Eleven-a-slide?

Sky Sports News wants to hear from you!

Last updated: 1st April 2010  

Eleven-a-slide?

Park-life: over-rated?

Have you given up playing 11-a-side football in the last two years? If so, then let Sky Sports News know by taking part in our poll on the bottom right of this page.

Perhaps you are put off by the cost of playing or changes in your lifestyle have simply made pulling on your boots for 90 minutes a week impossible.

Or do you want to play but are unable to find a club and league near you because facilities are in short supply?

After all, statistics produced by the Football Association last year show that there were nearly 3,000 fewer 11-a-side teams in the country now than there were in the 2005/06 season.

To combat this decline the FA launched a campaign aimed at getting more young, adult men to sign up to a local team for the coming season. Check out their video here.

However, perhaps your aspirations of turning out week in, week out for your local side have been scuppered by over-demand and you simply can't get a game.

Or is it a lot more straightforward than all of those explanations - you simply prefer playing five-a-side?

So, don't delay - take part in our poll now and in addition feel free to send us your comments by filling in the feedback form below or why not drop us a line at u2us@skysports.com

Click Here for Your Free Bet

Comments (167)

Sean Browne (Liverpool fan) says...

I'm 45 years old and played upto the end of last season. I loved playing and couldnt give it up. injuries just caught up and it was extremly hard to recover.Football in Ireland is run to quiet a good standard at junior level with some very good referees who would not tolerate thugs like mentioned in other comments. Saying that, they were still there ok but usually got thrown out if the kept offending. The standard of football itself I think has dropped over the last few years and teams struggle to field as the young players in the teams find it hard to get up after partying the night away the night before. best game in the world though.

Posted 14:25 1st April 2010

Peter Fitzpatrick says...

Amateur Football is run by self-serving old farts who happily take money of clubs & players - in return investing nothing (but their time). In exchange they pay themselves generous honory monies, lord it up at their league's functions & blag tickets to any professional games they can. Too many Clubs are frightened to complain or try to improve their circumstances for fear of punitive fines, arbitary disciplinary action, non-provision of offical referees &/or punitive bureaucratic procedure. Most local officials love the power they weild over players & club personnel. That's why people with long term involvement ar leaving the game. There's no investment by these league's in changing facilities, playing surfaces or club development schemes. Referees are all too often failed players on ego-trips, mentored by older inadequate ref's who have stayed at local level because they weren't good enough to progress up the leagues. Clubs are intimidated to give these officals average performance assessments or risk having no ref' next game! Too often poor officials move up the pyramid simply because there's no else available. Clubs with strong infrastructures can & do survive thanks to selfless individuals prepared to fight the leagues & petty officialdom. But has anyone ver tried to get money for a club from the FA Foundation? That's an uphill struggle. ¿66 million per year was said to have been set aside for grassroots football - in 3 years less than ¿22 million was paid out. The whole amateur game is rotten to the core. That's why 5 -a-side has flourished. Clean changing facilities, one centre with good pitches & eager ref's (augmenting their earnings with match fees) generally good admin' & often free kits - it's another world! Rant over!

Posted 12:38 1st April 2010

Dan Dan (Nottingham Forest fan) says...

I manage and play for a sunday football team, i have given consideration into giving up playing due to the thugs we sometimes come across in the past 5 weeks we have seen our team full injuries due to wreckless challenges i myself am in constant discomfort due to an idiot who stamped on my ankle on purpose. i think the refs and fa really need to get there fingers out and clamp down on these idiots to make it a more enjoyable game. Fees are also stupid in nottingham you are looking at ¿50 minimum for a pitch and ¿25 for a ref. we had a run where we was using a different pitch due to bad weather and flooded pitches which resulted in costing us ¿90 a game.

Posted 12:34 1st April 2010

Craig Sharpe (Manchester United fan) says...

I am currently playing 11aside football on sundays, like in my last game i nicked the ball away from the opponent but hes retaliation was to boot me in the thigh and i am still suffering from the dead leg now. I find that there isnt a lot of violence in my league so that isnt a concern as i can handle myself if anything was to occur but refereeing at this level does need to improve as i dont want to turn up and be robbed of a win because the referee is incompitent to see a foul or a dive or just poor nonsense. I have thought about quitting before but found a new love recently. The facilities need to be improved and costs as well because its killing the beautiful game!

