Category: Uncategorized

by Mike Birchall

NEW LEAGUES STARTING THIS MONTH!

We have several leagues that are heading into the final stages, meaning we have options for any new or returning teams wanting to get signed up for an Autumn of football.

TUESDAY LEAGUE

Our Tuesday league will be finishing up in two weeks time, with the NEW LEAGUE set to start on 31ST AUGUST. At the moment we know we have space for at least ONE NEW TEAM. Our Tuesday league is made up of two divisions, with all games kicking off at either 8pm or 9pm.

SUNDAY LEAGUE

Our ever popular Sunday league is also set to restart on 29TH AUGUST (possibly the week after, given that this is a bank holiday!). We currently have 5 divisions, which we hope to maintain, so we should be able to find space for ONE OR TWO NEW TEAMS for the new season. Game kick off times range from 4.30pm to 8.30pm, but we can accommodate requests for earlier or later games.

All of the Reddish league games are 50 minutes in length, all priced at £5 per player, per game.

For further details or to register your team, call or text 07809252658, or complete a ‘Join A League’ form from the homepage.

by Mike Birchall

THE 100 CLUB!

We are roughly 6 weeks away from marking a significant milestone of 5 years in business, but before we get to celebrate that, we have something else to feel pretty pleased about.

Having recently restarted a number of our league seasons across our two venues, and having been in a position to add extra teams to each of these leagues, we have hit triple digits in our league team numbers for the first time!

To be able to say that we now have 103 teams across our 6 leagues feels like a significant achievement, and should certainly cement our position as a major player in the small sided football game in the Stockport area! Hopefully a few of you will see that number and realise just how many teams we have to juggle around on a weekly basis!

If you have been with us or were with us since day 1, we couldn’t have done it without you and we’re so grateful to you all. If you’ve only recently discovered us and are part of the new batch of teams, we’re glad you were able to find us as we continue to build our dynasty. Every piece of social media commenting, liking or sharing has helped us keep spreading the word, as we don’t exactly have a massive advertising budget, so if you could all continue to do your part it would be appreciated.

Potential further venues could be in the pipeline going forward, so it’s time to start aiming at 200…!

by Mike Birchall

SUNDAY LEAGUE – AN UPDATE

To all Sunday league teams,

The last few weeks have seen numerous disruptions to what seemed like being an extremely competitive Sunday league season. It’s reached a point where we want to give you a little update as to how the league, and in particular your division, is currently up to.

When the season started, we’d made it to 5 divisions, we’d worked out how we were going to cope with teams wanting later or earlier kick off times, and we were feeling fairly pleased with ourselves. However, there have been very few ‘clear’ weeks where we would realistically have a chance that all teams could play. We know that we have some teams that will field a team, no matter the occasion, but we also acknowledge that not everyone is in a position to put a game of 6-a-side on a Sunday evening above all else in their lives. On week 1 we had to cope with the final day of the Premier league season, with fans back in stadiums and City lifting the trophy. Week 2 saw the bank holiday, week 3 was fairly clear, and on week 4 we had England playing. We’ve even had Fathers Day, then the Euros Final! These are things we just have to cope with, but it will go some way to explaining the difference in the number of games certain teams have played. Every season we expect teams to play 10 league games in a 12 week period, we expect that this season may be slightly longer. We would always rather have leagues decided on games played, rather than forfeit wins, but we know seasons can’t go on forever and we don’t want those teams who smash out their 10 games in 10 weeks having to play 4 weeks of friendlies while everyone else catches up!

Fingers crossed, all the major issues are now behind us until the new Premier League season kicks off, so we need to make some headway into getting this season back on track!

Here’s a quick breakdown of the how each division is currently looking, and the issues that have faced teams so far.

PREMIERSHIP

Despite telling us the lads were keen to carry on, Dunno 2.0 dropped out of the league before they had kicked a ball, leaving a space in the top division. Top division gaps are notoriously difficult to fill once we’re into a season, as it takes a team that fancies their chances to step up to the top flight straightaway. This past week we have found such a team, but with them joining so far into the season they will play just one round of fixtures. This means all the other teams in the league will finish their season having played 9 games, and the new team playing 5.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Long standing Bangers & Pash left us just before the season started, meaning we had a space heading into the season. After a heavy defeat in their opening game, we had to drop The McMuffin Men down a level in order for them to be able to continue. This has left the Championship with 4 teams for a while, but we have now filled both of those spaces. With one new team taking over The McMuffin Men’s fixtures, there’s a chance they could play all of their remaining games. The other new team will play one round of games, again meaning that most of the teams will finish their season having played 9 games.

LEAGUE ONE NORTH

This division has been mostly fine, there’s just a couple of teams who could really do with getting some games played in the coming weeks…! The McMuffin Men jumped in after the first week, and It Wasn’t A Foul FC came in when Team Tom dropped into League Two in order to give them a chance to survive.

