Junior Football

As a coach of an under 11's football team, I get first hand experience of the pushy, know it all parents that occupy the touch lines of the youth game up and down the country every weekend. This is probably my biggest bug bear with the youth game, especially the new FA iniciative 'RESPECT' that is the buzz word doing the rounds of Sky Sports and Match of the day. Every week without fail the same problem occurs, usually with parents of the losing team, where the blame is openly put on the referees shoulders. During the game you can often hear swearing and see aggresive behaviour towards the referee, and in under 11's football this is ...  Read the complete review

I'm going to write and tell you about the team that I coach. First of all I'd like to point out if your looking for a hobby or are looking for somewhere safe for your kids then look no further. The team I coach are called the Dobbies and they are an under 15's team in the bury and radcliffe under 15's league, it's the A team I coach we do have a B team in the league below us. The kids come from all different backgrounds and are all different capabilities, some sadly not as good as others. We train on a friday night from 5.45 till around 7-7.30pm and the play games on a sunday, home games at 10:00am and away games at 2:00pm. Our home games are played ...  Read the complete review

Junior football is a great introduction to the world of football - much healthier than sitting at home in front of Sky on Saturday. I should know, I've played it for 9 seasons from under 9's to u18's. Junior football usually begins at u8's but here you can find little 6 year olds amongst more developed 8 year olds (the age range works like the system in schools). Even at this age players can be 'scouted' by professional clubs hoping to groom a young future star. At this age, goals are very abundant, as are tears and parental tantrums. These only get worse as you progress! The refs are usually locals, either manager will do, and games ...  Read the complete review

My youngest son has played league football locally for 5 years. The main reason we tried to get him interested in football was to integrate him with other children and bring him out of himself more. It has worked reasonably well. Tne boys meet one evening a week to train and play friendlies through the summer months and league matches, league cup and knockout cup matches throughout the season, mainly on Sundays. I should point out at this stage that I hate football. I have never found any enjoyment watching men in shorts running a round a pitch chasing a ball. But watching your own child/children is a different story. You feel their ...  Read the complete review

Getting your son or daughter playing football at an early age might seem cruel, expecting them to like a sport, but it’s giving them direction, and I would completely recommend that you self teach your son, daughter (women’s football is getting better and more recognised) or nephew some basics while they’re young. They may just become the next David Beckham, or Michael Owen. So don’t be lazy all day watching cartoons with the little ones – see if they like playing football, it’s a beautiful game and when or if I have any offspring I would like to be able to teach them while they’re young. Junior Football. ...  Read the complete review