Posted 11:55 1st April 2010

Grant Sales (Arsenal fan) says...

I gave up 3 years ago when I moved to High Wycombe. There seems to be almost no way to contact local teams or find out who is in the various leagues without going to the games and randomly asking people.

Posted 10:42 1st April 2010

John Mulligan (Arsenal fan) says...

Don't get me wrong there are some top quality blokes who play the game and they are a joy to referee and work with but it is being dominated by bone heads who don't understand the laws, who can't play and don't like the fact that there is people on the pitch who are better footballers than them so kick 20 shades out of them, hence the decline in good players, and the increase of bone heads who just go out for the fight!!

Posted 09:54 1st April 2010

John Mulligan (Arsenal fan) says...

Gents, I'm a level 4 referee, and i've been punched and headbutted by these thugs who play on Sunday morning because they haven't agreed with a decision, yet I get out of bed on a Sunday morning to referee because I love the game. I don't mean to be rude but all the comments about referees I think are unfair, look in the mirror would you like to be the one who gets out of bed on a Sunday morning to f-ed and blinded at for 90 minutes because you are doing the job that they don't want to do. You are the panto villian!! I agree with Chris about the mini vinnie jones's it makes it hard to communicate with players as they are either half cut or high as kites how do you expect referees to communicate with this, if their safety is in danger!!! I have found in my area that players prefer the old referees who don't move out of the centre circle, who won't caution or dismiss a player, to a young fit aspiring referee..... Club marks tell a lot =) past three years I was rock bottom for doing it right, now I take leaf out of the old boys book and hey joint top. I rest my case. AS for pitches I still play and they are very poor come on who wants to play on a sand pit?!!!

Posted 09:50 1st April 2010

William Forsythe (Manchester United fan) says...

I play 11 a side for a northern ireland amateur reserve team and 1 of the biggest problems is the lack of referees, it often ends up with the opposing team's manager refeeing the game in favour of his own team and turns into a farce. you train twice a week to then most weeks get robbed on a saturday, doesn't really spur you on to get the settee and go and play.

Posted 09:58 25th March 2010

John Palomi (Sheffield Wednesday fan) says...

Like many other posters here, my reason for quitting the Sunday leagues was due to the violence. So many thugs fancy themselves as footballers, even though they haven't got an ounce of ability. They don't want to admit the fact that they are useless so what do they do? They all try to be the tough-guy in the team. Nobody has a problem with hard, fair tackles, but in my experience as a forward, most tackles would come in around the knee / ankle / shin / calf, nowhere near the ball. How I never broke my leg really is a mystery to me. High balls in the air were also regularly seen as a licence to headbutt the opponent. Until they ban these animals from playing, the Sunday leagues are finished.

Posted 15:40 24th March 2010

Philipe Anatsui (Manchester United fan) says...

Love of the game keeps me playing. Ive suffered for the past year and a half as a result of an horrendous tackle from behind which almost snapped my knee in half. This impacted on my personal and my work life but I still showed up to watch the game. It's the mindless thugs that kick lumps out of you and then claim thatt it's a mans game that are ruining 11 a side football. Still not fully recovered. Oh well. Same attitude as teh ref and everyone else.

Posted 09:56 24th March 2010

Geoff Summers (West Ham United fan) says...

interesting to read comments on grass roots football. im 57and during my playing days in london,things where much the same, if you could play abit, players would try and kick you of the park.also there was alot of racial tension, when black teams played white teams ,often figths, ,i uesd to love football, but these days, well im over it, at all levels.

Posted 20:39 23rd March 2010

V Powell (Liverpool fan) says...

I have to agree with a lot of what has been said in the comments. Poor refereeing. I know it's hard but a little bit of communication and banter to the players would help. Pitches are poor. Showing my age here but weren't they in better condition when councils employed full time park keepers to man the parks. Dog owners complete lack of responsibility of cleaning up their dogs mess is also a major issue as well. Players are more interested in talking after the game about the tackle they made that caused serious injury than the pieces of skill that should enhance the game( bearing in mind as someone has mentioned skillfull players are kicked out of the game because they are skillfull.) It also occurs to me that players now days don't know how to lose in a gracious manor. Nobody likes to lose, and I hated losing,but sometimes the other team were just better than you on the day. The win at all cost mentality has not helped the game either. It encourages cheating. Maybe we need to stop coaching this into the kids, so that the future mentality of the next generation plays the game to enjoy it come what may.