LEAGUE ONE SOUTH

No major issues here either. Cale Green Canaries joined us a few weeks ago to replace Making Emile Of It, who dropped out after the first game, but they will be on course to complete the remaining fixtures.

LEAGUE TWO

This is where we got greedy… With teams waiting to join, we added two extra teams to League Two after the first week, with the idea being that all teams play each other once, then the league splits in two with the top 4 and bottom 4 playing each other for a second time to make a 10 game season. Pathetico Madrid dropped out early, and have only recently been replaced by Exeter Gently. But with Exeter being 4 games behind Holland FC, who have played every available week, it’s doubtful that we’ll be able to get them to catch up all of their missed games before we have to split the league. Our priority is to establish a top 4 and bottom 4 in the next couple of weeks so we can get the second part of the season started without having to make some teams wait around.

So there we have it. There is a chance that if all of the top places in each division are clear and sorted before everyone has played their fixtures, we may even call the season a little early so we can get the new one set up, but that depends on the results of upcoming fixtures!

If you have any questions about your division, or your team, feel free to ask away. Whatever patience you can show while we try and get certain teams caught up over the next few weeks would be very much appreciated.

by Mike Birchall

BALLERS RE-ASSEMBLE!

It’s almost time for us to wheel out all the ‘Sixes’ related puns again (we’re bringing sixy back, let’s talk about six, baby etc etc)!

From today, Monday 1st March, we are back on it! We’ve taken the opportunity during the latest lock down to have a break, do some housework etc, but from today we will be regularly checking the Ballers phone and social media pages. We’ll work out where we were at the time of lock down, work out what league spaces we have to offer, and try and make sure they are filled in time for the return! If you weren’t playing with us at the time of lock down, you best get onto us quickly as spaces will be extremely limited.

As things stand we are due to start back on Monday 29th March at Reddish, and Wednesday 31st March at Woodley.

All leagues will continue from where they left off, so you don’t need to worry about losing whatever progress you had made at the time of lock down.

As we receive any further updates on the protocol surrounding covid measures, we’ll be sure to let everyone know.

We haven’t completely switched off during the lock down, as work has continued on what will become our BRAND NEW WEBSITE, which will hopefully contain enough new aspects to keep even the hardiest of geeks happy!

With gyms, pubs and restaurants remaining closed, and crowds still unable to attend football matches, this is your best bet for catching up with the boys…

Don’t hang around!

by Mike Birchall

CHRISTMAS CUP 2020

The annual SK Ballers Charity Christmas Cup took place on Monday 21st December, with 11 teams taking part to raise money for MIND on a cold, damp winter evening. Here’s how it went…

GROUP A

At the halfway point of Group A, it was apparent that qualification for the semi finals was going to come down to 4 of the 6 teams, as Holland FC and Phantom Brailians failed to pick up a point from their first three games. The McMuffin Men and Sale Madrid had taken early control of the group, with McMuffin Men beating RNE Albion Blue 1-0 in the opening game, and Sale Madrid beating Stroke Titty 3-0 in their second game. RNE remained in contention with a 1-0 win that effectively ended Stroke’s hopes, before McMuffin Men ran out surprisingly comfortable 3-0 winners over Sale to take a firm grip on the group and confirm their qualification. The second qualification spot came down to RNE and Sale, and Sale clinched their spot in the semis with a 3-1 win. All McMuffin Men had to do to top the group was avoid defeat in their final game with Stroke, and they just about did it as they played out a 1-1 draw.

Qualifiers:

1st: The McMuffin Men

2nd: Sale Madrid

GROUP B

Group B never seemed as straightforward, despite Buttner Ballers getting off to a flyer with a 4-0 win over Workies Bogs in the opening game. RNE Albion Purples took control with a pair of 1-0 wins, against Blue Riz and Ballers, before Blue Riz pulled off a surprise, beating fellow Tuesday league side and current Champions Deportivo La Corona 1-0 to keep themselves in the running. Workies Bogs were out after they lost their third game, 2-0 to RNE, while Ballers got back in contention with a 2-0 win over Blue Riz, which dented their chances of progressing. Deportivo found some form to shock RNE with a 2-1 win to give themselves a chance of making the semis, but they ended as they were beaten 1-0 by Ballers in the final game which saw Ballers top the group on goal difference.

Qualifiers:

1st: Buttner Ballers

2nd RNE Albion Purples

SEMI-FINALS & FINAL

Having kept things tight throughout most of their group games, it was no surprise that RNE Albion Purples were involved in a tight semi final against Group A winners The McMuffin Men. Having gone through the group stages unbeaten, McMuffin Men stumbled in their first knockout game, as RNE ran out 1-0 winners. Sale Madrid and Buttner Ballers are fairly familiar with each other, having faced off in the Monday league on a couple of occasions. Both of those full length games have resulted in draws, so we expected this to be tight, but Buttner Ballers adapted to the shorter format of the game to pick up a 2-0 win.

