Not anymore on Saturday or Sunday, but on Friday evening in half a field with seven against seven football. The possibility for seniors (men and women from 35 years) to play on Friday is becoming increasingly popular in our province. The new competition starts on Friday evening. “It’s often a night out.”
“This is the third season we participate,” says Chairman Jack van Rossum of football club Mariahout. He also participates. “It is better for age people and Friday evening is also just fun,” laughs Van Rossum. “You are doing sportingly and then we will continue with the third half in the canteen.”
According to the Dutch Football Association (KNVB), 280 Brabant football clubs have at least one 7×7 team this season. In total it concerns 600 teams: 350 men’s teams and 250 women’s teams. The most popular is the Friday evening football, with playing in tournament form. Four or five teams then meet at the sports park of one of the clubs. They then play matches that last fifteen to twenty minutes, after which the evening is often closed in the canteen.
“Not every weekend, but still regularly.”
A few 35+teams are active on Sunday, where they just play a complete competition. Nevertheless, according to the KNVB, the tournament form on Friday is the most popular in Brabant. The new season will start this Friday. Football club Mariahout participates with the men with two 35+teams.
Mariahout previously had a veteran team on Saturday afternoon, but according to chairman of Rossum there were too few people to get a team to a complete field every Saturday. At the tournament form on Friday evening teams play five Friday evenings before the winter break and five Friday evenings after the winter interruption. So in a whole season they play ‘only’ ten times. Van Rossum: “Not every weekend, but still regularly. For me that Saturday was not ideal, this combination is.”
Another advantage according to the chairman: “You can still keep people who are in danger of stopping for football. We also see that the turnout is high on Friday. On Saturday there were often cancellations.” And certainly not unimportant, according to Van Rossum, the fun on Friday. “We often play football against clubs that come from the neighborhood. We can go there by bike. It is often a night out.”
“We see the ‘normal’ senior football walking back on Sunday.”
Where VV Mariahout is a small association, UDI’19 does not have to complain about the number of members. On behalf of the Uden football club, a men’s and women’s team participates in the Friday evening set-up of the KNVB. On Sunday, a men’s 35+team plays in the 7×7 competition. “We see the ‘normal’ senior football walking back on Sunday,” says board member William van der Steen. “We are looking at how we can make that more interesting. We notice that especially young people prefer to go out on Saturday and want to sleep in on Sundays.”
For these football players, football can be a solution on Friday. “At a large association such as UDI’19 it is now nice that the crowds on Friday, Saturday (sixty youth teams) and Sunday (nine senior teams: seven men’s teams, two women’s teams) is divided.”