Last season’s U8s teams will open their U9s seasons in just a few short weeks. And the move from under 8 to under 9 is amongst the biggest of changes in junior football. Next season, the teams will play on pitches over twice the size of the ones they played on last season and will move from 5 a side to 7 a side games. In addition, game length increases from 30 to 40 minutes.

So how have our new under 9s been preparing over summer?

Some of the teams have been participating in tournaments in a bid to get game time. And most of our teams have been playing friendlies against other local sides going through the same transition from under 8 to under 9.

The U9s Blacks and the U9s Whites were both at Crompton House last week playing against various Heyside U9s teams, while our own Counthill ground played host to a friendly between Uppermill and our own U9s Whites.

All of our under 9s teams have continued with pre-season training over the summer period too, helping to ease them into a big transition season come September.

It’s great to see the teams getting 7 a side game time ahead of the new season.