Venue: Horsham Rugby Pitch, Coolhurst Ground, Hammerpond Road, Horsham, RH13 6PJ. Map: 8 a side football in Horsham We will be on one of the pitches you see circled in the image below. You can also see where the (free) parking is, nearer the bottom of the image.
Timings: Every Wednesday evening 9-10pm. So that we have ample time to get organised, please aim to get there at the latest, 8.45.
What to wear: We have all the training bibs, so you can wear any colours. Shinpads are always advisable, even though most of us don't wear them!
The pitch admin are very strict on no blades or astro trainers, just moulded rubber / plastic studded football boots (no screw ins), SG (soft ground) ones or blades are not allowed and can cause serious injuries, the ones to look for, are either AG (artifical grass) or FG (firm ground. Have a look at the FG boots on the following link:
Mens FG Football Boots.
The ones seen here are perfect for our pitch surface - available from most sports shops, including Sports Direct (Horsham and Crawley), (I didn't find a good range in Decathlon (Crawley)).
As an example, the ones in this image are Adidas Goleto VIII Firn Ground Football boots and can be found in Sports Direct on this link:
FG boots for under 30 quid.
Price: It's £5 per player, always payable on the same day of the game, either after it, or preferably, before it. (It also includes the costs for the floodlights). When paying, please put your name as the reference. You should already have my bank account details, but if not, just contact me. For anyone going in goal for the whole game, it's free and for anyones first game it's also free for them as well.
Notifications: You will see details for the following weeks 8 a side football match on the Horsham Football WhatsApp group, on the previous Thursday or Friday, if you want to play, simply vote with Yes. There's always a limit on the number of players for each game, so best to be as quick as possible with your vote. Once you vote Yes, you are expected to keep to it.
General: We're all part of this group because we enjoy playing small sided football and we all know how it can mess things up when there's uneven sides, so all we ask, is that when you say 'yes' to playing, that you then definitely keep to it. 👍
We usually make up two teams between us, and occasionally play against other local teams.
You're amongst mates, so definitely no slide tackles, shoulder barges, ankle kicking or shirt-pulling - there's no skill involved with any of that, plus, we're all here for a good game. 👍 If you look at the premier leagues top goal scorers, they never use their hands, arms or shoulders to play the game - the clue is in the name: football - let's make it a good game for all of us, not just 1 or 2!
As some of you with any experience of organising so many players each week, there's a lot of work, time and effort going on in the background, and my aim is to always have a good game of football for you all each and every week - and to have a good game, you obviously need a good number of regular players each week, to ensure the good numbers continue, please tell Dougie if you hear of any of our players trying to get one of our other players to play for another team.
We are all ages, with at least a little skill and at least a little fitness, but workrate, reliability and a sociable friendly attitude are always more important. 👍
If you have any questions about any of the above, just call me on 07584 673 193. Cheers, Dougie.
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