So to the final and it was Ballers who started the better and went 1-0 up as they attempted to reverse the result from the group stages against Purples, but they couldn’t see it out as Albion hit back to level things up and take the final to penalites. In the shootout it was Albion who held their nerve as two misses from Buttner Ballers handed them a 2-1 victory and the Christmas Cup trophy.

WINNERS: RNE ALBION PURPLES

Obviously the tournament is secondary to the money raised for charity, and we’re pleased to announce that the tournament cleared £340.18 which will be donated to MIND at the end of what has been a very difficult year for many, many people.

Many thanks to all teams who took part, and congratulations to RNE Albion Purples on their win.

A very Merry Christmas to all of our current, former and (hopefully) future customers, and here’s to brigher days ahead in 2021!

by Mike Birchall

ORDER YOUR TEAM SHIRTS THROUGH US!

If you’ve seen those teams in their glorious Ballers ‘sponsored’ shirts and wondered what you have to do to get them, there’s two ways. Firstly, be with us long enough that you become due a set from us, or order them through us!

We’ve got plenty of styles for you to choose from, and we make no money from these shirts. We literally charge what it costs for us to buy the shirts and get them printed.

The price of each shirt includes your team badge (which our print company will design for you to sign off if you don’t already have one) and SK Ballers branding

Joma Combi Shirts

£15

Long sleeved shirts are available in the Combi style in green, yellow, navy, black or royal, if goalkeepers want a long sleeved shirt in a different colour.

Joma Championship VII Shirts

£20

Joma Winner III Shirts

£19.75

Joma Europa V Shirts

£27.50

Joma Pisa II Shirts

£21

Joma Tiger VI Shirts

£31

For ALL shirts (regardless of style), you can add a number for £5, or a name AND number for £9.50.

If you want to order shirts from us, all orders need paying for before we place the order. The turn around on a set of shirts from time of order at the minute is approx 3 weeks.

If you’ve got any questions about any of the above, or want to place an order, get in touch.

by Mike Birchall

WOODLEY LEAGUES RETURN!

We’ve been given the all clear to restart the leagues at Stockport Sports Village in Woodley from Wednesday 9th September!

With 6-a-side leagues running on a Wednesday and Thursday evening, here’s the information you need if you are looking to get involved.

WEDNESDAY LEAGUE

40 minute games

Kick off times between 7pm and 9.15pm (kick off time requests can be made if there’s any issues with playing at certain times)

£5 per player, per game

SPACES AVAILABLE FOR NEW TEAMS!

THURSDAY LEAGUE

35 minute games

Kick off times between 7pm and 8.20pm

£30 per team, per game

NEW SEASON STARTS 17TH SEPTEMBER

Post lockdown, the main change to the running of the leagues is that all payments are now taken at pitch side, rather than in the building. This makes it easier for everyone. Normal social discancing measures must be observed.

For more details or to register your team, head to the homepage and fill in a ‘Join A League’ form!

by Mike Birchall

SK BALLERS PROMOTIONAL VIDEO!

Covid might have come along to slow down the Ballers momentum, but work continues on the very first, in house Ballers promotional video.

Pre-lockdown, Delph & Safety were subject to the first batch of filming, with player interviews and match footage taken on the night by Viaduct Video. So far the 60 second clip below was the initial teaser of the footage that we got on the night.

Recently we were finally able to film part 2, as long standing Team Tom gave us some of their musings before getting involved in a highly entertaining game against fellow Ballers veterans Inter Your Sister.

Part 3 will hopefully follow in the coming weeks, with the full Ballers promotional video hopefully ready to be unleashed by October. As well as the full promotional video, we’ll also be turning the footage into three full team profile videos, which will become a regular thing as time goes on.

The team for the third profile video will be confirmed in the near future…

by Mike Birchall

NEW REDDISH LEAGUES STARTING SOON

A thoroughly successful first week out of lockdown is out of the way, and we have new leagues starting up in the next few weeks for anyone looking to sign up a new team or bring an old team out of retirement…

NEW SUNDAY LEAGUE STARTS 9TH AUGUST

Our biggest league night starts another new season in early August, and with pitch space almost limitless we can always find space for new teams to expand the league.

We have numerous options to incorporate teams in the first couple of weeks of the season, so if you miss the start date don’t let it stop you getting in touch to see what we can do.

Earliest games kick off at 4.30pm with latest games starting at 8.30pm, but if you struggle for later or earlier games we will do what we cna to accommodate any requirements.

NEW WEDNESDAY LEAGUE STARTS 19TH AUGUST

A bit more time to gather the troops for this one! Our Wednesday evening league is ideal for those teams who would like a fixed later kick off time each week. Our Wednesday league is one division with all games kicking off at 9pm every week, and we currently have ONE SPACE AVAILABLE for a lucky new team. We can squeeze a ‘pre-season’ friendly in on Wednesday 12th for teams who want to limber up ahead of the start of the new campaign.

All league games are 50 minutes long, priced at £5 per player, per game.

Head to the homepage, fill in a ‘Join A League’ form and we’ll be in touch to talk you through how everything works.