Sunday league football is a term used in Britain and Ireland to describe the amateur

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

competitions which take place on Sunday rather than the more usual Saturday. The term pub league may also be used, owing to the number of

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s that enter teams. Sunday league football is stereotypically seen as being taken less seriously than Saturday football and involving players who are often unfit or hungover, and the term "Sunday league" can be used to denote a performance which is inept or amateurish. Despite this perception, however, some leagues include players who also play at a high level of semi-professional football on Saturdays. Sunday leagues are sanctioned by the local

County Football Association The county football associations are the local governing bodies of association football in England and the Crown dependencies. County FAs exist to govern all aspects of football in England. They are responsible for administering club and play ...

. Sunday leagues do not form part of the hierarchical

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

, but Sunday teams can opt to switch to Saturday play and potentially rise up the levels of the league system. The

FA Sunday Cup The FA Sunday Cup is a knock-out competition founded in 1964 for English Sunday league football teams. Prior to 1960 The Football Association did not permit clubs or players under its jurisdiction to take part in competitive football played on ...

is a national knock-out competition for English Sunday league football teams administered by the FA, which has been staged since 1964. The most prominent single location for Sunday league football is Hackney Marshes in east London, which has been called the "spiritual home" of Sunday league. The oldest Sunday League in England is the Edmonton & District Sunday Football League, based in North London, which was formed in 1925. In March 2012, Wheel Power F.C. won 58–0 against Nova 2010 F.C. in the Torbay Sunday League to record what was believed to be the largest victory ever achieved in British football.

Television coverage

In 1991,

Danny Baker Danny Baker (born 22 June 1957) is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television. Baker was born in Deptford to a working-class fam ...

hosted ''The Game'', a TV series focusing on East London Sunday League matches at Hackney Marshes, on Friday nights on

LWT London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 un ...

. The title of the show was a spoof of ''The Match'', formerly ''

The Big Match ''The Big Match'' was a British football television programme, screened on ITV between 1968 and 1992. ''The Big Match'' originally launched on London Weekend Television (LWT) – the ITV regional station that served London and the Home Counties ...

'', the banner under which major league matches were televised on ITV at the time. The series ran for six episodes, culminating in the final of the Dick Coppock Cup (for Division Four of the league).

References

Non-League football League football {{footy-stub

Television coverage

See also

References