With American youth football and Friday night lights temporarily behind us, I set out to search for the next best thing for my 8-year-old son to play in the UK: football. While Americans are totally crazed by the NFL, the British are equally, possibly more, passionate about football. Though it’s taken a while to start calling soccer it’s proper English name, it’s taken far longer to find a team accepting new players. What I thought would be a fairly straightforward mission took nearly a year. If you’re looking to join a team, here’s how to find a youth football team in the UK.
How To Find A Youth Football Team In The UK
These suggestions are in no particular order, with the exception of asking the school first. You might need to go through all 7 before you find and join a team, or you might get super lucky. Unlucky for us, it took a combination of 5 and ongoing persistence before I pulled it off.
1 – Ask The Sports Director At The School
The Sports Director can provide suggestions, which is a great starting point. This works particularly well if you live near the school in which it’s likely the team names provided will be based. With practices in the evenings and early weekend mornings, the additional commute wasn’t logistically practical.
2 – Ask Other Mums At School and In Your Neighborhood
Other local parents will be able to provide other suggestions beyond the Sports Director. Local parents will be able to help if they have children of the same age or at least references from which you can work.
3 – Get On Mumsnet
Mumsnet is a great community for asking nearly anything and everything. Create an account and ask away.
4 – Contact Local Football Clubs
Google all the local football clubs and contact the Secretary or any person you can find in the club that has contact information. This is challenging because you rely on that person forwarding you to the correct coach for the year group you need to talk to. This ends up being a bit of a waiting game. And honestly, no response back typically means, “We’re full. Not looking for new players.”
5 – Google & Gumtree.com
Google phrases like: football players wanted, football team looking for players. In the end, this is how I finally found a football team for my son. I found wanted ads on gumtree.com and went through every single one that was a close match. Even then my email to the original ad poster circulated twice before I made the first connection with now my son’s football coach.
6 – Attend An Open House
Open houses for football appear to happen in spring for seeking out new players. I discovered this AFTER the open houses were over.
So, you find a team and then what?
First, your child should be open to playing any position. If they are a goalie and that’s the only position they are willing to play, then that is going to really narrow team options. British kids are born with footballs. Seriously. I thought Katy Texas football was nuts with how little kids start off, but these kids are even younger. And they are good. Like, really, really, really good. Their footwork will blow your mind. And I’m talking about kids that are under 5 years old. So, don’t be too upset if they don’t make the best team or aren’t playing their preferred position. Getting in is the first step!
Second, your child should be willing to play up. I know that might not make sense, but if there is an opening on a team that isn’t an “A” team by British standards, then it might just be the right fit for your child if he or she has enough skills to give it a try. If that’s all the team has to offer you, then don’t pass it up. Ultimately, this is how my son got on his team. He had to play up and play his best during tryouts.
Third, your child will have to try out. Tryouts might be a couple of times or possibly over a month. Tryouts for my son lasted 1 month from beginning to end. There were only 2 spots open and so showing up timely and ready will improve your child’s odds.
Lastly, wait it out. The coach will inform you if your child made the team or not. Like I told my son, “This is a great opportunity to meet new people, make friends, and if you don’t make the team, it’s okay. Regardless, we now have a connection to a coach that can recommend other local teams.” And my son was perfectly fine with it. In fact, I think the competitive aspect actually fired him up more.
The last thing to note is the importance of meeting the team mom. She could ultimately be more important than even the coach with how to find a youth football team in the UK. They handle all the Administrative details, matches and management of the team. If your child doesn’t make the team, make her your best friend.
And there you have it. A long road to how to find a youth football team in the UK, but essential to feeling settled and totally worth it in the end. Good luck!
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