JUMPERS FOR GOALPOSTS

What a shame that when we look around us and something you would see in every street is not visable anymore. Any given chance boys would gather and out would come the Football, or should i say Tennis ball ! Which would be produced from their trousers pocket.

The school playground was where you as a child would first encounter the playing of the greatest game in the world. Many a scuffed shoe would power a shot like Bobby Charlton and tackle like Bobby Moore. Every playtime in junior school, mates would gather, sides were picked and games were played as if they were the cup final. In my school we were lucky as one wall in the playground had a goal painted onto it, and we all wanted to attack that end. When we went to secondary school and we progressed from concrete to grass and again played every break and lunchtime, jumpers were layed out for goals, and matches were played.What joy going into lessons sweating from our big match and grass stains on our uniform. After school, summer holidays, the park was our destination as we progressed from everyone chasing the same ball to choosing a  position to play in. I do believe that we would produce more gifted footballers in this country if the kids of today could play safely on our streets with just a tennis ball and a wall. Most of our past greats came about from learning our great game from doing this at every given opportunity.