Football fans across the country will be waking up to the fact England were deservedly beaten by a well drilled and determined Iceland side last night at Euro 2016.
We’ll give that a moment to sink in.
Now it’s time to move on with an unbelievably exciting 2016/17 non-league football season to come. Here’s why:
1) That fresh smell of football in late summer
There is nothing like the anticipation of a new season. Right up to kick-off, everything at the ground has been tended to, the pitch is green and lush, the players have trained hard and friendlies are ‘just friendlies, they don’t matter’.
It’s an unquantifiable smell and feeling that only a hardened football fan will know.
Pitch coming along nicely @binfieldfc #grass #green #wicket 🔴⚽️ pic.twitter.com/FKHvewH81I
— Roger Herridge (@Rog0109) June 27, 2016
2) Everyone starts at zero
Even the most pessimistic football fan, and there will be more than a few following Euro 2016 will have a slight glimmer that their club can do something special. Whether it’s mounting a title challenge (of which we think a few clubs in Berkshire are more than capable of) or sneaking into the Supplementary Cup Final.
Right now, pre-August 1st it could happen.
3) Proper Sunday league
We’re blessed in this area to have TWO proper Sunday League setups. The Bracknell Town & District Sunday League and the Reading Sunday League both have multiple divisions and hundreds of players.
Granted, both used to be much much bigger in terms of teams and divisions but that both keep plugging away offering the opportunity of regular organised 11-aside football to those of us much less able is a wonderful thing. By the way, if you are looking for a club to play for then drop us a note here.
4) The FA Cup 2016/17
The world’s oldest cup competition starts in August on your doorstep. Every season there are heroes, every season one or two clubs dream the dream just a little longer.
And sometimes a former player pops up on national television..
5) Shiny shiny facilities
We’re going to throw this out there, but come October the three East Berks Hellenic Premier League clubs will surely have some of the best facilities in the country.
Bracknell Town are going through a significant refurbishment process that will include an artificial all-weather pitch, Binfield are steadily expanding their facilities and influence locally off the pitch and Ascot United already have modern football facilities in place.
6) Imagine if your whole family played for the same club
The rise and rise of women’s football has been well documented particularly thanks to the success of the England Women’s team and the profile of the FA WSL on BT Sport.
And there are plenty of local women’s and girls clubs around that could see whole families playing together – indeed Bracknell Town already boast a mum and son duo with Connor Thorndike working through the ranks at Larges Lane and his mum Liz playing an important role for the ladies team.
Related: Why more girls should be playing football
7) Pre season is starting now
I think we’re ready. We’ve had over a month off. We’ve eaten a few burgers and it’s time to start pounding the streets, hitting the gym and getting into peak shape.
In reality, that time off is well deserved and well earned but pre season is starting at almost every club in the are in the next week or so. Clubs will start signing players and pre season matches will start to be played.
The countdown to the new seasons starts now, and we at FootballinBracknell can’t wait.
If you want to play football this coming season, then drop us a message on our ‘Play Football’ page here or if you just want to stay up to date with everything that is going on you can like FootballinBracknell on facebook here and like FootballinBracknell on twitter here.
