You’ve done the hardest part, organised a game. You are a wizard when it comes to all things turf and boots. You have done your research and packed your first kit bag.
Having a game will be such a positive experience, for many, it will be their first, hopefully a great one and you’ll want to be back for more.
And that’s when the challenge starts all over again. A lot of you will have been in this position before.
Trying to keep the interest flowing and getting people to come back week after week can be a tiresome task. But by adding value to your games can really help, doing a bit of groundwork now and connecting it to your games can make the whole experience far more enjoyable.
The key is to make it a mini event each week. Making people feel like they are part of something more, expanding it further to off the pitch activities, with social hook-ups, special nights, awards, getting charity involved, getting a team kit etc.
Try setting up an Instagram and a blog. Chart your story visually and narratively and get people involved in the process. Everyone loves a good story, add to it, the theme of soccer, and you already have a match made in heaven.
Below are a few ideas that we at FC Se7en are hoping to incorporate into our games. We’ve said before that we (like FC Barcelona) are “mes que un club” (hold on, lemme google translate that:“More than a Club”), so get the orange slices out and read on:-
Kit: You might think it’s a bit over the top to have a team kit. But that’s before you don your pristine shirts on. Pulling on a jersey that everyone else on your team is wearing, brings the whole thing together.
All this, for real, makes a huge difference. What’s more is that when you run out on the footy pitch, you’ll make your opponents shake in their boots. Seeing you in your shiny new kit can give you the edge psychologically and just makes you look more professional.
You don’t have to wear the kit for your casual kickaround (in fact we encourage people to mix it up with training wear and replicas of your favourite teams and popular foreign ones), but if you avoid all the pitfalls we’ve mentioned in previous posts, and actually get a regular group of lads and lasses involved, you may step up and enter a league and cup tournament.
Looking the part is key. There’s a lot of cheap options (there will be a separate post charting the story of the FC SE7EN kit and logo, the colours, background etc later) out there, and buying wholesale can reduce the price to way less than an individual shirt. Nicknames on the back of the shirt, your own team logo and numbers can mix of banter to the idea too! Let your creative juices go wild, it’s always nice to have a background story but just as good is showcasing your multi-coloured designs too. Getting together to discuss ideas can be part of the fun!
Leagues: We touched on it above. Football is great when it comes to a kickaround, but once you and your teammates have got a few games under your belt, you might want to test your mettle against others.
What better than to add a bit of competitive spice to the mixer. A league gives you a narrative, and there are plenty 5,6,7 and full blown 11-a-side organisations out there.
The huge benefit that comes with joining a league is that the price you pay per game often comes out lower than single game bookings. Plus, you sometimes get a free kit, a referee, and all the organising is done for you. Really can take a huge weight off your shoulders if your dude or dudette doing all the donkey work. Most of the leagues out there are short and sweet so are done and dusted within a few weeks, if you’re concerned about a full blown 8-month season. Some places throw in a cup competition for free too.
Weekend Tournaments: Following on from the above, there are also a variety of 1-day tournaments throughout the year. They range from skill level and some are charity events, so it’s all for a good cause. I have some great memories of sunny Saturdays and spending a few hours playing for my Cubs team, the 6th Sittingbourne Eagles. Donning that incredibly itchy red and yellow kit some how seemed worth it. What’s good about these tournaments is that it’s a great chance to play at least a few competitive games of footy during the morning/afternoon, make friends, memories and usually it’s all for a good cause. Follow it with a trip to the pub…
The Pub: It doesn’t need to be the pub and the drinks don’t have to be alcoholic (trust me, a water, cola or OJ, will be quite thirst quenching after a tough game, at the beginning at least). But it’s nice to have an option to go somewhere afterwards, to digest the game and mainly engage in some professional banting. For Frodo, Cosby, Jumbo, ManBaby, it’s the only thing they are good at, it certainly isn’t footy.
Another idea worth incorporating into the pub sessions is linking them up with major footballing events. Everyone loves watching the World Cup, Euros, Champions League games and the FA Cup final. Let’s start promoting the Women’s World Cup and WSL too! You can have themed nights and go all out, so let your imagination run wild!
Training: You don’t have to always have a kick around every week, there’s going to be some weeks when you simply don’t have the numbers (Frodo’s Sudoku night is becoming a serious competitor to us).
Doesn’t necessarily mean you have to waste your time and money turning up at a pitch with 3 of you.
Organise an impromptu training session. Tight tackling, dribbling and running exercises can improve people’s skills.
Go for a run, some people will be keen to get their fitness up, so this can help. Making it part of a routine and with a bunch of people you have camaraderie with, can make it so much easier to get through than ploughing through the rain on our your own. Mix it up, change the run routes, make it scenic, or even football themed.
We’re lucky that near our work place we have the River Thames, Chelsea and Fulham football grounds.
Awards and Award Night: Another nice feature are funny awards and pinging out an awards night invite to go along with it come the season's end. Man of the Match, Golden Glove, Golden Boot, Ballon d’Or and Goal of the Season awards are just some of the ideas we are planning. Add a bit of banter, with worst goalkeeper, most improved player and sick note trophies. They are cheap to buy online and again, ADD VALUE to your whole setup.
Women’s Night: We are bordering getting enough women involved now to at least setup a mixed footy side if not a full-blown FC Se7en Femenino side.
If you too are lucky enough to be in this great position, then why not start having a women’s night, where the girls can take part in their own environment, investigate mixed or women’s leagues. Like I said earlier, you could pair the nights with footballing events like the Women’s World Cup. Use these ideas to push the game out to more women and expand your membership list. We at FC7 are about making football better. All forms of the games.
Charity Events: Another great idea is getting involved in charity events. Soccer has it’s ills, much like society in general, but it’s an amazing unifying force too. Use your team to promote charity, there are so many people in need, what’s better than playing football, having fun while at the same time raising money for good causes.
You could organise your own tournament, just use your blog as a foundation. Footy has done a lot for raising awareness. The women’s game, LGBT rights, kicking racism out, depression have all had the spotlight and we are FC7 are firmly in the belief that we can all do more. We raised over £2500 for Great Ormond Street Hospital with our 1st Festival of Footy at work.
Internet Presence: I created this blog not just for enjoyment and a way to document our journey as FC7. But in the hope that others could use it as inspiration. We are “mes que un club” and with that comes responsibility.
As a minimum we hope this blog brings you a bit of joy but as a maximum if we get more people into the game, then we have achieved more than we initially could of hoped for. It’s a useful way to photo-capture your games.
The slant your web presence takes is completely up to you. Photo libraries, narrative match reports, raising awareness to certain causes, they can all be achieved. I’ve learnt loads about website, photography and design from doing this blog. And it’s actually a lot of fun. Get people involved, do interviews (we’re planning that), show piece articles, please feel free to us as a template or source of ideas.
Photos: I touched on it above, but twinned with your blog, you can maybe create an Instagram or Pinterest page. One thing we found out quick, was that our library of current action shots, weren’t quite up to scratch. If you have a photographer amongst your number then great, but a half decent camera or phone will do the trick. No one needs to be David Bailey!
If your trying to encourage more people to take part in your weekly kick about then action photos are the way to go. Pictures tell a thousand words, so post away. Linked to this, we started designing posters, we have 5 floors at our workplace, so we created a different one for each one. You can create simple ones, but part of the fun is expanding your own skill set and knocking something up which is a little more eye catching than a Word or PowerPoint file.
You’re trying to get more people involved, if they take a few minutes to read your eye-catching posters, then you have succeeded already!
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