The football phenomenon that is delivering the promise and ambition of amateur football
The rise in popularity of small-sided football is evident as small synthetic pitches pop up around the world, and hype grows through international events such as Adidas Tango, F5WC Tournament and Red Bull's Neymar Jnr 5's.
The rise of five-a-side football suits today's lifestyle time restraints, as people are increasingly not able to spend all Sunday morning or afternoon to play a game. With venues offering flexible trading hours and freedom from time-consuming fundraising, volunteering and social participation of tradition association sports.
Furthermore, the lack of sports funding, ageing public facilities and some very open peak body in-house fighting only add to a fundamental shift in how we consume sporting activities as a society.
Five-a-side games are now reinvigorating what football means to the individual.
For those of you already in the know, that feeling you get as your group chat lights up on your mobile you never hear; they drop into our eleven-a-side game… No, we play five-a-side!
The five-a-side phenomenon is delivering the promise and ambition of amateur football.
A football family that manages to be an intensely intricate weave of micro-cultures. With dads who play with their lads, brothers who use the synthetic turf pitches as a gladiatorial arena for sibling rivalry, and a weekly catch up for mates who kit up and take out the week's frustrations on each other.
A semi-professional football career, two knee reconstructions, and divorce later; the weekly need to play ball outlives many relationships and life experiences. The urge to one-up your mate, make that tackle or to hit that top right corner, is the little voice in your head that tells you to stop for that hour a week, keeps you living like a teenager, in touch with your best mates and your childhood football fantasies.
Furthermore, a place where ex Socceroos stars watch their young legacy find their feet, with newly arrived refugees come together and where a group of old mates get a chance to re-live their glory days.
In the heartland of Australian football, Western Sydney, a little slice off authentically imperfect football culture has a beating heart in Revesby, Bankstown.
Built by the people for the people where anyone regardless of income, club affiliation or ability, have access to state of the art all synthetic weather pitches. A clubhouse filled with football memorabilia and sofas to spend hours disagreeing about the EPL highlights, the politics of A-League and making your case to defend the GOAT's of football.
Every night the pitch lights up, boots leave filled with sand infill, and players leave with a week's worth of stories, jokes and maybe a few bruises both physical and to the ego.
Through a collection of staff, spectators and players who live for the banter…..
We are football!