IS ANYONE MISSING A TRICK?

Just a word on the pitch (grass) availability this summer.

As usual, pitches are worth their weight in gold. Teams are desperate to play friendlies, with 95% insisting on away games. I called the City Council yesterday to try and talk them into putting goalposts up. To be fair, they said as the pitches get a hammering over the winter, they are keen to rest them. But the bulk have probably had 3 months rest now.

Anyway, they flatly refused although they were helpful and polite on the phone but just not having it. In my opinion 3 months rest is ok, (yes, granted the weather has been freakish this summer) but the main thing is they are throwing away the opportunity of vital income - I reckon over a summer a single pitch could earn them in the region of £800. And with all public sector work having to cut costs, I thought maybe the promise of easy income would help.

So, I am still looking for pitches to accommodate the many summer friendlies being requested. Managing to stage about half a dozen a week so far, with other clubs admirably making their own arrangements but if anyone knows of any pitches available let us know on here and I will do the rest. Alternatively, if anyone has money to burn, buy some land, put some goalposts on it, and count your cash as it comes in each week.

To make matters worse, there is now to be no adult Sunday football at Aylestone Park which will be devoted to youth, girls and ladies football. The 'old' changing rooms have now been sold to a medical practice. The only site which has benefitted from the £11m investment which still hosts Sunday adult football is Rushey Mead and credit due to them. We wait and see hat happens to Aylestone Playing Fields.

Right, going to get on the soap box here....this makes me so angry when i see this happening. Firstly, where does the money come from for many of these facitlities? Taxes...who pays for taxes? For simplicity sake, 50% comes from adult males. Yet we cannot use the facilities.
In addition to the above, its all very well having a football pitch and facilities for kids, but what happens when they reach 18? Not all will become professional footballers, so all of a sudden they have a void in their life? A void which may be filled by some anti-social activities?
Mens football, Sunday football in particular is the cash cow of local football but also the Pariah of local football, its time that Central FA HQ took note of where their funding comes from and stops biting the hand that feeds its bloated belly, because one day, mens football will have dwindled to such an extent that we will not be there to make the 'donations' (fines) that apparently they need to continue. The apparent determination to bring youth and women into football appears to be to the detriment of adult male football.
Whilst i appreciate the game needs to be open to all, am i the only person who feels that being an adult male has led to a decrease in opportunities to play football?
This really does rile me...so tempted to give up football and steal cars, perhaps then i can be put on rehab courses that use the best facilities etc and get the best opportunities...grass roots football? As Jim Royle would say....My @rse!!!

What gets my back up is, when them there gals shout man on, surely they should shout girl on, maybe that would confuse them to all look at their shorts.

Their tight shorts? So that the game is more appealing? Thanks Mr Blatter

Widds wrote:

Their tight shorts? So that the game is more appealing? Thanks Mr Blatter

Unfortunately they are as baggy as the mens, and the sports bras hold everything down, so nothing to see there.

If the girls want to play football, they should have their own language for things, and make it relevant to them, and stop nicking ideas from the men game, especially when it doesn't fit, as in (man on) i blame Margaret Thatcher.

Thatcher was a very good right winger in her day

I do love the irony.

On Margaret Thatcher's birthday, the whole world was focused on people in a mine.

girl on dosent sound rite you would run to the nearest chemist or summit

The funding comes from the government. That funding wouldn't be there if it wasn't going to be spent on girls/youth so really we haven't "lost out" on any money.

It all depends on policital goals I'm afraid and the girls football and grassroots is their priority for the time being. When the government decides that more fat men in their twenties need to get active, they'll shift the funding our way.

Sparta3 wrote:

The funding comes from the government. That funding wouldn't be there if it wasn't going to be spent on girls/youth so really we haven't "lost out" on any money.

It all depends on policital goals I'm afraid and the girls football and grassroots is their priority for the time being. When the government decides that more fat men in their twenties need to get active, they'll shift the funding our way.

But the government funding comes from taxes though, and whilst i appreciate taxes have to be spread out over various needs, there seems to be a complete lack of funding going into mens amateur football.

I agree with you, its primarily a political agenda, and sadly we (fat 20/30 yr olds) sit back and accept it. My main point is that grass roots isn't age orientated, so there should be substantial funding put into making adult male football a viable option for those wanting to carry on the hobby they started at youth level.

Sadly the opportunity to develop football pitches is going to decrease anyway as population spirals out of control and more land is needed for housing...little prediction here - multi-tier football pitches will become the only way forward. There is a 3G pitch in north west London that is smack bang in the centre of a load of ring roads, very high fences obviously, but its unnervinig playing a 50 yard pinpoint pass when there are cars travelling at 50mph around your head!!

