Amateur Football Quotes

I dabbled in football myself until the age of 14, but I didn't have as much love for the sport as I did track and field. I would never have been good enough to take it to the highest level.

Football really felt like a private thing when I was in my teens because it wasn't on television, for a start, apart from 'Match of the Day.'

I didn't play organized football until I was in the seventh grade. Up until that point, I only played at recess and in the backyard.

In Holland you go into amateur teams, come up through the ranks and are generally spotted for senior or professional football. At 16, I had made it into a men's amateur team, and was picked up professionally from there.

I always watched professional football and my father played at an amateur level, but I didn't think I wanted to become a pro.

I do speak to a few people in non-league. There are a few people in Bristol where my family is based that I used to play with at Yate.

I was at Boulogne, in the second team - the sixth, then the fifth division. I wasn't professional, so I kept studying because I wasn't sure if I would be able to make a living as a footballer.

When I enjoyed football the most was when I wasn't getting paid.

I just love watching football. It doesn't matter what level it is, whether it's Fleetwood or Blackpool. I love to go and watch games.

The FA Cup as a tournament was very good to me. I'd like to think I can still have some association with that because it was the Ronnie Radford goal for Hereford against Newcastle which really put me on the map in 1972.

I began playing football on the streets.

I had been released by Southampton and was back playing Sunday League football when I signed for Bournemouth. I grew to love the club.

I guess my earliest football memories are of playing in the street and also the little pitches at school. I joined the local football team in my village when I was small, but we would play only once or twice a week. I honed my skills just by playing for fun with friends after school.

My friend Adam gave me my first chance to play in an organised match, for Steventon, when I was 10. The team were one player short, and I joined in. I had never played before, but I came on and scored a perfect hat-trick: header, left foot, right foot.

I have no ax to grind. I was lucky. I played. How many guys play high school, college football never play pro football?

I came from amateur football.

Almost every football player played on the streets. And also, a lot of people not ending up as football players play on the streets. It's the beginning of a lot of social gathering.

I think with my generation, your first game of senior football was often a Sunday League game of football. Sometimes you're playing on pitches that aren't great, you've no referee, you've no goal nets.

In Japan, when I went there, there was no professionalism at all. But the biggest advantage was that everyone was united and wanted to progress from amateur football to professional.

I don't think people realise the quality of player in the lower leagues.

The national team can do so much for Italian football, as can even lads who no-one knows or who play in the lower Leagues.

I really actually started when I was 10 years old, but before that, I loved to play with Father because he played as an ex-player. I just enjoyed it, so I started at 10 years old with Father to be a proper football player.