Real Football

[WOODLANDSWOLF]

These kids are lucky, they seem to have a reasonably sized piece of ground to play on. We had a small piece of ground called the "The Patch" but the council in their wisdom put a no ball games sign up on it. Didn't stop us of course, just posted two younger kids as look outs for the local Bobby.

On the famous nights when the mighty Wanderers played against the giants of Europe in the fifties we were allowed to stay out late and kick the ball around on the patch to the sounds of the roars from the Molineux three miles away. Very special.

The most intensive games were the two a side "FA Cup" games played with a tennis ball in the street using our front gate and the one opposite as goals. Over a week we did the whole thing, did a full draw with all the eligible clubs and slowly whittled them down to the last two. Early rounds were first to ten, semi's to fif**** and the cup final a full first to twenty. The semi's were played on a neutral ground which was my mates house a few doors down but the final was played at the top of the road because the two posh [ for Bushbury] houses had fancy wrought Iron gates, our Wembly.

Do kids do this kind of stuff any more?

[Wolfiebill]

Re "Do kids do this kind of stuff any more?" ... No, but they are brilliant at Football Manager 2019 !!

[abbobrom]

Good memories Woody. As a kid I spent hours out side riding a bike, playing on roller skates, making trolleys and throwing arrows. Football in the road was a favourite and all scattering if the odd car appeared.. The evenings were often spent playing 'tin can annie' or hide and seek. We used to go out in the morning in weekends or holidays, return occasionally for food, and stay out till my father called us to feed the rabbits. You never disobeyed him or you had the buckle end of his belt. Great time to grow up in the fifties, we had proper snow falls then. Snowball fights were great, especially if some grown ups were involved, and how we survived those crashes from sledges, know one knows.

You very rarely see kids out playing anymore, as Wolfiebill says they are great at computer games but very unfit..

[MichiganWolf]

I can’t speak as to how it is in the UK, but here in the States, there are just fewer and fewer public spaces for kids to do these kinds of things. Kids used to play baseball, roller hockey, basketball and soccer in the streets. But there’s so many cars, it’s a death trap even in a suburb. And public transportation here sucks so kids can’t get to the public fields unless they’re within walking distance. I see a decent amount of kids on basketball courts - because there’s a lot of them - but not really any of the others sports.

I don’t envy raising a kid during these times. So many things competing for their attention.

[nortonwolf]

These kids are lucky, they seem to have a reasonably sized piece of ground to play on. We had a small piece of ground called the "The Patch" but the council in their wisdom put a no ball games sign up on it. Didn't stop us of course, just posted two younger kids as look outs for the local Bobby.

On the famous nights when the mighty Wanderers played against the giants of Europe in the fifties we were allowed to stay out late and kick the ball around on the patch to the sounds of the roars from the Molineux three miles away. Very special.

The most intensive games were the two a side "FA Cup" games played with a tennis ball in the street using our front gate and the one opposite as goals. Over a week we did the whole thing, did a full draw with all the eligible clubs and slowly whittled them down to the last two. Early rounds were first to ten, semi's to fif**** and the cup final a full first to twenty. The semi's were played on a neutral ground which was my mates house a few doors down but the final was played at the top of the road because the two posh [ for Bushbury] houses had fancy wrought Iron gates, our Wembly.

Do kids do this kind of stuff any more?

I grew up in a village with a park and football pitch, so it was classic 'jumpers for goal posts' for me. Three and in if there were only a few or a more conventional game if there were more. I was quite obsessed with football in my mid to late ****s, five a side on a Tuesday night at the local sports hall followed by joining in the local Sunday leagues sides training straight after if they needed an extra player. Played for the school on Saturday morning and then in the Wolverhampton and District League Saturday afternoon, followed by Sunday morning in the Wolverhampton Sunday League... Watched as many Wolves games as I could around my hectic playing schedule.

In answer to your question I rarely see kids playing in the local parks any more, only one or two organised games run by parents...