Ohhh Dennis, what a can of wriggly worms you have opened!!!

The funding comes from people who work for a living, thats where the money comes from, us working people, a lot of 20 + year olds are choosing to stay in further education, not by choice mainly, mainly its lack of jobs(and to keep them from claiming jobseekers,to make the paperwork look good), particularly now they are making people who have got jobs work till they are in their late 60s, thus keeping those jobs locked away for younger people, by the time these youngsters get to about 35, they will have not paid any taxes in to the system, and therefore all the services that we want ie police nhs, blah blah blah,will probably be just about obliterated, if young folk aren't paying tax for the first 30 years of their lives, our system is doomed, we'll have lots of old folk who arent able to work because they are old, and have old age diseases, and young folk fit and healthy but cant get a job, and middle aged pepole stuck in the middle of it all, this is why all funding is drying up, we'll be lucky ifs theres any football at this level left at all, after all, we cant just expect just one section of our society to pay for everything, and that section will be middle aged folk, who will be looking after their parents and their now adult offspring, my god they'll never do it financially, imagine that, a house with granny and grandad and your three (now in their 30s) adult children, all being at home, and you are still working your socks off in your late 50's trying to pay for everyone else.

Football funding comes last.

Football to become a sport of the rich and elite? Unless natural culling is encouraged....stop funding into remedies and cures, use those fund for football. A knock on effect is that the population is reduced as well.

Chinese policy of you can have one child, but if you have any more you must pay is a great policy. Personally i would promote having to have a licence to have children, if you have more children than you can afford then you dont get any welfare...this would also increase the amount of money available to grass roots football (keeping on topic!)

My understanding is that much of the funding comes via the FA/Premier League from TV rights.

There was also funding from Leicester City Council and a small amount from NHS

Aussie Owl wrote:

My understanding is that much of the funding comes via the FA/Premier League from TV rights.

There was also funding from Leicester City Council and a small amount from NHS

People pay for tv licences, people pay for sky tv, and people pay for the nhs and council tax, like i said its us the workers, without tax payers theres none of the above, or very little of it.

Widds wrote:

Chinese policy of you can have one child, but if you have any more you must pay is a great policy. Personally i would promote having to have a licence to have children, if you have more children than you can afford then you dont get any welfare...this would also increase the amount of money available to grass roots football (keeping on topic!)

Entirely agree, people are popping them out like ping pong balls, then saying they cant afford to work cus i cant afford childcare, well dont have them then, we cant keep picking up these bills for selfish people, only have what you can afford to support yourself, if you want tax payers to pay for your kids clothes and food etc, cuz you aint got a job then you shouldnt be allowed to breed them....if you cant feed em dont breed em.

That would also cure immigration, people wouldnt want to come here, if you could only have one child. A lot of these people want 4 & 5 kids, and we tax payers have to pay for them.

i think you should stand for local elections Hellboy.

Widds - love the idea of having a licence for kids - is that difference to having kids on licence?

agree that adult football is the poor relation these days to women / kids, but let's not knock the fine ladies, it's not their fault.

im still deadly serious if someone or a consortium can buy some land and own a private pitch or pitches that is the way forward

There are lots of complaints about the lack of English players in the Premier League. Them funding grass roots youth football is a way of trying to encourage it. This is what people want. The Premier League has no interest in men playing the sport. They'd rather we sat at home watching and paying for their channels.

We can complain all we like but it won't change.

Does anyone know what the full capacity is within the city/county in terms of puitches available? How close are we to having too many teams?

possibly, but saying that a lot of adult teams do also fold each year

Polska legend II wrote:

im still deadly serious if someone or a consortium can buy some land and own a private pitch or pitches that is the way forward

If it was privatised the working class would be outpriced once again. it hasnt helped the working class people privatising public services and utilities, its just made life even harder, in fact instead of being told that if you work you get rewards, ie a nice house, car, pension, etc etc, its now swung around to you being better off on benefits, where you get given these things for free, as a full tax, council tax, car tax and national insurance payer i am dismayed what they are using my money for, giving romanians that have only been here a few months child benefits while their husband is out stealing, knowing the police are powerless and laughing in their faces, its no wonder people pick up a shotgun and lose it big time, we cant all just sit there and pull out a few hand fulls of hair, some people have been driven mad by this thoughtless society.

friend of mine got a letter yesterday saying that as from next year, they would have to contribute more to their housing benefit - in other words it was being reduced and they would have to fund more themselves per week. I think this country became hand out paradise under labour, the tories are getting some stick but they are doing the necessary and saving us from the fate of the likes of Greece and Spain.

Anyway, back on topic, if we owned a private pitch helly, it would be for working class (adult) footballers!

