Being a semi pro footballer myself I know how tough this life is, Some will say it’s tougher when you leave the full time game and drop into the non league cycle, but I’ll save that dilemma for another post. In my opinion not enough credit is given to those who play non league football and I’m going to explain why.
So where to start
In a life where majority of the players work 9-5, (Yes work 9-5) then have to be at a match come 6:30pm on a Tuesday night should tell you what direction this post is going in. Some players leave matches and go and work a night shift. As a non league player you learn a lot about yourself and dealing with situations and scenarios, its match day midweek game 7:45pm kick off, you have work till 5pm, you also need to prepare yourself for you evening game throughout the day, Water intake plus lunch and maybe a pre match meal. Now your normal professional player is at home relaxing before their game or moping around the team hotel if their game is away. Now there’s your first disadvantage, Preparation is key people will tell you, How do I prepare right if I work on a building site?, I’m not even speaking about nutrition, I’m putting up scaffolding all day, Drilling, Digging using energy that I need to use in the game in the evening, I also now need to think about eating the right food that’s going to give me what I need to then play the match. So yeah people will just say you need to organise yourself and get into a regime and a have structure for your evening games but it’s never as easy as that.
You have to play football for the love of the game something I’ve been told and heard many people say. But football cost to get to, the cost of travelling to games, training, leaving work means losing money, some players play for FREE and our still expected to give and show 100% commitment which the majority do however there is a bigger wider picture to everything, The average semi professional footballer will spend 2 evening plus a Saturday away from home, some have young families as well, So it’s understandable that if a player misses the odd session or games due to other commitments a manager needs to understand that.
Besides the fact of working all day a player is still expected to perform at a high level come match day, Some managers demand high performances week in week out, which is understandable, but with 4 hours contact time with players there is only so much you can do in that time to prepare for games, if you play Tuesday you only then train Thursday but as a player, you player Tuesday then have to work Wednesday morning so you never really get a rest during the week for you to recover.
From my personal experience of playing non league I believe I’m one the lucky ones who work in a football environment, So my bosses understand how important it is to prepare right for games, Being allowed to leave maybe that 1 hour earlier saves so much rushing around and stressing about if you’re going to be on time or not.
Finding a balance between work/personal life and football is one of the biggest challenges faced. For a lot football is a release from work and family life, but still need to dedicate themselves to being ready for a game at the weekend or a Tuesday night.
Let’s talk about something I touched on earlier, Wages!
Right let’s talk about the players who train twice a week and play Saturdays and do not get paid a penny not even their expenses and yet still turn up week in week out. So effectively it’s costing them to play for their clubs but they still show commitment and turn up, Some will say “ They knew what they were getting into” which yes is very true but if everyone had that same mind set then we wouldn’t have certain clubs like Romford. I have the upmost respect for everyone at Romford FC for what they do, because it can’t be easy giving that sort of dedication with no financial reward. Again I’m not saying that all players play non league for the money because not all do. However it’s refreshing to see what goes on at Romford FC.
I recently had a chat with a good friend of mine who plays in the National League South, He’s picking £325 a week at that level which totals up to £1300 a month he also works a full time job in the city, You may be reading this thinking that sounds like a very good income and life, He himself finds it hard to commit himself to playing football it takes him 1 hour to get from work to football on a good day. He has a child which on a Thursday he’s responsible for picking his little boy up from nursery at 6:30pm which means he’s unable to train for his club. As committed as he is to his football, Family always come first no matter what.
So pat on the back of those who have to take some half days off at work to travel and lose money to get to midweek games. The players who after Doing a hard days graft on buildings site or the plummer, plasterer, electrician it’s tiring and mentally draining but then they have to prepare themselves to play a evening game at an optimum level (Easy right).
I will end on this, Some players are playing for no money like i said earlier or for little money on pitches that aren’t worthy of playing Sunday league on, To then get home late and miss out on family life and then having to get up early for work the next day.
Thanks For reading my blog.
Getting the right formula of players and coaches is probably one of the hardest things to do in non-league. If a team manages to get this right, I believe this will always lead to bigger and better things. From winning silverware, players moving up the step ladder and even coaches gaining stronger roles – if the mentality and atmosphere at the is right, this gives the club a foundation to work with.
Who would have thought i would have ended up in New Zealand. Hands down the best decision I’ve ever made in football, being able to explore another part of the world, as well as play football and have a role in coaching the younger generation. So far it’s been an experience but weird at the same time.
Life outside the game 