What to expect from grassroots football in 2024
Well first and foremost, Happy New Year everyone!
I hope you’ve all had a fantastic break and enjoyed the festivities. Maybe some of us have had a selection box or two, or even too much Christmas turkey (I’m speaking first-hand at this point!)
By now I guess most of you if not all of you will be back to work and the kids will be back to school. Those first few days are always the worst.
Formalities now out of the way, back to the football!!
So, what will grassroots bring us in 2024? Well if the last month or so is anything to go by, it might bring us some cancelled games; how much rain can one season take?!
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It’s normal at this time of year that parts of the UK can be flooded, or frozen but we seem to have everything including the kitchen sink thrown at us right across the country.
There was so much rain that, at one point, I had to cancel my training session, and we train indoors! You couldn’t make this up if you tried.
I apologise in advance to the owners of freshly valeted cars as January and February aren’t going to be good months for your vehicles. This is the time of the year when mud, rain and sleet battle off against freshly hoovered boots and leather seats are tested against the very best mud available to humankind.
And yes, your car air freshener will also be tested… oh, how it will be tested! Tested against smells that could, quite frankly, be weaponised. They’ll be coming from boots, socks, bibs, and, for the goalkeepers out there, gloves. If you know, you know.
What else? Let me tell you that your threshold for cold, wind and sleet will be tested. Every year people think November and December will be the coldest months, then January and February hit you like a truck.
We will see sidelines full of frozen faces with nostril icicles (yes they’re a thing), whilst feet will feel like they’ve been attached to the grass with fresh, wet, cold cement.
But, let’s be honest, our hearts will be warm and we will love every second of it. Because we all know we didn’t choose the grassroots life, it chose us.
On a positive note, we still have five months left of the grassroots season left and, by March, the sun will be on its way, so there will be plenty of time to catch up as the weather improves.
A New Year is very similar to the start of a new season, as it often feels like anything is possible and hopes of cup finals and tournaments start to enter our thoughts, whilst new tricks and skills can be learnt and taught.
That said, with anything being possible, I would like to see more people entering the game. Not just players but at all entry points, be it a child or an adult.
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It could be playing, it could even be coaching, refereeing, club secretary, chairwoman of a club or league or any of the volunteering roles we have in football.
And my New Year's resolution in 2024 is to help as many people as possible achieve this.
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