The Middlesex County Sunday Football League will have a new name included for the 2021/22 season in Middlesex Arms FC. They will be jointly manager by Jamie Gourey and Ryan Hope who will also play for the team as well. TheColdEnd spoke to Jamie about the formation of the team and his hopes for the coming seasons. The team will have players from step five to seven of the non-league ladder who have played to a decent level as well as some played who are bit more raw to eleven-a-side football. In Jamie's words 'We are friends first and a football club second' which is a great motto to have for a Sunday League Team.
When was the team formed and where does the name come from? Why was the team formed?
The team was formed in the early months of 2021 by a few of us friends who used to watch Queens Park Rangers together. We all had a joint love of watching and playing football so decided to form a team. We sat down and decided we would play for our local pub The Middlesex Arms hence the name. A short discussion with the manager of the pub (Andy) and we was given the green light to use the name. We struck a deal financially for pitch hire and a good food & drink package after games every Sunday.
Where do you see the team in the next few years?
In the next few years I definitely see the team winning leagues and challenging for promotion. With the players we have at our disposal we should definitely be capable of numerous promotions through the divisions. The aims of the team are to be up there and challenging for the title every year. We all dream of playing in cup finals having our families come down and watch us so a good cup run would be nice too.
How much does it cost to get a game on at your level of football?
So once the lockdown ended we decided to all meet up and have a first training session at our local park in Ruislip. We decided that due to current situation we wanted play friendlies as quick as we could as we didn’t know whether or not we would be placed into another lockdown again. Our first match as a club took place at Larkspur Rovers FC on a Wednesday evening against a side from the Harrow League called Woodlands United. The cost for pitch and ref hire is in the region of £120 each fixture. A standard referee fee of £40 and then around £80 for the hiring of the pitch. Larkspur Rovers is where we eventually have played every friendly game up to do date. Some pitches are obviously more than £80 to hire for games but a rough ball park figure is usually £70-£100.
Where will you be playing your home games for 2021/22?
At the minute we do not have a home ground. We wanted to ground share with our friends over at Larkspur Rovers but I don’t think is possible as they have three senior teams as well as a ladies team and youth teams all playing on Sunday mornings. We have contacted a few other places enquiring about pitch availability for the upcoming season but all are unavailable. If anyone is reading this knows of a pitch available in the Ruislip area please contact our twitter account.
How can the Football Association and local FA's improve the game at grassroots level?
In my opinion the way the FA and local FA’s could help improve grassroots football is with equipment. The cost of running a football team is roughly about 2-3k a season so players usually are paying £100 to £150 a season in subs to keep their clubs and teams going. Things like pitch maintenance is also something else, you come across a lot of pitches at grassroots level that aren’t fit to walk the dog on let alone play a game of football on.
Grass or 3G/4G pitches? What do you prefer to play on?
The Grass vs artificial pitch debate always come up a lot and I always give the same answer, Grass! In my opinion you cannot beat a perfectly cut and watered grass pitch. Football is meant to be played on grass so I will always give that as my answer. With that being said the standard of some artificial pitches are top notch and usually if you play your matches on 3G/4G you would stand a better chance of your game still being on come a Sunday morning after heavy rainfall.
What do you think of the sin bin rule that's been brought in at grass roots level?
Should it be brought in at Premier League level?
Should it be brought in at Premier League level?
I have never been a fan of the sin bin rule, I believe players should be allowed to vent frustration to a certain extent. The standard of refereeing at grassroots level is not the best if I am being honest. I myself have fallen victim to the sin bin rule on a couple of occasions for literally nothing. When we play football we play with passion and when something doesn’t go your way you are allowed to be annoyed and vent frustration. I believe referees are too quick to give players the sin bin at this level and it usually ruins the game. What I don’t agree on however is abuse towards referees and any abuse is worthy of the sin bin 100%. I do not think this is something that should be implemented in the game as there was nothing wrong with a simple yellow and red card. If this was bought into the premier league you’d have teams playing with 10 men or less every week. I am firmly against it.
Will you have any local rivals in the new league?
I don’t think we as of yet have formed any sort of rivalry. In our third game as a team we played a team called North West Jets who liked to give a lot of verbal on the pitch. They were on an unbeaten run of their own and came into the game thinking they would roll us over and it couldn’t have been more the opposite. They were given a lesson as they lost 3-1. They wanted to start arguments and it worked to our advantage as we got the job done. If I was to say we had a rival it would be them.
MIDDLESEX ARMS FC friendly results so far:
12/05/2021 - Woodlands United L 2-4
19/5/2021 - Hare & Hounds W 8-5
26/5/2021 - North West Jets W 3-1
2/6/2021 - Woodlands United W 8-3
9/6/2021 - Besingby Park Rangers W 3-2
16/6/2021 - Hare & Hounds W 11-2
23/6/2021 - Larkspur Rovers Sunday W 6-1
Please give Middlesex Arms a follow on twitter @MiddlesexArmsFC or on Insta @middlesexarmsfc.
Middlesex Arms FC are proudly sponsored by Shutters West London who pride themselves on a wide product range of fitted shutters, full height shutters, cafe style, exterior and interior shutters. All are available in different woods, colours, finishes and beautiful shutter styles. They provide quality shutters in Ealing, Ruislip and across West London.
The Middlesex Arms Pub is in South Ruislip close to the tube station - their website can be found here - Middlesex Arms
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