Anyone need any players then? Load of em about the become available

Aye, sad to hear another club folding, what happened like?

Poor numbers they said at the meeting, big shame as i always liked the albion lads, decent bunch n give you a fair game.

Yep just the numbers game caught up with us. Gone for having 15/16 every week to 9/10/11.

When its a group of mates starting out as 21 year olds after 5/6 years people start to drift away and it's happened to us. Gutted for the lads who still made it each week but wasn't fun for anyone anymore.

What's the crack with signing any Albion lads, has club paid their fine or do they all owe a % each to be able to play again?

I'm waiting on the amount owed to come through. Depending on how much it is will determine if the club can cover it or if the lads will have to be charged

Fee of £150 was mentioned at the meeting last night if I remember correctly.

Cheers joe! Should just about be covered then. Few fines on top for not filling in the team sheets right!

If the fine of a folded team doesn't get paid each player has to pay a small cost when signing for a team. So that £150 would get shared out by each player.

I'd be interested in a few players but unfortunately not until the summer as we are full up at the mo

Sunday morning footy in the town appears to be in a bad way at the moment

Two teams already folded in the premier wouldn't be surprised to see a few more go from all divisions before the end of the season. Kids can't or won't get up and play after being on the drink anymore.

what a sad pathetic state of affairs.

Truly sad.

This country is fucked.

Finance is also an issue with teams, it has been for us.. Getting £480 together for pitch fee's then having to fork out for kits, balls, nets etc... It's an expensive do. We see very little return for the £480 we pay, poor pitch conditions and some very poor ref's.

I wanted to start reffing again down here as I used to do it Sunday morning back at home before uni. I have to do the course again so emailed the Cambridge FA twice and they never got back to me so fuck them.

4 teams have packed in from the premier league this season.

I'd say there is loads of factors whilst its hard to get a team together.

As joe says £480 is a bloody lot, i know ITB have had some issues with getting funds from a pub, we are lucky that we had a pub pay our fees n a restaurant buy our kits, its just all about building contacts, we've done a few fundraising things aswell so we've been able to buy balls n kits ourselves aswell, but it isnt easy, n its took about 5 years to get us to this point, most teams fold or pack in before they get to here.

it's only going to get worse as more teams will fold next year as the pitch fees no doubt go up n the league offer no help, there fines will go up n they'll think of more things to fine you.

lads wont get out of bed n play footy in minging changing rooms and on terrible pitches, getting screwed over by rubbish refs n getting threatened by abusive fans on the sideline n thuggish players.

if football at the top is struggling, if league 1 and 2 teams are struggling, its bound to filter down to our level.

lads dont go to pubs all day after the matches anymore, so pubs that are already struggling wont shell out money to support teams.

lottery grants are available to help support teams, google it n apply for everything you can!

But what is the matter with blokes these days?

Its foookin pathetic.

I was shocked down here when I moved that none of my mates all aged 24-30 dont play sport on the weekend (apart from and he plays rugby). Granted I never did because I am crap but all my mates did or do as loads of them played for Albion, so I did the next best thing and reffed.

There is a massive park over the road from my old house about the same size as the rec and there is only one pitch on it and I have only seen a hand full of games played on it. Sounds like its a dying thing Sunday footy.

How is the over 40 league? Is it still going as my dads best mates John Grange and John Foster used to be involved in the Touchdown, I think Grangey still is but now took a backwards seat in it.

Can't argue with any of that Yubep.

We are still a fairly new team, when I was given the club last season. I took over in May with a balance of £0, no sponsor and no kits. Luckily I managed to sort something with the Pearl Bar who covered the kit cost but then it was raising £480 in 5 months. We didn't raise it all so I had to fork out my own pocket quite a large chunk of that so the next few month after paying pitch fee's all subs were going to me to get my money back. Many times i've considered throwing the towel in.

