Mums to invade pitch in over-35s soccer
FED up with watching from the sidelines, “soccer mums” will take to the field this year as part of a new competition in the Granville association.
An over-35s age group for woman has been introduced to cater to the growing numbers of women playing the game.
The Winston Hills club will field two teams in the competition, and secretary Julie Sykes was looking forward to it.
“This is a huge bonus for women’s soccer and hopefully other associations will take it up,” she said.
“It’s getting more ladies involved who wouldn’t play otherwise.
“They might be watching their 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds play who don’t need them to drive them around anymore, and it gives them something to do.”
While the men have enjoyed such a competition for years, their partners can finally do likewise.
The women will play 30 minutes a half on Friday nights, over 14 rounds.
While some of the Winston Hills players have played in all-age teams, Mrs Sykes said the concept had also attracted newcomers.
She attributed that to the shortened games.
“For a 35-year-old to start playing soccer, they might be quite fit, but to play 45 minutes a half is quite daunting,” she said.
“But 30 minutes is like a netball game, and there is less stress on the legs than netball.”
While the new competition doesn’t kick off until April 29, most soccer players will take to the fields across Holroyd and Parramatta on Saturday for round one of the boys’ and men’s competitions.
Granville and Districts Soccer Football Association executive director Howard Groom said 12,060 people had registered to play in the association this year.
This compared well with last year’s figure of 13,100, as many clubs still expected late registrations for 2011.
Three clubs - Lidcombe Churches, Our Lady Queen of Peace and St Bernadettes - have joined the association this year in a sign of the continuing decline of the churches competition.