English kids and football

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jcrossan

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Don't get back to England very often and last few times has just been to central london which isnt a good example. Wondering if young kids still play football in the streets and fields as much as when I was a kid in the 60s.

It was all we basically did. At school as well - break times were all about having a game.

I'd guess there is much less these days with other attractions (kids around here have trouble even crossing the street cos they have their faces stuck in their smartphones). Started wondering about it cos I dont see much young talent coming through in the premier league that is home grown.
 


I have a young cousin who goes to the same school as my daughter... he is 8.
I asked him what he was doing after school and he replied 'playing football'...
I asked where he was playing and he said 'in the living room'...
he meant he was playing FIFA on the x box
 
I have a young cousin who goes to the same school as my daughter... he is 8.
I asked him what he was doing after school and he replied 'playing football'...
I asked where he was playing and he said 'in the living room'...
he meant he was playing FIFA on the x box
That never happened.
 
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There's always kids up Goals on Durham road. Kids still play football, maybe not as many though.

When I was a bairn I was forced out the house and playing footie was always what we did.

Too easy for parents to plonk kids in front of a console
 
Not sure but you dont have to go back as far as the 60's. Late 90's and early 00's I used to always be out playing football, wasnt hard to convince other people to play either. Although i do think the introduction of the smartphone will reduce numbers more so than a game console.
 
There's always kids up Goals on Durham road. Kids still play football, maybe not as many though.

When I was a bairn I was forced out the house and playing footie was always what we did.

Too easy for parents to plonk kids in front of a console

Goals costs a fortune.

We used to play on the road, in the back street, any field that was big enough with jumpers for goalposts. We even used to play with a bottle top in the playground because balls were banned.

Playing at goals would have been like playing at Wembley for us as kids.
 
In Pensher we were either in a big game on The Green (proper jumpers for goal posts stuff), or having a game of 'gates' in the street. The little walls meant you had to keep it down,a which I why I developed such great skills that I became an international.

Nowt else to do but kick a ball, whatever the weather. Not many kids kicking a ball about in the streets over here but they're all into surfing etc, very healthy lifestyle
 
This is purely anecdotal I know, but where we live there's a nice little bit of grass with a proper metal goal set up in it and it's in the middle of a residential area that I know is full of young kids. I reckon I go past that little bit of grass maybe 5 or 6 times a week, mostly in evenings and weekends, and throughout the entire summer I only ever saw one game of football being played on it, and that was a load of adults having a bbq. No kids ever, despite the fact that there are loads of kids in the area. When the schools kick out there's 30 mins of chaos with all the kids walking home and then they all just disappear for the evening, it's like once they get home they just stay home, never venture out again unless it's in the back of mums bloody stupid 4x4.

I remember when I was younger (that makes me sound old, I'm not) me and my mates were kicking a football about all the time after school and all summer, and a patch of grass with a goal was like the holy grail! But this just seems totally underused.
 
Goals costs a fortune.

We used to play on the road, in the back street, any field that was big enough with jumpers for goalposts. We even used to play with a bottle top in the playground because balls were banned.

Playing at goals would have been like playing at Wembley for us as kids.


Aye it's a rip off.
Sure it's only £2.50 for kids for as long as they want during kids holidays though.
 
This is purely anecdotal I know, but where we live there's a nice little bit of grass with a proper metal goal set up in it and it's in the middle of a residential area that I know is full of young kids. I reckon I go past that little bit of grass maybe 5 or 6 times a week, mostly in evenings and weekends, and throughout the entire summer I only ever saw one game of football being played on it, and that was a load of adults having a bbq. No kids ever, despite the fact that there are loads of kids in the area. When the schools kick out there's 30 mins of chaos with all the kids walking home and then they all just disappear for the evening, it's like once they get home they just stay home, never venture out again unless it's in the back of mums bloody stupid 4x4.

I remember when I was younger (that makes me sound old, I'm not) me and my mates were kicking a football about all the time after school and all summer, and a patch of grass with a goal was like the holy grail! But this just seems totally underused.

We used to spend ages just trying to find a patch of grass and two trees the remotely resembled goal posts!
 
Whenever I'm back in High Shincliffe I notice that the park where we used to kick around now has proper goalposts (with nets, ffs!) ... but I hardly ever see people play there. Go back 25 years and there was one rusty post and huge muddy scuff marks all over the grass where we'd play in every spare moment we could find. The other bits of green space around the estate have been landscaped so you couldn't play there, although we used to if we didn't like the look of the game in the park (also one of them was ideal for cricket, being a (not really very) big oval that sloped away to the boundary on all sides).

Mind, I never see kids in the woods either, which was our other haunt. Half terms without finding a scud mag in the bushes felt like such a waste. Maybe I should drop a few gentleman's publications there next time I'm home, keep the tradition going ...
 
It's all I ever played until I got to my teens and discovered lasses and lager. I see kids as young as 13-14 now at Gyms doing weights and learning MMA instead of playing football.
 
Whenever I'm back in High Shincliffe I notice that the park where we used to kick around now has proper goalposts (with nets, ffs!) ... but I hardly ever see people play there. Go back 25 years and there was one rusty post and huge muddy scuff marks all over the grass where we'd play in every spare moment we could find. The other bits of green space around the estate have been landscaped so you couldn't play there, although we used to if we didn't like the look of the game in the park (also one of them was ideal for cricket, being a (not really very) big oval that sloped away to the boundary on all sides).

Mind, I never see kids in the woods either, which was our other haunt. Half terms without finding a scud mag in the bushes felt like such a waste. Maybe I should drop a few gentleman's publications there next time I'm home, keep the tradition going ...
The fact that you're looking is setting my Yewtree alarm off something chronic.
 
Kids still play football in our back lane.
You still see kids playing in the fields not as much as you did, but obviously there's many other attractions for them now.
On the plus side the biggest kids league in Europe is on our doorstep,and I would hazard a guess that there's more kids playing organised football now than ever.
 
most i see now is 'kerbsy' or two kicking a ball round in the back garden.
we would spend the weekend playing (if we could find someone with a proper ball and not one of those super light placky things that swerved all ower)
councils have banned a lot of ball games etc now or planted trees everywhere, more should be made of the school teams... cant remember the last time i heard a kid bragging about getting on the team.
 
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