People getting a little excited here

It is a shame Albion folded, they're a good bunch of lads but these things do happen. I imagine all of them who want to continue playing will find themselves a new team without a problem

At the start of the season there were 39 teams (the most there have ever been in my time playing/managing)

We currently stand at 36 teams in the league, which is a good solid number. There are very rarely games abandoned due to a lack of players, it will easily be under 1%

Generally there are enough referees but I know the league struggled slightly this year as 39 teams was an unprecedented amount

Financially the league is sound, and in fact cash rich. Last AGM I wrote to the league to suggest some of this money is given back to the clubs to help towards league fees. The committee squirmed and were very cautious and said they would review it at the end of this season. If you want fees to be lowered (which the league can more than comfortably afford) then there needs to be more support and more of a voice at the next AGM. Remember that money is ours (the member clubs) and it is essentially up to us what we do with it

A little surprised people saying they may find more teams folding given that every single one has now paid their league fees. So as long as they have the kit and basic equipment they are currently playing with they can manage to the end of the season. Also with three teams folding that's a fair amount of active and semi active players who are now looking for a team or have been snapped up or will be signed up

Hartlepool Sunday Football League is a strong league, well run and with plenty of interest and effort by all involved. Many other districts don't have half the teams we do, or the organisation. It's also a reasonably competitive standard and with a bit of luck we may see one of our top teams do well in the County Cup this year, much like Goldmine/Owton Manor did a couple of years ago

Obviously i was just focusing on the hard side n the negative factors ben you have put positive points across which i can totally agree with.

The league is very well organised n very well run n they should be praised for that.

On the surface of things 36 teams have managed to pay their fees this season and will stay on until the end of the season, i talk to a lot of people at the meetings n know first hand though teams are struggling to make these payments every year, joes paid from his own pocket n so did ITB, without the support of a pub we'd of had to do the same.

I'm just wondering how long it can go on for, how long will people keep paying out there own pocket, will joe do that next year? I cant imagine he will.

I love playing sunday footy n would feel lost without it, i'm happy to support you in getting the league to "share the wealth" so to speak next year, as i thought your proposals at the meeting for help where very good.

Thought id add a few positives to give the thread more balance ha

When I started I had to fork out like £300 to get started, fortunately i got it back and now we seem to manage with a race night once every 1-2 years. We come out with between £800-£1000. Its alot of hard work, if anyone needs any help on setting one up or how to organise one just PM me

I was like 22 and one od the youngest managers in the league. Now there are plenty of younger lads than me who run teams. For every person who wrapa it in someone else picks up the reigns or a new team emerges. There will

... be no end!

I love it, just the banter with the lads and the craic afterward if you get a win. Be nice to get out for a pint a bit more afterwards but noone ever seems keen, says more about me than them probably!!

As much as I think the league is well organised, its still pathetic that so many young blokes just cant be arsed to play anymore......worse still..............are prepared to let a team fold midseason. That is just selfish as it fooks the league up for everyone else.

I think everyone has posted sense. At Albion it wasn't the money, we were more than comfortable and that was without a sponsor this year. Our downfall was the ages of our players. As a group of mates who started around 21/22 life has since caught up an many have now moved away with work, had kids, work weekends and we just didn't have enough players to put out a team. We played with ten the other week and again on Sunday with 11 and have done on most weeks this season.

I'm sure the lads who want to keep playing will do as we had some decent players but I think a few will also knock it on the head. I'm not sure what ill do as coming through from Thornaby each week is expensive.

Saying all that ill no doubt be signing a form in the next few weeks and turning out again for someone.

We have over 30 players signed on yet only 13 turned up for county cup game last Sunday, a fair few missing were genuine reasons like work but there are plenty,mostly the younger lads, who dont turn out when they've been on the drink.

There also seems to be a major attitude problem with players expecting to start whenever they turn up even if they haven't been seen for a few games. If they spend a week on the bench its a surprise if they are seen the following week.

