Portslade Athletic FC
Club News
How to make a brighter future?
There seems to be growing concern regarding the current state of the Brighton Football League. Given this I would like you all to read the below.
Over the last few seasons the number, and arguably the standard (in terms of respectability), of teams that make up the league we compete in has declined considerably.
Before I move on to different eventualities and options I just want to ensure that everyone is clearly aware that Portslade Athletic as a club is only interested in providing its players with the best and most enjoyable footballing experience it possibly can, we are a social club and while there is without doubt aspirations to progress, as should always be the way, we will always put the interest of our members first. All that we ask in return from you is that you respect the club and conduct yourself in the way we would like our rivals to conduct themselves towards us. The FA's respect campaign is in full swing and this is something we should aspire to.
I would like you all to read this with care, not just scan over it, as I would like each one of you to add your comments. I would like to know what you have and have not enjoyed about this season, from your experience of being around the club and its members to your involvement at games both home and away.
As of next season the council are proposing to increase pitch fees by 43%. This of course will then be passed on by the League to its clubs. This means the cost of hosting a home match will be in the region of £120 (including the referee), you all know how much you each pay in subs and can all work out we would ultimately be running at a loss. Aside from this the Brighton, Hove & District Football League are holding ongoing talks with the Worthing Football League regarding the falling number of teams. However, any amalgamation between the two will not take effect, if at all, until after next season.
You may be wondering where this is leading. As a club we are not bound to play in any one league system, it is our choice to apply to compete in a number of alternative district league set-ups. Of course, the Brighton league offers an ideal locality but maybe also offers the down side in terms of the footballing experience as a whole. Unfortunately, all other alternatives will also have their pros and cons in equal measure. The Worthing league may well be able to offer a larger number of matches but they are not in a dissimilar position to our league with their numbers also slowly decreasing. The Mid-Sussex league would most likely offer the most enjoyable experience, but the extra travelling may detract from this, likewise with the West Sussex League. The grass is not always greener but it does not hurt to have a look.
In time the clubs committee will meet and discuss in depth the options available, and it will ultimately come down to this committee to make a decision on behalf of the club. However, as I stated previously, the best decision we can make will be the one that is in the best interest of you, the player. So please, please, please leave your comments and suggestions below. If you don't want your thoughts aired publicly then you know how to contact me directly. We can not make a decision that pleases everyone but without contribution from all of you we may make a decision that pleases no one.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Before I move on to different eventualities and options I just want to ensure that everyone is clearly aware that Portslade Athletic as a club is only interested in providing its players with the best and most enjoyable footballing experience it possibly can, we are a social club and while there is without doubt aspirations to progress, as should always be the way, we will always put the interest of our members first. All that we ask in return from you is that you respect the club and conduct yourself in the way we would like our rivals to conduct themselves towards us. The FA's respect campaign is in full swing and this is something we should aspire to.
I would like you all to read this with care, not just scan over it, as I would like each one of you to add your comments. I would like to know what you have and have not enjoyed about this season, from your experience of being around the club and its members to your involvement at games both home and away.
As of next season the council are proposing to increase pitch fees by 43%. This of course will then be passed on by the League to its clubs. This means the cost of hosting a home match will be in the region of £120 (including the referee), you all know how much you each pay in subs and can all work out we would ultimately be running at a loss. Aside from this the Brighton, Hove & District Football League are holding ongoing talks with the Worthing Football League regarding the falling number of teams. However, any amalgamation between the two will not take effect, if at all, until after next season.
You may be wondering where this is leading. As a club we are not bound to play in any one league system, it is our choice to apply to compete in a number of alternative district league set-ups. Of course, the Brighton league offers an ideal locality but maybe also offers the down side in terms of the footballing experience as a whole. Unfortunately, all other alternatives will also have their pros and cons in equal measure. The Worthing league may well be able to offer a larger number of matches but they are not in a dissimilar position to our league with their numbers also slowly decreasing. The Mid-Sussex league would most likely offer the most enjoyable experience, but the extra travelling may detract from this, likewise with the West Sussex League. The grass is not always greener but it does not hurt to have a look.
In time the clubs committee will meet and discuss in depth the options available, and it will ultimately come down to this committee to make a decision on behalf of the club. However, as I stated previously, the best decision we can make will be the one that is in the best interest of you, the player. So please, please, please leave your comments and suggestions below. If you don't want your thoughts aired publicly then you know how to contact me directly. We can not make a decision that pleases everyone but without contribution from all of you we may make a decision that pleases no one.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
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Paul
I agree that the price hike from the council is disgusting as the standard of those pitches is terrible so you would have to ask yourself would the increase on pitch hire be spent on improving pitches and facilities? I think that we can all work that one out.
