Local Football Attitude

I don't know if it's just me getting stressed out and wound up heading into Christmas but I am sure the attitude of players at local football level has decreased over the last few months. I started playing football regularly a couple of years ago after enjoying it recreationally on and off for a while.

The games used to be pretty good. Some big challenges but everyone took it with a pinch of salt. Nowadays if there's the slightest contact the standard retort seems to be a lash out, verbals or something even more physical.

It's putting me off playing competitive games because the number of referees is dwindling and when we do have referees they prefer to keep a low profile and let the play flow.

Have any of you found that there seems to be more aggro than ever in local football?

Any coincidence that the EU have opened the floodgates for forreigners to come onto our shores. They must also be invading the local football and bringing their diving and cheating with them. Or are the players already there copying their idols?

I hear the Merthyr League is still pretty frightening. I've just found playing in the Cardiff leagues both 11 a side and 5 a side there's more hassle than there was 2-3 years ago. Maybe I'm just losing patience.

The lower the standard the more idiots you get and the weaker the refs.I signed for Treharris Athletic in the summer in Welsh League Division 2 and even though the refereeing was poor they didnt take any shit.However we also had a third team in the Merthyr League and went to watch them a few times,the referee's get walked over.

To echo an earlier comment though its nowhere near as bad as it was,I played Merthyr League for 2 seasons when I was 15 and 16 and I got kicked all over the shop.I then signed for Merthyr Youth before I picked up an injury due to fat old blokes kicking a kid.