Nah, clubs are responsible for paying fines then getting money back. It's nearly killed us in the past and on edge at the minute.

About 3 years ago we had a player signed up who got sent off n buggered off without paying, we paid 30 quid to get rid of the fine from our club and make them chase him n not us.

Is that still an option?

I believe so, same happened to us last season and we paid £25 or so. Still trying to sort something out with John at the minute, hopefully same option but still miffed off about paying that money.

With so many teams dropping out the league what do you reckon on the chances of only been two divisions next season?

Think a fair few more would need to go before they considered dropping to two leagues, with all the different cups and inevitable postponements the league would struggle to fit all the games in if leagues were any bigger than 14. plus there seems to be at least a couple of new teams willing to join at start of every season.

Also in a two team league we would have many more clubs with nothing to play for all season plus one less cup.

What would be great to see is the league asking for details of each player from a team that has dropped out and passing contact details to all other clubs. Around 50 players have dropped out the league this season so surely if they choose they can sign elsewhere which would help other teams who are short on players.

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Like a free transfer database? That would be a good idea... here is a list of 50 players who've played for manor, and this team, and this one etc that havent signed elsehwere.... Could even allow emergency loans, to tide teams over during the lean winter periods.

Seems daft that teams are dropping out for being short of a few players, when other teams have dropped out earlier in the year.

Snake eyes is right 3/4 teams do pop up every year to replace the 3/4 that drop out.

With the pitch fees virtually knocking on the door of £500 i think a re-think of how they can be paid maybe a little better for next year, if it's not going to get reduced then maybe a payment plan would help. I'm sure less teams would drop out if it could be paid monthly or quarterly.

I dont know the answer to teams dropping out, it seems to have happened this year more than others, i think attitudes towards sunday footy are different now to 15/20 years ago, there are less pubs, lads go out more on friday n saturday n with them staying open later dont make it up for 10:30 kick offs.

Their is no right or wrong way to run a team, it's took me 4 years to get it right off the field and on it, finances are managed right n i have reliable lads turning up every week, maybe i've just got lucky, but i hate too see teams drop out n maybe more help, advice, time etc can be given to teams struggling.

Repayment plan is a very good idea

The league can afford to pay the cost up front, and then be repaid over the season

Could have the first payment a bit earlier, in September then possibly November January and March or something

One big £500 hit in October is always painful, its stressful too

The free transfer database is already held on the league website

All registrations are held in a downloadable excel spreadsheet. I must admit every time a club folds I have a sneaky look to see if there is anyone I know who has then become available.

Anyone can do it

A player database would be ideal... Emergency transfers would be also good, for instance instead of the usual 7 perhaps introduce a deadline of say Wednesday to be eligible for the Sunday, maybe each team gets 3 emergency transfers.

A payment plan for pitch fee's would help a lot of clubs massively, takes a lot of pressure off clubs scrambling round leading up to October.

I'm still learning the ropes running a team, it's a hell of a lot of work for 1 guy to do, slowly but surely getting there.

It's 1 thing learning to run it joe but it's another building up a squad thats gunna turn up every week, pay subs, turn up at the pub, get involved in footy cards, busters etc and then after all that... be a canny footy player.

It's took me 4 years to get to that level, signing a few good lads help n i generally find good lads bring there mates who are normally good like them.

The payment plan option would help loads of teams, i was lucky this year as we have 2 sponsors, next year who knows.

I must sound like i hate the league and sunday footy n everything, i dont I love it, made some good friends at my own team and others, my sons god father i know through this footy team, i'll probably still be involved once i've finished playing, i just wanna see the league prosper n teams survive as long as possible.

Agreed, we have a group of about 12 who have been been signed on since day 1, about 3 seasons ago and turn up each week without fail.. But we must have had about 30+ lads who have signed on at some point over the last 3 seasons, turned up for a few games then disappeared. A number of those players have been fantastic and have some great talent but they have no interest in getting out of bed on a Sunday morning which is such a shame.

The buzz of Sunday league when it's going right is unbelievable, when we went through our little winning streak last month, all the lads were buzzing and loved turning up. But the difficult part is over the winter, nothing worse than getting battered in the pissing rain when it's freezing.

Within that though is the problem. You look for who you know (which is all you can do at the monent). If everyteam that dropped out submitted a list of lads who wanted to keep playing, position and desired league teams could contact them if they need that position. For lads in town who know most folks its not a issue but there is lads out there who don't know many and is hazard a guess just stop playing. The league needs to do all it can to help encourage these lads back to teams.

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on a completely unrelated matter I have a mate who played for us 2 year ago who wants to get back into footy, joe might remember him as he scored a hat trick against them about 3 years ago in a friendly.

Left footed, tenacious winger/striker with canny pace.

We cant fit him in at the mo but if anyone else would like to take him on i can send you his deets.

I think another problem why teams struggle for players is teams like Lion and Rovers will sign up a lot of players who will then just sit on the bench for a few weeks and then just stop turning up. For some reason they seem happy to say they play for the top teams rather than go and sign for another team where they would play.

For example noticed 4 or 5 of the Albion lads signed for Rovers don't know the lads but as Rovers were already turning 16 players out would be surprised if they all get a regular game. Will they end up just twiddling their thumbs or go out and sign for someone else?

Tbf they all played on Sunday apart from one who works most Sundays but I do agree that some will spend more time on the bench than playing.

A limit on squads is something they've done in Durham but they seemed to have a worse problem with it than the pools league does.

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Is he reliable Phil? We might be on the lookout for a decent striker, I'll speak to 3quid.

Yeah very, always turned up with us, very sound lad, lives in the new houses at west view.

what the Sunday footy leagues need is a sin bin..............