It would appear that the standard of attitudes from certain clubs has tarnished the reputation of this league as we all want to play competitive, fast and physical football but also come away and shake the hand of the opposing team win, lose or draw.
But not be threatened, abused or risk being hospitalised because of some pent up idiots who are looking for a fight and have no sense of competition.
But reading you match report from saturday about the first team game it would appear that "supporters" of the opposing team can not be controlled by the ref (in fear) and that intimidates and influences match results which is not fair in terms of competition.
I love playing for this football club, we have a fantastic attitude and always conduct ourselves well on and off the pitch and if it means moving to another league to play against teams with a like-minded nature then i think it's a no brainer for me
I agree with Lewis.
The Mid-Sussex league would surely be the best option. its just whether all the players are happy to have a little bit of extra travel time... I'm fine with it.
My views are this:
- the club is amazing: we don;t deserve to get the abuse we do on saturdays
- The Brighton league is gash: they screw us over when there is a little bit of rain, and they don't do anything to stop thugs playing
- Brighton council is stupid: council putting fees up is so so so stupid. The guys who we play on saturday, might not be the nicest people, but at least they are beating someone up on a saturday afternoon and at least they are contained somewhat by the rules of people. Brighton council being so ignorant is a joke. What is tha park going to be used for if football isnt played on it? graffiti and dog poo. joke. scum.
- The referees are even worse: this season ive seen the worst referees ive ever witnessed in my life
So what solutions are there?
I reckon, like mickey and lewis, join the mid sussex league or county reserves league with the aim of making county one day.
Lets try to get a proper pitch as well if we can.
And lets make an effort to keep getting players which makes the club a special team to play for.
I've only been a part of this club for half a season, but its plain to see that we play football well within the spirit of the game.
There aren't many teams like ours, but I feel wherever we go we'll find yobs on opposing teams.
Are we guaranteed greener grass in a different league? Are we assured to have better referees?
My question is this, shouldn't we be tackling the FA and the council over this? Is there other clubs in the league whom feel the same as us? Strength in numbers! The council would have no choice but to conform if teams start to boycott the league.
The FA have no option but to listen to us, due to their zero tolerance policy, they have to enforce sanctions.
I'll follow the team wherever they go. I don't travel an hour on a bus on Tuesday nights out of convenience, I do it 'cause I want to play football. I know whatever the club does, there will be a great bunch of lads with it.
I agree with Lewis the pitches are awful especially
The goal areas and the white lines difficult to see
Sometimes. I am up for changing leagues if it meas
We will have better referees and pitches. How much was
It for the waterhall 3G pitch if it similar in price wouldnt mind
That for a ground.
First thing I think is that the pitches countywide are all probably the same standard i.e poor. So moving leagues wouldn't neccesasrily change that, although the other leagues presumably wouldn't charge as much as the outrageous Brighton council wants to.
I would personally be prepared to pay more in subs, or take part in fund-raising events for the club, if it would mean we could find ourselves a quality pitch somewhere that actually has some kind of maintenance. I would even help maintain it if needed!
A few points Sean makes I especially agree with- if the possibility is there to join county reserves league then it's something we should consider; if not that then games of a good nature (and fewer injuries) in the mid-sussex league would probably be worth the extra half hour's drive.
My thoughts on the standard of refereeing this season has been well documented. OK they are entitled to mistakes, this isn't the Premiership afterall, but the complete lack of common sense and the refereeing to the letter of the law has been shocking, from the very first game! The only yellow card of my whole career came about because the number of mistakes and lack of independant refereeing just became a joke.
The standard of opposition is fairly poor, and more often than not they are more interested in trying to kick lumps out of you rather than kicking the ball into the net. To be honest I don't want to spend half of my weekend in a park with some mindless knuckle-dragging idiot trying to kung-foo kick my face off. Sometimes I think training on a Tuesday night should be with Mr Miyagi learning self defence, rather than trying to bend a ball into the top corner. As it happens I actually quite like playing football!
I agree with Sean's comments about joining the County reserves, although I don't know how viable that would be? Could we ground share? I also agree with Lewis and Rob about jumping ship. Yes the grass is not always greener, but for me it is a no-brainer. I would rather take the risk with a new league in the hope that the standard/refs are better, than have to play against Falmer Falcons, Hair Razors et al. week in week out.
