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How to start a Sunday league football team
A challenging but rewarding venture, setting up a Sunday league team requires a lot of hard work and determination. From completing various administrative duties to hiring club officials and registering your team, building your own football club from the ground up can be both physically and mentally demanding. However, there’s no denying that, once those jobs are completed and you can focus your efforts on developing your team, watching them take on other local clubs and bring home wins makes everything worthwhile.
In this blog, we’ll explain the basics of Sunday league teams, and talk you through the process of how you can successfully set one up. Whether you’re unfamiliar with Sunday league teams and are eager to find out more, or you already have a grasp of the basics and are now looking to set up your team, join us as we discuss the various different stages that this process entails.
What is a Sunday league?
A Sunday league is an organised beginner-level football league that takes place on Sunday rather than the more traditional Saturday. Although this type of football is inclusive to all ages, it has gained a reputation as ‘pub football’ as teams generally consist of people who get together in the same pub, with the pub often sponsoring the team. However, this isn’t always the case, and some Sunday leagues include those who also play at a proficient level on Saturdays.
What level of football is Sunday league?
Accessible to everyone, Sunday league is considered to be a beginner level of football, but it’s important to note that these don’t form an official part of the English Premier League system and generally aren’t considered to be positioned at a set level. Instead, Sunday league teams are regulated by governing bodies based throughout the country, known as County Football Associations.
Can a Sunday league team get promoted?
Though Sunday league teams don’t form an official part of the English Premier League system - there’s the option for these to switch to being a Saturday team and work their way up through the league from there. There’s also the opportunity for teams to play Sunday League football competitively, with a national FA Sunday Cup, which has been running ever since the 1960s.
How to make a Sunday league team
From the creativity that comes with deciding on an appropriate team name and identity to finding and recruiting players to take part each week, there are many tasks to be checked off the list when it comes to putting together an official Sunday league team. To help you with this process, we’ve listed some advice below. After all, every task you successfully complete will bring you one step closer to finalising your club.
Administrative duties
The early stages of setting up a Sunday league football team often consist of carrying out a number of important administrative duties. Whether it’s making decisions on the name and other aspects of your team's identity, or reaching out to various individuals to make arrangements, there are a range of factors to consider before you can create an official team. Though these can seem time consuming, these will help you form the foundations of your squad.
1. Choosing a team name and identity
A great place to start to help ease you in to your admin duties, deciding on a team name and identity is often viewed as a more exciting aspect to setting up your team due to the creative freedom it provides. Though you can select a classic name with local roots, you can find further team name inspiration from our 5-a-side team names blog and pick a name that suits your squad. You can even vote among your team to ensure you’re all in mutual agreement on this.
Once you’ve decided on a name, you’ll need to design a suitable club crest, as well as choose colours and team kits. For this, you’ll need to choose a simple design that has some link to the name of your team, along with matching kit colours. To make this easier, you can order custom team kits from us at Avec Sport. These include the option to add custom crests, sponsors and squad printing; helping you meet the individual needs and preferences of your team in a few simple steps. But if you’re stuck for inspiration on kit designs, discover our new in base kits.
2. Appointing officials
During the first stages of setting up your team, there will be a lot of your plate. If you’re working on these tasks on your own, they can quickly become unmanageable and you can end up feeling overwhelmed. In particular, this can be the case if you’re attempting to balance this alongside your full-time job. If you can, we recommend appointing one or two people that you can share these out with to help ease the burden. These individuals should be well-organised, reliable, trustworthy and equally dedicated to ensuring the success of your Sunday league club.
For this, you’ll need to consider appointing people for the following roles. To help you choose the best individuals for each role - we’ve outlined the main responsibilities of these titles below:
- Secretary - A secretary will oversee most of the general admin duties involved with the team. This includes working closely alongside the league to carry out jobs that include confirming matches, reporting scores and completing daily organisational tasks, such as keeping the treasurer and manager up to date on changes or adjustments to schedules.
- Treasurer - In charge of overseeing the finances of the club, the treasurer will be responsible for monitoring the clubs finances through its own account. Therefore, the treasurers responsibilities include the collection and distribution of money from players and sponsors, ensuring that through this, the club doesn’t exceed its spending limit.
- Manager - While the previously mentioned roles focus on more ‘behind the scenes’ work, being a manager is arguably the most physically demanding role of them all. This is because it involves actively working with the team during matches to ensure they’re developing their skills, helping enhance players’ overall performance and boosting morale. The roles of a football manager include anything from acting as the main point of contact for 1-1 training sessions, choosing the line up for each match and much more.
How to recruit players for your Sunday league team
This might seem like an obvious point, but finding the right players for your Sunday league team is a process that should be taken seriously. Although there are a number of ways you can recruit players, the easiest usually involves running trial sessions, which will help you monitor the performance of each player and decide on the most suitable for your team. Requiring in-put from all three officials, if done carefully, this will help give your team the best chance of success.
- Get the word out - For people to attend your trial sessions in the first place, we would recommend advertising this in a multitude of ways to raise as much awareness as possible. This could include through word of mouth, social media, football finder sites, a community noticeboard, or even creating your own flyers. Alternatively, you could also use a combination of advertising methods to help you find a wider range of candidates.
- Hold trials - Once enough people have shown an interest, it’s time to start holding the trials. However, before you begin to hold these, you’ll need to ensure you can access a suitable training space, equipment and goalposts. Though, when a pitch is hired out, the goalposts and footballs are normally included in the hire of the pitch. This is a duty that will be organised and overseen by the club manager. However, this generally involves planning a suitable strategy ahead of the day that will involve both drills and matches.
PRO TIP: For your team, you should look at recruiting 17-20 players. This should leave a safety net for injuries or illness while providing every player with a chance to participate in each match.
How to register your Sunday league team
In order to become an official Sunday league club, you’ll need to register your team with your local county football association. This not only helps you form the foundations of a legitimate club, but also provides you with invaluable access to the local footballing community. Your local county FA will also ensure that all clubs follow all the necessary rules and regulations for grassroots football, allowing a good level of fairness, reliability and discipline to be maintained.
- Find out who your local football association is - You can find this information by visiting the County FAs page on the official FA website.
- Fill in club details and application - From the website of your local county FA, you should be able to find the relevant contacts to send your application to.
- Join a local Sunday league - Once registered, you’ll have access to a list of your local leagues. From there, you can start to apply to play in your local Sunday league.
- Register your players - Your final job is to register each of your players with your local county FA. This requires sending general information about your players to the regulating body who will determine how eligible they are. Once they’re approved, you can start to compete.
PRO TIP: During the application process, the league will ask for specific information regarding your club. This usually includes your proof of registration with the local FA, contact details for club officials and general information including your club name and colours, so make sure you have everything ironed out before this.
How much does it cost to set up your team?
From paying one time fees for sending your application to your local FA (prices can vary from county to county) to the registration fees that come with joining your local league (around £80-£100 per year) there are a few costs to consider when setting up your team. Although there is no definite answer on exact costs, you’ll need between £130 to £180 for registration fees. You’ll also need to consider the expenses of hiring out a pitch for trails, but this can again vary depending on quality and location.
Once you start collecting membership fees and you have successfully found a sponsor to support your team, this money can then fund the hiring of pitches and equipment, as well as the purchase of official team kits and memorabilia.
Football kits for your Sunday league team
Ready to start your own Sunday league football team? A great starting point is to browse our premium range of football teamwear. With a number of designs and colours available - all our team kits can be customised for your club and, with the Team Avec+ partner programme, you can save money with bulk discount on club ordering.