Celebrating the joy of grassroots football

Author and Enfield Town fan Nick Majer is writing a series of children’s books based around the ups and downs of a youth football team

Over the last few seasons my wife and I have spent many a Sunday afternoon entertaining ourselves, talking through the dramas from the kids’ football matches earlier in the day – I’ve lost track of how many times we talked about writing it all down!

Eventually I did, and now my first book FEETBALL – Season 1 has been published by Olympia.

It’s the first in a planned series of books, all inspired by experiences of grassroots football with Enfield Town FC.

The story follows the fictional Foresters Hall Rovers under-sevens and their first-ever season. On the eve of their debut, their manager drops out. A hapless dad steps up. It’s a steep learning curve, for everyone!

My vision is to create a series of seasons, one for each year of grassroots youth football, with themes, character depth and writing style to adapt and change alongside the evolving reading age of the younger audience.

It’s been classified as ‘middle grade fiction’ for children aged between seven and twelve, but I know some parents who have enjoyed bedtime reading a little more since it’s been published!

Although the works are fictional, anyone who’s lived and breathed grassroots football will no doubt recognise a great deal, if not all of it. So, calling all parents of budding young players, particularly parents who have got their hands dirty on a Sunday morning… FEETBALL is as much your story as it is ours!

I was born and raised in Bush Hill Park, so as a long-standing Enfieldian I thought it might be fun to use street names in the borough for the teams that feature in the book. I’m pretty sure folks in the area will recognise the fictitious clubs names!

If you’ve ever frozen your toes off supporting from the sidelines, been roped in to ref at the last second only to give a penalty against your own flesh and blood, or maybe you just know a budding young player looking for their next favourite read, then FEETBALL is for you!

My family and I consider ourselves very fortunate to be part of Enfield Town, and the club have been so supportive about the book, regularly advertising it to the club’s football school and youth section, so I hope I’ve represented them well.

FEETBALL is available now from Olympia Publishers:
Visit olympiapublishers.com/books/feetball-season-1

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