Animal out (rant over).
Whenever we have played teams in the midsussex league, the pitches & facilities have always been a lot better. I suspect thats due to less council pitches. I am assuming we would be stil based around Portslade though for home games.
As Rob says there is always an element of thuggery everywhere but maybe its a bit diluted elsewhere & having 4 teams drop out of our league this year is a joke. I suspect with the pitch costs next year even more will follow.
I think Dino having to miss work for weeks/months because he was hacked down by some thug is also cause for concern as well.
Yeah lots of our players like dino are self employed. JB was lucky not to be more injured from an awful tackle which meant he has missed a few months of footy. I think the only times i havent had to stop fights in games this yera has been when we have played CCK or against cup opposition.
i feel a bit like lenin did on the eve of the russian revolution. petals ready to germinate.
Lenin was in exile in Germany during the initial stages of the Russian revolution and only returned after the toppling of the Tsar and the storming of the Winter Palace
i was talking about the October revolution where Lenin was hiding in Finland and came back whe we saw a sign of weakness in the provisional government.
Can we keep to the subject point please.
Touche
From what I have gathered there are a number of concerns that keep popping up.
1) Standard of reffing
2) Standard of Facilities/pitches
3) Standard of opposition (Wankers)
4) Cost of pitch usage and therefore player subs
5) Travelling
Would moving to a different league improve points 1-3 without those benefits being offset by increased travel?
And would people be happy to increase their travel to achieve the improvements to points 1-3?
I would prefer to play in a league where we have higher standards of refs, pitches and behaviour and would happily travel further to achieve this, but I don't drive so that is not as big an issue for me.
How would changing leagues affect the cost of matches?
Can everyone afford an increase in match fees?
We should obvs wait and see to what more people say but it seems to me that most people want a change we just need more info: ie teams in mid-sussex league, match day fees next year, standard of refs in the league, whether people i dont mind driving.
I dont mind helping with research nor do i mind the drive.
Thank you all for the comments so far, very enlightning. Please keep them coming, add anything you think of and if you haven't commented yet please do so.
Just to clarify a few comments that have been mentioned the County league is not likely to be viable immediately, the county reserve division is for the reserve teams of clubs that have first teams already in that league system so we would be looking at county division three and for this there would be a number of requirements to meet, in terms of this being in place for next season are very slim.
I'm not going to air my views at this time I will wait till everyone has had their chance to comment. However, I'll just add a couple of points, if anyone knows of any schools/colleges/institutes and has any contacts within them it certainly may be some what of an advantage moving forward. Lastly, I would just add, in terms of the comments regarding injuries. This is something that is out of everyones control, an injury can occur from the most genuine of challenges and while obviously it's not pleasent for the player involved it's something that comes with competing in a contact sport. The focus really should be on the mentaility of the opposition, I agree the two incidents mentioned may have come about from another player using "excessive force" (I think that's how the FA like to address it!) but lets not appear to be against the physical nature of the sport. We have been excellent this year standing up to the more physical (but fair) teams and we don't want to appear weak. Let's make clear that it is the physical but unfair teams that cause the issue.
I don't think we are worried about the physical nature of the sport. Threatenening to punch people and trying to injure players, is not an element of football by its nature. No?
Yep, there is a difference between a mistimed tackle and trying to deliberately injure a competitor.
I agree with sean and mick, i love a physical game as it's a contact sport after all, but there is no reason to contrive and hurt people because they are on the opposing team.
I agree that we don't want to seem weak and leave the league for this reason
I think that collaborating with other clubs who are affiliated with the league and have the same feelings as us could be to our advantage.
Rob has an excellent answer in confronting the "higher" powers
With other clubs feeling the same we could confront the BHDFL committee, council, sussex county FA and the FA.
I saw an interesting documentary i think a year ago on the dwindling numbers on grass roots football in men over 25 who give it up because of facilities, funding and poor league structure
I know the FA couldn't organise a blow job at a bukakke party (not that i would know of course...) but they have to listen to the state of grass roots football for adults and they only way they will know is if we confront them
I know a few people that play in various leagues in mid Sussex. I have text them to ask about all questions above. If we go down that route obviously we should get in contact with the league to even confirm that we can enter next season. Also last season they did merge the mid Sussex South (Lewes area) with the mid Sussex north (Crawley area) the league has a lot of divisions but there maybe dicks playing but your going to get that everywhere just hopefully it wouldn't be every other week!!
There are a number of different issues here and I agree with many of the comments already made.
