Sunday league football is the backbone of the beautiful game in England and Scotland, where amateur teams battle it out not for money, or fame and fortune but for the love of the game. Also known as "Pub League Football", many teams are entered by public houses with their regular customers competing for the team or just showing up to make up the numbers before it's all back to the pub for whatever food the landlord has scraped together to pay his band of weary losers. With cold winter mornings and hungover team mates, playing for a Sunday League team is a universe away from the glitz and glamour of the Premier League. There's no undersoil heating or expensive isotonic sports drinks, just a waterlogged pitch and half an orange at half time if you're lucky. Despite the dodgy decisions, the early starts and the treacherous weather conditions, the good people who populate the league wouldn't have it any other way. It's a male bonding exercise at its finest and a weekend ritual to hundreds of thousands of dreamers; too old to reasonable make it but still with that twinkle in their eyes that says just maybe there'll be a scout on the sidelines. Even if your team gets thumped 6-0, it's all worth it when you get your free pie and peas in the pub after the match. In this article we look at the 15 problems only Sunday League footballer's understand. So if you play for one of the 29,000 amateur teams throughout England and Scotland, take a look and see how many you can relate to.