The over 40s, over 50s in particular generally are the last generation to have had some sort of job security and earned decent money, thus have money to go to the pub. It shocks me that whenever I go into a pub these days ( weekends apart) hardly anyone is aged under 50. Unless things change in this country and I can't see it to be honest, social drinking will be almost extinct within 20 years, with more pub/closures to come, which will surely impact on local football. A lot of younguns are out of work or on the minimum wage, they just don't have the money previous generations had, to make matters worse they probably have more things to spend their money on such as Sky/ mobile phones etc that the 80s youngun didn't have to worry about. Blackhall now down to 1 team in the village, now that over 40s and Old Boys are no more. Blackhall probably punched above their weight in the past but its a worrying sign.

'Kin ell Joe what your lads been doing. 3 cases on the website and a sine dine player.

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Had a lad sent off last month, chased him for the last few weeks for payment but no joy. We don't have enough in the club fund to cover it and I refuse to put a penny of my money in so FA suspended us as we didn't pay. They have lifted it so we can play Sunday but situation up in the air at the minute after Sunday.

with the greatest respect, large sections of that are bollocks. having been involved with sunday league footy for 25 years, the biggest issue I see with teams folding thru lack of numbers is more down to attitude than lack of cash. all these young paupers you mention have no problem hitting the town on a friday and saturday night, whether they're working or not. they just can't be arsed getting out of bed to play, as there has been a distinct shift in their outlook. the death of saturday and sunday afternoon footy, and the struggles on a sunday morning are primarily down to a lack of loyalty or sense of responsibility. they'll sign for a team, then have no compunction about fucking their team-mates off after a night out. there's just not the pull to make the effort, spew at halftime, then continue playing. dress it up any way you like but a bigger percentage of football-playing age lads in the town are feckless twats compared to ten/fifteen years ago.

Shit craic. Should be the lad banned from all football until he pays and then apply his ban.

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I tried to sort something out with the FA but they wouldn't budge, they only responded with "If you pay the fine we can keep the player suspended from all football until he pays you back" That doesn't help us at all as it would be money paid out that we will probably never see again. I think on this occasion the league stepped in and helped us out as I think they are worried about losing another team this season. The rule needs to change at grass-roots level though.

Certainly needs to be put on the players at this level.

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Only a 1-0 win for you lot Yubep? What's going on?

We had a decent 3-2 win today like

Great battle up at Seaton with us n the hotel, very tight game hard to seperate the sides.

Over the moon to win that one.

Someone needs to ask martin83 about the goal I scored past him yesterday

Hey martin tell us about that goal benjy bosh scored past you yesterday?

P.S. Does everyone have that final score app yet? Great little app for sunday league that

No, do any Hartlepool sunday teams use it?

Everyone on our team does, gives you up to date league tables results n fixtures by about 12:15 every sunday.

Ha was that you mate? I was minding my own business and you rudely got in the way by spanking that in.

Your first wasn't bad either.

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Have to download it see what its like, is it a Sky Sports app?

Ha aye that was me, no idea how I managed to hit the top corner I had been terrible all game

edited for accuracy

Helluva strike, got a hand to it but could couldn't get it round the post.

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Haha

If you'd have seen it Aido you wouldn't have believed it was me

That was a long 2 weeks!

What you reckon chances of games being on? Been a bit wet but hopefully the wind will have dried them out.

Our game might not even be going ahead, we are still suspended by the FA

Still no light at the end of the tunnel with that joe?

You may just have to pay the £30 to get it wiped from your club and try and claim it back at a later date from subs or summit, its not what you should have to do but i've been there done it and have learnt from it.

The pitches seemed ok at greys the other day i cant see any problems with call offs.

Nah, not even giving us that option. I've contacted the league see if they can do anything. It's a right pain in the arse, we are supposed to play Richies as well!!

Won't be the pitches the problem this weekend it will be the wind!!

No problem to us, ball on the deck team.

No game us, FA couldn't even be arsed to get back in touch with me...3 point deduction and a fine... Futures not looking good for us

Hi Joe

What is it you expect the FA or the league to do? As far as I can see they have applied the rules correctly.

I have two lads who owe my team money, totals £73. I'll never see it again, unfortunately that's part and parcel of running a club. You need decent lads who you are able to trust. Phil's idea is a good one, pay the fine and re-coup it from your current lads. If your current lads are not interested then your right, the future won't be looking good which would be a shame.

The trouble is with certain teams, its always someone elses fault, when the real problem is the rarfs that play for said teams. Always amazes me why some teams have decent lads running the team but they allow themselves to be continually let down by their players. Solution is as you say, get decent lads, scatter the rarfs, no fines, no dealings with FA. simples!

I took over the team season before last in July with a balance of £0, no sponsor,no equipment so finding £470 plus equipment fees in the space of 3 month was a task. I put the majority of the money in myself but took me til the end of that season to get that money back so I had a similar season last season. My first time running a team and I've learnt a hell of a lot, not trying to play any sort of sympathy card but it's Sunday league, not many new teams are financially established and stable, it's easier said than done "getting decent lads in and scattering the rarfs" The one thing that has annoyed me the most is the lack of communication back from the FA

£30 fines for being sent off are a bit stupid after all said and that amounts to 3hours pay to some.. No wonder some wrap in playing rather than pay up. As for stopping the full team playing how is that an example of the FA supporting the grassroots ? More like obtaining money with menace to me!


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Joe, I agree with a lot of what you say, I have ran a team myself and know how difficult it can be. There are decent lads out there who could replace the rarfs who are costing you money, sometimes you may have to sacrifice a higher league placing in the short term to accommodate a better behaved player ( in a lot of cases the bellends usually are better players unfortunately) but what the hell if it makes the experience more enjoyable then it is worth it. Once your group of players start enjoying the game then they may even start climbing the table once again, see Yubep for further details