Grassroots football in the Sunday morning rain!

Action from the game

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Rochdale Online 2 - 3 Boundary Park

Sunday League football is the complete anti-thesis of everything the professional game now stands for - every Sunday hundreds turn out to play just for the sheer love of the game, in fact, they pay to play, the cost of running a Sunday league team is not to be underestimated with pitch fees to pay, insurance to pay, two full kits needed, and nets and goalposts, not forgetting the referees fee.

So it was that I arrived at the playing fields of Norden Community School to watch Rochdale Online take on Boundary Park, each playing their third game of the season in the Lambourne Images Third Division.

Within a minute of the kick-off the ball was in the Boundary Park net, a comical error between Boundary Park defender and goalkeeper resulting in the ball rolling through the keeper’s legs and tamely into the net.

In a first half played out in persistent rain neither team really had a territorial advantage, however, Boundary Park had the lion's share of the ball and got the equaliser their possession deserved via the penalty spot - the result of a needless push in the penalty area.

The second half saw the rain become increasingly heavy, and yet the commitment showed by both sides did not waver, and both deserve credit for attempting to continue to play passing football instead of resorting to what is euphemistically known as the 'long ball game'.

Three goals were scored in the second half: Boundary Park taking the lead early on before Rochdale Online, having made much needed changes to bolster their increasingly overrun midfield, pushed hard and levelled the game to set up a nail-biting finale.

With the game entering its final stages and Rochdale Online pressing for a winning goal, they were hit with the classic sucker punch as Boundary Park broke away to score the winner with just minutes left on the clock. It is fair to say that the scorer of the goal was undoubtedly two yards offside when he received the ball, however, referee Frank Bergin rightly relied on his linesman, who didn't flag, and given he was one of the substituted Rochdale Online players, they can have no complaints.

The final whistle went and the monsoon suddenly abated and the field was bathed in glorious sunshine.  Come rain or shine though, each Sunday morning you can see dozens of games like this played out by local lads who just love to play football - I can highly recommend going to watch.