Polska legend II wrote:

im still deadly serious if someone or a consortium can buy some land and own a private pitch or pitches that is the way forward

My old club did this, with facilities from u7's through to mens - 8 pitches and training area built on the land purchased after being kicked off our council pitches - club has been in existence for 35/40 years now and has around 20 teams in operation at all times through varying age levels for the past 20 years+.

It's a bit too far for us to use though

and i bet the price was pretty good 40 years ago!

haha - this was about 18/20 years ago now, no idea on prices as i was one of the kiddies at the time, helped with lottery funding to build the club house too!

so all we need is a delorian and some plutonium

Widds wrote:

so all we need is a delorian and some plutonium

lottery is a decent size tonight!!

Fishandchips wrote:

Widds wrote:

so all we need is a delorian and some plutonium

lottery is a decent size tonight!!

The government own the lottery.

ha ha but not our winnings!

Would be interested to know how much piece of land that size would cost. I imagine that the land would be easier and potentially cheaper to purchase for this purpose, rather than a developer because of the planning etc.

Then how much for maintenance? pay a groundman to visit one day a week?

Plus we'd need some sort of changing facilities to satisfy alliance rules - cheapo mobile?


Is there a afrm out there with one too many fields. Maybe leasing out a football pitch would provide a better income than dairy cows!!

I sold a piece of land about 6 or 7 years ago adjacent to my old house. I only owned 1/6 of it.

It was less than the size of a football pitch and got 60k for it (10k for me - although the then wife spent it of course)

I would suggest the amount of land require for a pitch, surrounding area and changing rooms you could be looking at around £200K as a starting point

Just a guess mind could be miles out

Sparta3 wrote:

Would be interested to know how much piece of land that size would cost. I imagine that the land would be easier and potentially cheaper to purchase for this purpose, rather than a developer because of the planning etc.

Then how much for maintenance? pay a groundman to visit one day a week?

Plus we'd need some sort of changing facilities to satisfy alliance rules - cheapo mobile?


Is there a afrm out there with one too many fields. Maybe leasing out a football pitch would provide a better income than dairy cows!!

From what i remember the land will more than likely need landscaping, drainage put in and other little things you wouldn't even think of, mobile shed type things work well as temporary changing rooms as you don't need any planning permission

I cant seriously believe that this thread has evolved into the consideration of buying a plot of land!!!

Well, if i win over 4 million i will develop some land and make it only available for Alliance Clubs...or hire out a pitch in Dubai and have that as the NRI home pitch!!!

We thurmaston wmp tried getting the use of elizabeth park changing rooms, which was lottery funded, we cnt use them because the kids get changed there which is fair enough, but they wnt put a mobile nxt 2 our pitch, so we have 2 use the club wiv no showers

Just think, i could drive the tractor which youd need in order to maintain tut pitch, my mates got one for sale he wants £35K, he could also supply you with the various trailers and aeraters, for an extra cost of course, i would only take a small wage every week, and then theres the tax diesel and insurance for the tractor, then theres the weeding and feeding to do, and line marking, so someone with a line marking machine and a good supply of chalk, so thats the maintenance sorted, then it will need boundary fencing to keep the gypos off, a strong lock up come barn to house the tractor in, toilets for health and safety demands, i think an acre of land costs around at least £20,000 plus, especially if you want a driveway and parking facilities to be included, so thats just for starters before you even get to play a game. God only knows how much the legal fees would cost to purchase and sort out with the land laws, and after all that it would perhaps get trashed and graffitied by the bored kids still living at home over the age of 25, cuz they cant even stand on their own two feet, or be bothered to get out of bed, lets all just lie there till somebody else comes along with a golden magic wand and hands everything over to you on a plate.

Huncote Sec wrote:

I sold a piece of land about 6 or 7 years ago adjacent to my old house. I only owned 1/6 of it.

It was less than the size of a football pitch and got 60k for it (10k for me - although the then wife spent it of course)

I would suggest the amount of land require for a pitch, surrounding area and changing rooms you could be looking at around £200K as a starting point

Just a guess mind could be miles out

No doubt that was land which had devlopment oppotunities. Otherwise, why buy it in the first place.

A piece of land which would never acquire such planning permission would surely be a lot cheaper as nobody would want to buy it from you.

i have a pitch but between 4 and 6

my friend owns a field she rents it out to someone with horses for 130 a month, just told her she'd make more money by putting 3 pitches on it and allowing sat and sunday sides to use it, just next to cosby park. haha not sure i convinced her though

i can't believe you have friends with horses Dezza! do you mean gypsies

Haha my friend doesn't own the horses, she owns the field! She rents it to someone with horses!! I'm a saff lad whose done well haha

Haha so you are the one! just messing, lived on the saff myself once!