Posted 18:40 23rd March 2010

David Pimblett says...

One thing i noticed, sky haven't given you the option of choosing violence as an option of not playing, guarantee that would have most amount of votes if it was!!

Posted 16:27 23rd March 2010

David Pimblett says...

I am still playing 11 a side at the moment, i'm generally worried about playing sometimes as i have occasionally had some serious injuries, nothing so far from 11 a side but one team which has just been kicked out of our league had their mates who came to watch them on the side lines for four weeks in a row come on at the end of a match and hit people, one bloke even got his jaw broken! this isn't what i want on a sunday morning. I want a good competitive game of football, some tough but fair challenges not these idiots who'll gladly go flying in at your knee, i stopped playing 5 a side to play 11 a side and i'm understanding why people are going to 5 a side. referees actually give a free-kick if someone boots you!

Posted 16:25 23rd March 2010

Thomas Nicholls says...

I think the FA and Local FA's need to look further afield than junior, women and small sided leagues and realise that the beautiful game, that is 11 aside football, is failing due to lack of support and ever increasing red tape and fees. Clubs that wish to develop and improve are being held back due to the fact they have not got a large junior or women set up within the clubs and therefore can not get decent grants to improve facilities. Why are local FA's promoting 6 & 7 aside games/leagues on saturday afternoons when they should be pushing 11 aside !?!? I know people have less time these days to participate in sport due to work/family commitments, but surely a bit more help at grassroots level not just for players but for management, coaches and other club members would ease the decline of this valued sport!

Posted 12:04 23rd March 2010

Dave Wilson says...

Got fed up of seeing people having lumps kicked out them for having the audacity to show a little bit of skill by idiots with a chip on their shoulder and a posse of drunken "mates" on the sidelines waiting to dive in at the first opportunity. Never thought i'd hear myself say it but i feel sorry for the refs trying to control these thugs.

Posted 20:56 22nd March 2010

David Chopper says...

When the referees respect the players and control the games and talk to players like they are grown up and not kids they will get some respect back...untill that happens they will get nothing and the respect campaign is a waste of time and money! Would they tell you to shut up or let someone assult you in the street?

Posted 19:18 22nd March 2010

Ian Rees (tamworth fc fan) says...

I've stopped playing this season at the age of 30 due to the team i was playing for folded!! We were a new team (RONIN FC) in the saturday winchester lge which has just 9 teams (now 8) and we had to fold due to the cost, this was because we had to register with 3 different associations to play in there competitions all had substational fees just to start up!! We managed to start up with a enthusatic set of 18 (ages 22-34) with cost coming from the players as no sponser,!! But due to a couple of clerical errors as we were novices and just wanted to play fines were incurred which ran up the cost of the club and the players between us could not afford to keep it going!! I hope i'm not just saying that this as happened just to us but to most propably hundreds of clubs around the country that can not even get started just because of the cost of getting started!! Can THE F.A. look into possibly a 1st yr sabatical just to help get started at lower levels or even reduced fees and help with secretaral (paperwork) duties to help teams that start, keep going and not let leagues dwindle away with only 8 or less teams!!!

Posted 19:04 22nd March 2010

Steve Jarvis (Hull City fan) says...

Hi I Manage an 11 aside adult team in Portsmouth and have done for the last 6 years. The biggest problem I find is the lack of qualified WILLING referee's, Pitches and facilities are the worst Ive ever known and the cost of them are shocking. It costs £50 a pitch and then £15 plus for a ref thats £65 a match. They are always getting called off due to the weather. The FA and councils need to stop wasting Tax payers money on road works and get at least 7 3g all weather 11 aside pitches. That way you would benefit the community much more all the way from youth up to adult.

Posted 18:16 22nd March 2010

Richard Murray says...

I play 11-a-side and 5-a-side once a week and got to admit when i turn up on a sunday afternoon for a good game of football and look at the state of the pitches that we have to play i just feel like i wished i didnt get out of bed that day. No wonder so meny wreakless callenges and injurys happen to amateur players with state of these pitches and the mentalty of some of the players that i come up against. On the other hand when i play 5-a-side the pitches are absolute perfect playing conditions week in week out and for the extra money it costs for me its more then worth it. Why cant the F.A. invest some of these 10 of millions of pounds they make into these pitches outside for amateur clubs?

Posted 18:16 22nd March 2010

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