Do you think the '24 Hour' drinking thing has a bit to do with this aswell????
In my day the Night Clubs closed at 2 but now it's 4....I suspect this has a knock-on effect....especially with the younger players who probably will be falling in at 5ish if they haven't been lucky and had a knee-trembler round the back of The Royal....then you could be looking at at least 10 past 5!!!!

*Nite Klub!!!!

Good call mutters


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Blackhall called it a day this season, they have had a team in the over 40s league for many years

over 40's should still be strong for a few years, the guys in the over 40's are still pub people who 13 years ago when i started playing where in the normal leagues n going back to the pub every week all day.

It's funny but when i played if i never went back to the pub i'd get a bollocking off aido, i knew if i never went i wouldnt stand a chance of playing the next week, mostly didnt stand a chance anyway but thats another issue.

Had a very good team over a long sustained period of time, they struggled for players in recent years but I always found them a bit clicky,got the impression they would rather play with 9 men than sign a couple of strangers. I played a few times for Wingate a few years ago, a decent little club and a couple of good players. TBH I was younger than most of them but struggled, the difference between lads who have played all their lives and another who spent most Saturdays quaffing ale before watching pools away. Was difficult to break in to a team that were all mates and some good players, got sick of travelling to Redcar and Consett as a sub and not getting a game so jacked.

We got beat 7-3 today... A superb display by Hartlepools number 1 referee!

Watched some of your game Joe. Was more entertaining than the rovers game!

Always a high scoring game for us against Helena.. Even Stevo on here got a card for shouting "Ref it was 3 yards out".... Our own worst enemy at times.

This is why the leauge will go tits up. People are expecting to pay fines for basically nothing. What is the current charge for a yellow??

£10 for a yellow... He didn't even at the ref or keep going on, he literally just said those words.. It's mental.

Can ya appeal fines or do you just have to pay?

Can only appeal reds I think.

One of the advantages of playing in the prem was never having him ref us!

Ruins every game!

I had genuine fears for the Sunday morning league, when I packed in with White House/west park I thought that increasing league fees and heavy handed Durham fines in conjunction with the recession hitting pubs and businesses hard, but in all honestly I'm pleasantly surprised how well clubs have coped and the Sunday morning league hasn't been in ruder health for some time.. I swore blind I would not get involved again but like posters have stated, it's like a drug you can't do without.
First post on ere in over five years that.. Quite interested to know who Richies Birthmark is seen as though you've stole my moniker!! Caused me a bit of grief over the last few years, where's my royalties n all??

Was disappointing to see not all games were stopped at 11am this morning.. Our game was but was about 3 that kept playing

Your joking? Some might have observed it at the start joe?? Was always the crack that we stopped after half hour and all refs stopped at same time

Don't appeal anything to the Durham fa, they will deliberate, way up all the facts, then increase the fine. In twenty years playing and managing, I've only known one player get a red card reversed and that was for proving that 'bollocks' is a legitimate word in the English dictionary and not a term of abuse.

I didn't see them observe at the start like, but it's always been 11am and not before the game..

Your right about Durham, it costs £30 just to appeal in some cases.

Ours is was 11am, running down the wing n about to cut inside... Decca Martin blows his whistle to stop the game, nice one!

Here's a clue, he gave the opposition a penalty for a foul that was about 5 yards outside the box and he made the decision whilst stood on the halfway line...

I said " ref that was out, how can you see that from where your stood?" Which by the way was the centre circle for the full game. Thought it
Was a fair question, never raised my voice or swore and was booked. Horrendous.


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Knew it was something along those lines, even Helena knew he had a shocker

Just daft. Never been booked in 5 years and get booked for asking a question . Not too arsed like but makes a mockery of the game.


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We're you playing Saturday never noticed you on the rec Chip. I was on the sidelines for catholic club and it's mad this season with over 24 players turning up now, it's got to the stage where I just worked every week no point given good money up standing on the sidelines. Just got a transfer to Gillens now seeing as they are struggling for a keeper. Just want to keep playing now I'm getting on haha