Park Football - The Dying Game

I hope all amateur footballers read this.

I have been a long serving player to the Sussex leagues for the last 16 years. I am currently inactive due to retiring because of ongoing injuries. I still however attend local games. Recently the Green Party decided on hiking the price of pitch fees by 43%! That is a massive increase and one which teams can ill afford. A dear friend of mine runs a league which is made up from recently released criminals and former drug abusers. The league is a lifeline for these individuals who stuggle with realities of their past and the impact it has had on them finding jobs as well as hobbies. Tomorrow I will be attending a protest which is being made at Preston Park which is a local football pitch. Local press will be in attendance and we are hoping to raise the awareness of this ridiculous decision and raise numbers in protest against what is a political decision made for the government to obtain land for redevelopment. My friend who runs his league has told me his pitch fee's will rocket from £50 a week to £80 a week under the new tariff. For him it may mean bringing an end to his league as he will have to charge his teams even more and in the current climate this is too much for them to even burden. I will collaborate with managers and chairmans in the leagues to set up a website and get a petition going and see if we can get one going nationally as I will assume other districts may soon be feeling the pain. The Green Party are keen to build on 4 pitches at place called Braypool. It serves matches for kids football through to seniors football. It also hosts many cricket matches in the summer too. The Green Party's view is that they want to build a campsite for travellers. This is completely unacceptable and this is not taking into account the surrounding farm lands that will be vulnerable to crime and also the RSPCA which shelters many homeless animals, some left behind by travellers and how walking the dogs will now not be a viable option. Leagues being priced out of football will also see a rise in obesity in both adults and kids who rely on football as a weekly activity. I was lucky to finish playing when I did because the councils placed the responsibility of any damage to the fields and changing rooms on football clubs and they were suffering financial penalties that they were not responsible for. To cut it short the government are trying to price families out of sporting activities by these increases.

Please do tell me if you are experiencing the same financial difficulties imposed by local councils.

As a former council leisure officer I can tell you the upkeep of a football pitch is fairly expensive. Little things like marking the pitch, netts, changing room locking cleaning etc will probably cost more than £80 a week.

For the players to pay the cost of a pint of beer to have a game is a reasonable cost. They would think nothing of making that payment if they used an indoor or sixes pitch.