The facilities provided at the moment by the council are not great, and I cannot see any justification in such a rise in fees, particularly with the league already struggling with so many dropouts. Pitch 3 at Victoria Rec is a joke - A kids pitch at best. It is impossible to play a decent game of football there. To be honest though, there arent that many good pitches out there. I remember a few years ago, Montpelier Villa used to play at Falmer and the pitches there were like a carpet and a joy to play on. Like Rob, I really enjoyed playing on the Artificial Surface the last couple of weeks, but I am not sure that is the answer for competetive matches.
Whilst I personally would be prepared to either travel further or pay more to ensure better facilities, I am not sure that everyone is in the same boat. Match Subs of £8 a game is already fairly steep for many. I would love for us to have a really decent pitch to play all our home games on - That would make a real difference.
In my experience, there are normally 2-3 teams in every league that are not particularly pleasant to play against. Usually these teams are sucessful with a combination of bullying tactics and intimidation of referees. In all honesty, I havent experienced much of that this season with the Reserve Team. A handful of individuals at some clubs but no really nasty team. I think that this season, the majority of these types of teams have ended up in the top league.
There are a number of really good clubs out there like Montpelier Villa, CCK etc who I am sure feel the same way as us and would like to see improvements to standards in our league, so I agree with the thought that together with other clubs our voice is more likely to be heard.
I am open to the idea of moving to another league but there are no guarantees it would be any different.
I have been playing park football for 20 years and i cannot believe the state its in. the state of pitches, the quality of officials. I spent most of my years making good strong tackles, winning the ball and picking the opponent up. I now can't read the ball due to the quality of the pitch, scared to make a tackle, as i can't afford a booking, and wouldn't help anyone during a game because they are all animals. I have always been part of a league winning club, but i can't see portslade winning a trophy because we not thugs. Every week Yassin will get a bollocking from team mates or manager to calm down and get on with the job, whilst he is being kicked the shit out of for being a good player, where as the referee doesn't give you the support or reassurance you need we need as a "football playing" club that you pay him for. Every week, the opponents seem to get decisions, every week we get bookings, every week, someones injured. The opponents walk off with another 3 points and why, because the official is scared of the opponents. How are we going to solve this, move in mid sussex, where we meet their "hair razors" on a better pitch. You are going to get wallies where ever you go. I think like Rob says, we are not the only club, around, strength in number. Surely they must rely on this income for something. i am lucky, i am 33 and have have my innings. but i have two young boys, and i am the receiving end of there fees. its ridiculous. I love my football, and i think portslade fc, is one of the nicest clubs i have played for. I will support the club in whatever they choose to do, but i do think moving leagues, will make a longer journey for the same result. BISON
Apologies for butting in on your forum here... stumbled on your site and was having a nose around.
I'm part of Montpelier Villa.
I just wanted to say that we share a lot of the views on this page.
If there's any mileage in clubs collectively putting pressure on the league to sort out its various shortcomings, then we're interested in lending our weight to the cause.
Hi Alex, thank you for leaving your comments, although it's pretty obvious which clubs we enjoy playing against, your guys are, needless to say, one of them.
It would also be interesting to get the views of CCK/O&G/Electricity, to see what their thoughts are. Possibly a couple of guys from each club could get together over a beer....?
Sure, we'll be happy to sit down and discuss it.
I was interested in Alex Savage's comments, specifically about football leagues around the country being in decline.
I don't know if that's true or not, but it's fairly clear that the local Sunday leagues are booming in Brighton.
Since the opposite is the case with the Saturday divisions, it would seem to point to a problem with its organisation/attractiveness to prospective clubs.
But anyway, yes - very happy to meet up and discuss what we can do to improve the situation.
Nice to hear from a player from a proper footballing club that seem to share our views.
I'd say now is the time for the managers/chairmen/captains of certain clubs (Portslade, Monty villa, etc...) to get together and work out how to put pressure on the Brighton league. Perhaps some petitions and questionnaires can be filled out to show as supporting evidence from all of the players of the clubs involved.
