ACT Football Masters - ACTMasters

Guys,

I thought I'd use the site to post some of my thoughts on the team in general. Before I start, my career in soccer started 2 seasons ago, I don't watch the game on TV or follow a team. Point being I'm no expert and am happy to corrected where I've got it wrong. I also recognise that I don't always manage to follow my own advice.

So, my first thought is about "why do we play and how important is winning".

For me, winning is very important. Its not a feeling I've had often - from memory the Blues had 3 wins in the 2 years that I played with them. But when we did win it was very satisfying.

Towards the goal of winning, I believe that we should endeavor to train as hard and as often as we can, look after our creaky old bodies, play to the best of our ability (no question we all do that), and work as a team.

Having said that, we're also here to have fun and be involved, and while sport is more fun when you're winning, I think the involvement bit takes precedence. So, we understand that some people can't make training or games for whatever reason - at our age family and work come first. I also think its important that if someone tries his best but is utterly crap (like me?) we still make that bloke welcome, give him time on the field and encourage him to keep on trying.

I also feel its important to play in a sportsmanlike manner. I remember a game last year when one of our team scored and was given the goal, and then went and told the umpire that he felt he had fouled the opposition, and our goal became a free kick to the other side. Now that was controversial! The bad part was that a couple of our team started to really argue with the ref and the opposition about his decision; it got very heated and I really didn't enjoy that particular game as a result.

My opinion - once the ref makes a decision theres not much point arguing - its very unlikely he / she will change his mind. If we do want to challenge then we do it through the team captain.

If we think the ref has missed something we can try to bring to his attention, then play to the whistle. Refs do a tough job and we respect that.

We should expect that the opposition are just like us - a bunch of decent blokes - and treat them as such. There are a few bad eggs out there but we can live with that. We should never lose our tempers on the field.

We should provide each other with advice but not critisism. If someone makes a mistake he'll generally know it, theres often not much value in pointing it out. On the other hand I don't really understand the game and am very open to advice from those who do. I do get frustrated with conflicting advice and hence feel its important to establish our modus operandum early.

Thats all I've got for now, please feel free to add your own thoughts.

cheers

tom

26 Posts

On team ettiqueette

I can't really comment on something that I can't spell.

Best of luck for the season

Inzaman

17 Posts

Great thoughts Tom, and you are doing really well mate, I have seen your ability grow in strides the last year and the games this year.

Hang in there mate, you are a valued player.

And I get the most out of a game when I hit the ball well, trap it well, find the right time and place to run, score, pass, defend, tackle and everything well. I do not have as much fun if I play badly or make stupid mistakes.

So I am on your side here mate. We can offer assistance and all of us remember to take it gratiously. Remember that other people can quite often see things that you miss, so if they think there was a better move or option, they are most likely right. Of course, on the spur of the moment you can only do what you think is best and everyone should also bear that in mind.

I will enjoy a game regardless of win or lose, but if we all play well and we should have won when we don't.. that hurts a bit...

Roo