Football is a fantastic sport. Not because on how beautiful the game can be on the pitch. But on how it can bring people together. Regardless of background or role, they play towards the sport.
Everyone, all in it for the sincere love of the beautiful game.
Be that as it may, deep down inside, as a football fan watching other people, professionals mostly. Seeing them playing the game on the football field. Our feet itch. We want to play too, but where and how to get involved?
Growing up, during most evenings, remembers heading to the location in the neighborhood.
Where friends from the area gather to play the simplest form of the game on whatever flat surface is available, be it a parking lot, or an unmaintained sports court or a park with enough flat surface to play a game of 3-a-side.
More or less the same, if you grew up in a boarding school. Most evenings, with the chance to head over to the school field, to play a pick-up game with your friends and schoolmates.
Those were the days.
Nowadays, some of us still have the passion for keeping on going to play football in the social football league. Some of us for their own respective and legitimate reason decided to stop playing. Some of us, just discovering this new and exciting world of social football including social football leagues.
What is social football?
Well, it is in the name, social, football. Social football is a great avenue to enjoy playing with family, friends, neighbors, people from work, random people from social media. In an environment that suits the differing needs of the participants involved. Like the length of the game, players per team, and other modified rules that will make the game fun, competitive, exciting, and socially inclusive for everyone involved.
Social football comes in various different forms, including, 5-a-side, 6-a-side, 7-a-side, futsal, mixed futsal, mixed football, and so on.
When there’s a consistent and positive demand from the community, to upscale social football, coupled with good timing for the people who organize social football events. A social football league is the next natural step from the organizers and participants.
Additionally, it creates an open invitation outside the constant social circle to get involved, meet, and play new people.
From there, social football leagues can go towards many directions, depending on the motivation of respective league organizers.
Either it can start being ambitious, competitive, and determined to build a social football league that could be close to rivaling the amateur football league set up by the nation’s football association. Or keep to its belief and understanding that social football should be maintained as a place where people can just gather to play for fun.
Both motivations have their own respective advantages and disadvantages.
But overall positive as it can accommodate the needs of the individual who’s looking to improve him or herself in terms of football pedigree in the competitive social leagues. Or looking to have a place to just play football for fun, meet, and make new friends as well as maintain an everlasting bond between old friends.
In the introduction, I mentioned on where and how to get involved in the social football. In terms of social media platform, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and everything in between.
The social football community scene in Klang Valley area mostly resides on Instagram.
From social football teams, social football leagues, social football groups, and everything in between. Keep an eye out for them on Instagram.
As a start, do follow them, get in touch with them, keep on searching on Instagram, gradually you may find what you want in terms of wanting to get involved in playing social football.
Call it social football, amateur football, community-social football, or grassroots football, it is the same thing.
It is the most basic level of football played and organized by people like you and me who loves the beautiful game. Regardless of background. Social football is the place where everyone is welcome to participate actively on and off the pitch.
Like any other social sports is important for a lot of people to form and maintain friendships that may otherwise not exist.
The bond build over time, among people involved in social football, is so strong that when you look at the majority of social football teams Instagram page, you can see how close they, like family.
Editor’s note: This article is written by Khal, a freelance writer at Padang Bola Sepak. He can be reached via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Picture credits: bobaifc.my, Klang Valley League, Super Bobai Cup, Football Selangor, The Foot Souls, TPD FC, and Klasiko FC