Playground Football | Vital Football

Playground Football

I just seen this silly article on the BBC Football pages. I reckon they're getting a bit desperate for content!:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52647168

But it did remind me of something funny I read quite a few years ago:
https://www.paulmaden.com/remains/the-playground-football-rulebook/

God I loved playground football. We used to use the tennis courts and there would be a dozen different games going on at a time. Never a fight, never anyone not allowed to play, just the best use of tennis balls ever.
Apart from anything else using a tennis ball improves skills and honed my ball skills no end (I am brilliant I forgot to add lol).

Got many kids in school early mornings as we played morning, breaks and after school.
 
We played at the Math School in the lower yard then up the tunnel to the upper yard and then back down again usually about 50 or 60 of us; the youngsters were be too scared to join in. And some masters, like Nerg, would turn a blind eye, although that was his delectation we'd been led to believe. At the new school, when it was just one block, it was one team 30/40 and one goal chalked on the wall. If a master joined in, it was 30/40 against one.
 
We played at the Math School in the lower yard then up the tunnel to the upper yard and then back down again usually about 50 or 60 of us; the youngsters were be too scared to join in. And some masters, like Nerg, would turn a blind eye, although that was his delectation we'd been led to believe. At the new school, when it was just one block, it was one team 30/40 and one goal chalked on the wall. If a master joined in, it was 30/40 against one.

Wow. “Tapper Nerg”. That’s a blast from the past.
From day 1, that was his name to us as very green 1st years. At least I can blame your generation Wayne, if that was already his moniker 👍

Seems now like it was a whole different world. And it probably was.
 
Dad's house backed on to a school field .My parents just turned a blind eye to up to thirty kids of various ages going through our garden at weekends.That was a sacrifice as later in life Mum and Dad a chelsea flower show type garden. I was unable to take part in sports at school for a lot of the time because of my poor health as a child.Had I been born a few years earlier I probably would not have made it out of nappies.
But that did not stop me my brothers and as many kids as we could find going through our back fence and onto the school field at weekends. These games could be anything from 6 a side on a full size pitch to about 15 a side on a good day.Part of the event was going around all the lads homes before hand.We would normally split in two and spend maybe up to half a hour knocking doors for almost anyone of the right age.But normally we would end up with a massive age range as at least one of the group would bring along a elder or younger sibling or siblings. It grew and grew .I know one of our lads had a failed trial at Chelsea and another was on Chatham towns books for a few years.But generally we were mainly very average.
As for the various caretakers they were generally fine as they learned that we were no trouble in fact we probably helped the school by keep the vandals and the like away. Happy days.

If I wasn't up to playing for that long or one of the younger lads had to go home we just remixed the sides a bit and continued.I wasn't unusual for me to be on the winning and losing side as a result of leaving the field for periods.
 
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5 or 6 years of Chatham Tech tennis court football must have cost my parents a small fortune replacing my knackered shoes. In
our games there was the nutter who would slide tackle and the goal keeper who would still dive full length on the rock hard asphelt. Holes ripped in trousers proudly worn as a badge of honour!
Happy days!
 
5 or 6 years of Chatham Tech tennis court football must have cost my parents a small fortune replacing my knackered shoes. In
our games there was the nutter who would slide tackle and the goal keeper who would still dive full length on the rock hard asphelt. Holes ripped in trousers proudly worn as a badge of honour!
Happy days!

I was on those same courts 1961-65.
When we had the german exchange students over (in their lederhosen), it was 40 aside on the grass, full sized ball of course. England v germany refighting the war. We did not mix as I remember, still a lot of tension.

Other times it would be year against year. Trouble was that we were not allowed to play football as evidently it was not a gentleman's game. Only played hockey and rugby. If cought with a football it was normally confiscated by the sports master lol.
 
yes fond memories of playing in the playground. also the mass kickabouts on hillyfields on a sunday orsaturdays when there was no game at priestfield