The football league is talking about re-introducing artificial pitches, so there's no reason why it wouldn't be an ideal move for a grass roots football team?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17064905
Cheaper pitches with better quality playing surface and hot showers, that's half the problem dealt with
http://www.football-league.co.uk/staticFiles/89/9d/0,,10794~171401,00.pdf
My view echoes a lot of the above so probably just re-iterating pionts but in short:
- I always enjoy cup games away from home the most against better opposition because of better referees and better standard of football. Therefore would vote to play in the mid-sussex league. There are enough of us with cars and travelling up to 30 mins every other week to an away ground isnt to bad in my view
- The standard of referees for the 1st team is getting worse (the refereeing standard for the reserves is absolutely terrible at times) and feel there are too many players in our league who just want to kick the shit out of us. This doesnt happen when we play mid-sussex cup teams (beause referees act, and clubs dont entertain it). Not going to be long before someone is seriously hurt - Falmer Falcons in our last game were more than happy to try and break our legs with reckless tackles
- The portslade pitch is pretty good in my view but some of the others are shocking - patcham place was like a farmers field earlier in the season
- I would pay more in subs to play if it guaranteed a better game of football. Equally Goffin makes a good point on fund raising - we could do more as a club, and probably on a bigger scale. Guy sat next to me at work says his hockey team raises £10k+ per year from fund raising alone and this supports 2 teams (in addition to subs. They have specific committee members for this)
- Our club has always kicked out idiots and we should keep it this way
Not sure I was happy signing up as a supporter!!!!
I run CCKFC and have been contacted by Paul to view your forum and the thoughts and feelings of club members.
We stand in agreement regarding pitch rises and know the league are doing all they can to prevent it. If we stand with the league on this then hopefully the council will listen.
I am more than happy to meet with other committees to air our views and feelings and am sure we will find them very similar to all the views expressed on this page. We NEED to improve our league because, lets face it, I think people from outside Brighton all have extra toes and we dont want to spend hours travelling each week.
Dan
Thanks for taking the time to comment Dan, and don't worry there's nothing wrong with secretly supporting the no.1 club in town!!
It seems there's a choice between travelling for extra toes or sticking around to enjoy the shortage of brain cells from some of our "friends"!
I will try and contact a couple of the other teams and suggest to them that maybe our clubs get together and see if we can find a nuetral ground between us......with out having to support each other too much! :)
Hi I'm the manager of cck firsts and agree with many of the comments posted here and thereafter.wiyhout mentioning names we had an issue recently with the supporters from one of the teams in our league .this resulted in one of our supporters who has followed us for years not wanting to attend the return fixture. On the whole we have great matches against the majority of teams and appreciate some of the football played against us ,although not the recent final scores !!!! With regards to the increase in fees I feel it is apt to support the league as I believe we will see little improvement if any in facilities . I am definition opposed to a merger of leagues but would hate to see teams leave or fold which I fear may become more common place. But I do believe there is no place for some of the behaviour we meet from one or two teams in our league .and whilst I do not profess to be whiter than white and I know things are often said in the heat of a game are purely bore from frustration as a club we try to make sure our players take on a possitve attitude towards our opponants and hope that they in turn enjoy playing us.
Sorry should read not opposed to a merger !!!
Thanks Mike, I think that just about sums up the mood from most. Our linesman (and Chairman) who has assisted us for longer than I can remember at one point threw his flag to the ground in view of the abuse he received. This can't be right? While we all seem to share the same views it's difficult to see where we go from here. But I agree with you, the goal for us as a club is to provide an enjoyable environment to play football in. I'm not sure we can do that anymore, certainly not every week. It frustrates me, but even more so saddens me. Hopefully an improvement can be found.
Hi Paul sorry about the general grammar in my post it was written on my I phone at work-this really can't be right can it you chairman should never be in that position-not sure what can be done other than the league seeing it and imposing some sort of penalty, though at times I am not sure they are completely ignorant to this behavior, for not controlling spectators -I suppose that would be A very hard rule to police. You prob remember that a particular team we play many of there players played for another team that folded and they were pretty much the same then!! I must say I had to bite my tongue as I could only see the situation Escalating-against another team the language was particularly bad (Almost every other word) when I asked them to stop i was subjected to a torrent of abuse-As for the players we sometimes seem to reward them by chosing them for the Rep team not sure what message that sends out. Anyway all I can guarantee is that when we play you Saturday it will be competitive but played totally in the right atmosphere
Here here. The line seems to have blurred, what used to constitute competitive has now escalated into just thug-ish abuse from on and off the pitch. How do you stand up to it? You either reply in kind and pick a fight or you try to rise above it, unfortunately, doing this usually means you end up losing with officials too concerned with their own safety to deal with it, understandably. What amazed me was at a recent game with a team that had plenty of players that have been around for years and that play hard and fair, yet they are happy to let the others around them act like animals and at times find it amusing. There's no doubt that clubs also have a part to play in this, they need to decide what is and isn't acceptable. The question is do they actually know what that is??
