Player B is a Sunday League player, he knows someone who knew someone who went to school with someone who looked a little bit like someone who once had trials with someone who had a trial with Frank Lampard. Their weekly wage is known by its colloquial name 'beer money' and the only sport they are finely tuned for is darts (not that I'm bad mouthing darts, I love a bit of arrows). The natural grazing pastures of this player is the divot ridden swamp of a park in front of someones long suffering partner and the occasional man and his dog, his brothers in arms are probably called Kev, Dave, John or the ever ironically named 'Tiny'.
Now obviously there is an epic gulf in class between the standards the two players play at, inevitable there will be an equally large gulf between talent, fitness and nutrition...but in the mind of Player B when he turns up for a game or, heaven forbid, training there is absolutely no difference, just because he may be lacking in the attributes of professionalism and talent, doesn't mean that his game means anything less than that of Player A. This is a key concept of the Sunday League Player Psyche (SLPP) that people who have never played football never seem to quite understand.
I have regularly been mocked by 'non-players' when I am painting a vivid picture of the highs and lows of my amateur career, and so I think it is about time that these people understood just what it means to we the players!
There are a few base principles that make up the SLPP;
- Its not the taking part that counts, its the winning.
- Anything -*insert player name*- can do, I can do.
- Winning.
- God loves a trier.
- Whats the point of being second best.
- Lack of ability need not hinder you.
- The analysis is just as important as the game.
- Every aspect of every game will be committed to long term memory for future use.
- Every game is like a cup final...especially if it is a cup final.
- Injuries are all in the mind.
Now, within each individual player the importance of each of these will vary and thus change the style of play, emphasis on 1, 3, 5 and 9 will inevitable breed a loud aggressive type of player, whereas a inflated 2 and 6 will probably lead you to a player with bright yellow boots. In addition to these 10 principles different players will have their own thoughts and feelings about how the game should be played and how they want to play it...some players love a tackle, some can't resist playing that Hollywood pass and others who just have to try to beat one more player before passing the ball.
The most important thing to remember when addressing any amateur player though is that a little piece of them still thinks that they could make it as a pro. No matter how much they deny it, there is a small part of every player that thinks a scout for a professional team will just so happen to be wandering through a park in the ar*e end of no-where on a Sunday morning and decide to take in a p*ss poor game of football only to be amazed to discover in the midst of all the over hit passes, industrial defending and bone-crunching tackles there is a player who brings something a little different...a star in the making. Many a player has been picked up from the amateur ranks...so why not them...Geoff Horsefield, Ian Wright, Charlie Austin...errr, the list is endless??
These are the fundamental principles of the British game at grass roots level, no-one should be mocked for having dreams...did people mock Neil Armstrong when he said he wanted to be the first man to walk on the moon? Did they mock Beethoven when he continued to compose music even after he went deaf? Did they mock Mohammed Ali when he said he was going to knock George Foreman out? No...so who has the right to mock me?
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