 Posted 04/12/2007 13:48:41
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I was surprised to read that the football season starts in September in the UK.
In Ontario, Canada, our outdoor season starts at the end of May and we go through to September. Through the winter months, we play indoors under huge inflatable "bubbles". We also have a great facility in an abandoned airplane hangar that has been used for years. One club has built a permanent indoor complex.
Through the summer, we play in all kinds of weather from over 30 degrees celsius heat to driving rains to very chilly early spring days. As well, after 8:30 pm. we play under the lights. The only condition that will shut down a game is lightning.
Could someone tell me why you start in September?
Anna4
Hello All:
I just wanted to introduce myself before I posted on the subject of when we play soccer outside of the UK. I manage an over 30 women's soccer team who have been together for 6 years now. We belong to the largest women's soccer league in Ontario with 500 players over the age of 19. Our team members all have children who play soccer and although we don't coach them, we greatly appreciate the parents who do. We use Dwyer's excellent tips to improve the way we play the game.
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Posted 04/12/2007 15:07:53
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| Wished i was a manager of an over 30's womens team!! It surprises me you dont know that football is a winter sport here. Do you not follow our leagues?? The home of it all?? lol. In regards to Dwyers mail about playing during the winter months I think there is two sides to this. Where my team train is an awful pitch which once there is any rain or heavy weather it really suffers and the frustration of trying certain drills and techniques can be a nightmare. On the flip side though we have always played football in the winter and for aslong as the pro game is played then i believe we should all follow suit. Being a staunch traditionlist i would personally hate it to be moved. Sports like cricket are too popular over here in the summer for football to change. The league i am involved with play Sunday afternoons and i do not think it would benefit anyone to be running around on a boiling hot June or July day, although admittedly we have few days like that. Its also along the same lines of the "posts" about England being poor due to grass roots etc. What were the pitches like in 66?? A lot worse than now - proffesionally and at a grass roots level. My biggest problem regarding pitches etc is availability of them. I live in a large village which is practically a town and apart from our local non - league side there is one other pitch which has two goals but no markings which we use for training. Between the village i live in and two neighbouring villages that are within two miles there is roughly three public pitches. Just not good enough.So if anyone from the goverment read this STOP WRECKING OUR GREEN BELT WITH HOUSES AND SUPPORT OUR NATIONAL GAME A BIT MORE!! As far as the quality of pitches go we play on certain pitches even in mid winter that are fine and completely playable. I do not know if this is down to good maintenance or whether they naturally have good drainage or more likely they only get used once or twice a week. For our matches we use our clubs pitch which are the non league team i mentioned so as you can imagine that gets a good work out every other Saturday from the first team then every single Sunday morning with a pub team then us on the Sunday afternoon so we can at times play on an awful pitch. If there were more pitches available though we could atleast have a pitch that gets less abuse. The first pitch we were going to use we had to cancel becuase six teams had to try and use it who all played Sundays. Needing more pitches may not be relevant if you live in large towns or cities but surely villages like mine cant be exclusive in their shortage??
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Posted 04/12/2007 16:50:56
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| Over here on the "wet" coast of Canada in British Columbia we do follow the September to March season, then move into a summer mini season for those who wish to play year round. Normally we have a rainy winter, and if we do get the odd snow, it turns to rain and melts before the kids get to play in it. However, this make for poor playing conditions on the pitch. Most communities have gone to the new artificial turf for practices, and left grass fields for games only, or sand cell grass fields for practice, where water drains well, but, get chewed up fast because the sod is not solid enough to hold its roots. Having said all this, I do take Dwyer's point, as a coach standing in rain and temperatures around 5-10 celcius, is this really condusive to a U 6- U 12 learning the game, or surviving the elements. If a child is cold and miserable, I don't really believe they are listening to me. And if they are wearing enough clothes to stay dry and warm, they probably can't move free enough to do the skills properly. I know some coaches move practices into School gyms from mid November to mid February, but the way the ball runs on the floor makes for a whole different skill set that often does not translate on to the grass on Saturdays game. While I would like to see our game played March to November, we are then competing with "summer sports" as well as families travelling away for summer holidays.
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Posted 04/12/2007 21:18:00
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| Hi All it's interesting to read different people's view on the subject - for many a year, we've complained about the weather, how it stifles the skill element and I've heard and read a lot about today's "modern kid" who doesn't want to play in poor weather - especially as they all now or less grow up in centrally heated modern housing, get driven to and from school - whereas in "my day" (and I'm not yet 40 !) we had no central heating (I grew up and live in the North of England) and had to walk to school in all conditions - and played football in polyester shirts with no "all weather" tracksuits ! Coupled with lots of distractions (PS3's, colour TV in each room etc) who wants to play So I was thrilled to the bone when we played our U10's mini-soccer game last Sunday in Huddersfield "on the tops" - it was cold, the fog had come in, the rain was driving hard and all in all it was miserable....we seriously considered calling it off, but as we had travelled 14 miles, ( a "long" journey in vehicle congested England !!!) both coaches decide to play. The kids from both teams ( and the subs) got stuck in and whilst the poor conditions and pitch condition didn't help - what we (adults) all learnt was that the kids - each and every one - didn't complained, applied themselves and battled to win the game - whilst trying to keep to the passing game I coach. In fact -the only ones to complain, we're the parents, huddled under their brollies, in full waterproofs !! What this taught me, was that given the opportunities, kids will play - they are hardier that we give them credit - and hasn't British football been built on a certain attitude - grit, determination, application ? Sure we want our players to have the skills of the Brazilians/Italians/Spanish - but until global warming changes the UK climate, we shouldn't shirk from our style - instead, we should embrace the modern game with the emphasis on skill and keep ball and align this with the attitude that has made British football in many ways the envy of many other countries ! Of course, we should always consider the health and safety of the kids - but lets not bring them up playing football in nice warm weather - otherwise, we'll only be able to play for 4 or 5 weeks a year !!! James
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Posted 05/12/2007 22:59:22
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Whoops, my mistake. I guess that I follow Major League Soccer. Our Toronto FC plays through the summer months. I also enjoyed watching the U20 Men's World Cup this year and the Women's U19 tournament and of course, my son and I were glued to the TV when the World Cup was on the summer before.
To be honest, I much rather enjoy playing the game than watching it!
Hello All:
I just wanted to introduce myself before I posted on the subject of when we play soccer outside of the UK. I manage an over 30 women's soccer team who have been together for 6 years now. We belong to the largest women's soccer league in Ontario with 500 players over the age of 19. Our team members all have children who play soccer and although we don't coach them, we greatly appreciate the parents who do. We use Dwyer's excellent tips to improve the way we play the game.
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