16, It is now to easy to go elsewhere and play and leave teams struggling for number.  We are based in Erskine and have 5 teams playing out of a small town. And also teams taking good players out of there local area to travel 30/40 miles to play/train is killing teams. 

[Wilsy]

I agree bridgewaterboy! For example Greenock lost 3 (I think) of their best players to Colville Park. This has left Greenock a shadow of the team that won a major just a couple of years ago! Boys travelling miles outside their LOCAL team to play with Colville Park. It's madness

[Michael Kennedy]

I'm sure players travelling outside of their local area has been happening for many years. Thats not the demise of amateur football, society has changed over the years with a decline in most recreational sports. 

I wouldn't blame other clubs or for that matter players, football is a competitive sport during my playing days a group of us travelled from the east end to drumchapel, then to Motherwell for many years. We did that because we wanted to be successful.

 

 

 

[bridgewaterboy]

Just to be clear I was not have a dig at any club inparticular, I believe players should play football where they are from or where they live ( I know this will never happen but I think would make thing a lot more interesting all over the country) 

 

something needs to be done to change things 

[Amateur Footie Fan]

I think amateur teams need to try and get tie ups with kids clubs in their area. The amount of boys who chuck it at 17-21 y.o.a is outrageous. That tie up could secure a few players most seasons and maybe keep some boys who don't know where to go or just don't have the contacts once their own team folds or whatever.

[Dickson10]

I said 7-8 year ago fitba seems to have missed a generation when ipads n tablets really went big n kids spent more time on youtube than kicking a ball and the whole of Scottish fitba is paying for it now, its no just the amateurs struggling theres lots of lower junior teams struggling as well. Two aspects a think are the biggest problems facing amateur fitba is theres a lot more guys work shifts n weekends than there ever was 9-10 year ago n other thing most of the younger boys are spoilt rotten nowadays n get everything too easy so when they need to work hard for a starting 11 jersey they take the easy option n go elsewhere usually at a worse level for an easy ride n guaranteed game. A remember starting playing amateur wae muirkirk ammies 14 year ago n if a dare ever had the attitude the young ones have now a would have got a boot up the arse n told not to come back lol but now u cant say nothing to them or the toys are out the pram n you've no got a team on a sat. How do we fix it? To be honest a think it could take upto 10year for all these soccer schools to filter down but a good start is look at the pricing for pitches n training facilities cos finance seems to be the biggest thing u hear teams mentioning that is a struggle the now

[Wilsy]

That was not a dig at Colville Park it was just an example in using. Although let's be honest it's a bit excessive travelling all they hours to be successful. Winning amateur trophies isn't something you can tell the grandkids about lol. It's that exactly, amateur football

[pleslie99]

I think it does ultimately come down to money. Everyone is penny pinching at the minute and having to cut back on certain things, it's been happening for past few years. Hobbies are the 1st thing to go, golf club memberships, gym memberships, season tickets and football subs. £10 a week may not sound a lot to play amateur football but over a year that's over £500 and for a lot of people that's a big chunk of money, especially if they have kids playing boys club level forking out the same again and that's before they even get boots etc. I don't think the owners of pitches do themselves any favours, some of the astros are top notch but some are pretty run down and charging over £100 a game to use the facilities is a joke. The councils etc need 1 guy there to open a close the place for teams. They are making huge profits from boys clubs and amateur clubs who have no choice but to pay the money to play. Life is expensive, everyone has different priorities but someone somewhere at the top needs to make changes to allow boys to play when and where they want without bankrupting themselves or their parents!

[ghsfp01]

Some excellent points Dougie. The large portion of the generation playing now is very different to what it was when we started out, the priorities are very different, I planned my life around my football as best I could, Weekends away were from Saturday tea time onwards. Friday night functions were a show of face a can of juice and duking away early.  It's the opposite now Football is fitted in around these. But I remember the same things being said when I first went amateur about us.....  Players will come and go, as they look after No.1 in the main. We done the same as players. The amount of teams in proportion to committed players is probably too high on the team side. Some teams coming together wouldn't be the worst thing in the world but unlikely. There's so many 1 or 2 man committees out there which is hard to maintain over the long term. Financially it's very difficult also.