Mis Sussex league seems best. Agree with most the points made above. It would be interesting/ fun to enter a new league playing against teams we have little/no knowledge of also.
Oh and yes paul I am available for saturday, my phone's just f'd at the moment.
Thank you!! See you saturday, assume you'll b getting a lift with your boyfriend?
pick u up at 12;00
Many of the points made here I could not disagree with.
The pitch costing increase is an insult to people playing football in these parks, maybe these council members should take a vist to these facilities and tell us why we should pay so much for these facilities. It is an utter disgrace!
I personally believe that the mid Sussex league is our best option for enjoyability, however the travelling may understandably cause some people to reconsider their Saturday afternoons.
The Refereeing situation is as bad as i've ever seen it, I understand they do have a hard job to do but there is no excuse for the performances of most of the referees the BHDFL has been isuing teams, in my personal opinion (and no doubt other peoples) these Referees would not be able to handle refereeing an under 10s match they are just completely inadequate.
As for the opposition we have faced this season I am glad to say that we still have the likes of Brighton Electricity, CCK, O&G and Montpellier Villa in this league but it does conern me that these teams may leave this league due to the lack of respect shown by the other clubs, the lack of decent pitches and the disgusting state that the council have let the changing facilities get into, it does make you wonder what the the member clubs of the BHDFL
Cont.
pay there pitch fees to the council for because it certainly doesn't get spent on what they actually are collecting the money for.
The BHDFLhave said that they will fight the pitch fee increase that the council are looking to impose on the clubs, but im affraid that it will be handled in the same half assed manor in which the other issues that we have discussed have been.
JB
I'm arriving a bit late on this thread ( a bit like my forays into the box these days!) but it's certainly been interesting following the discussion throughout the week. Here is my take on it.
Having previously played football in a south London league and the West Sussex league it was was a refreshing experience playing for such a great club in a league where the majority of games are hard and competitive but played in the right spirit. Having so may games with such short travelling time was also great as commutes in the other leagues in which I've played could take up to an hour (London due to traffic, West Sussex, distance) and could be a drag.
The standard of pitches and refereeing is certainly variable in the BHDFL but is not exclusive to this league. I think Victoria Park is not that bad for a park football home venue (although certainly a 43% pitch fee increase is not justified!) and I expect any move to another league would be dependant on us finding our own 'non-council' pitch on which to play.
I echo comments made by Steve B in that in Division 3 this season we have not experienced any thuggery, only competitive games with handshakes between oppositions at then end. This has not always been the case in my experience and when playing in London being physically threatened seemed quite a regular occurrence. However, there are clearly some teams across the BHDFL divisions who are out to intimidate and kick opponents off the pitch. These are thankfully in the minority and as mentioned earlier in the thread it would be good to work with like-minded teams and the league to attempt to push out these elements.
In conclusion, I suppose my main view is that I would like to see attempts at improving the Brighton league and keeping the pitch fee increase down before moving to another league. However, I can certainly see why many do want to make the move. Regardless of where collectively we decide to play I will always be proud to play for Portslade as it is the people, philosophy and organisation, and not location, that make this a great club to play for.
Enjoy the game today!
DC
Who are you kidding Dave? I have not seen you anywhere near the oppositions penalty box in years!
after reading everyones comments other teams and the chairmans i thought i would add mine as someone who does think that the grass is greener somewhere else.
as someone who has played for portslade on and off for years (mainly due to injury) i know that its a great club to play for a well run and friendly club. unfortunatly over recent years the btn league has declined i remember when it used to be full of teams and competitive teams not teams wanting to fight. if the pitch fees are going up as described than what do the bhdfl think will happen already this season teams have dropped out early and its a slow decline in teams wanting to play in the btn league. unfortunatly this is one of the reasons so called "thuggery " teams are allowed to play because in the past there were other teams to fill there space now there isnt so the league wants there money instead.
in this day and age no one is going to keep paying the money the btn league wants..
i have been fortunate to play in the county league 3 this season and while i agree some of the standard of players is similar the standard of most pitches refs and facilities is much greater. i also pay "under half "of what the portslade players pay over the season for what i believe is a greater football experience.
so can the bhdfl justify any increase in fees full stop???? i dont think they can from what i have watched when i have seen portslade play this season..
from what i can see portslade only have 2 options stick together as the great club it is and see what happens next season with the merger of the worthing league although that doesnt inspire confidence especially if fees go up.. or move leagues to pastures new and new beginnings.
as long as the club stays together whatever decision it makes it will still be around for a long time. however i know what i would do....
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