Carlisle Leisure Leagues referee, Anthony Backhouse, completed a remarkable journey last week when he stepped out at the O2 Arena in London to officiate the Star sixes Tournament.
Anthony had only been refereeing for us for seven weeks, having signed up just as the league in Carlisle kicked off, but has impressed everyone so much that he was chosen to be one of the representatives of Leisure Leagues at the prestigious event.
Backhouse admitted he could barely believe the whirlwind rise: “I…
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Carlisle Leisure Leagues referee, Anthony Backhouse, completed a remarkable journey last week when he stepped out at the O2 Arena in London to officia…
To say there aren’t many English referees who can say they’ve refereed a game involving Ronaldinho, Robert Pires, Nicolas Anelka and Ryan Giggs is an …
When the Leisure Leagues Legends lined up this weekend, drawing crowds of adoring fans, each with jaws-dropping at the sight of the parade of world …
Just imagine it.
There you are, playing on your local 3G pitch, and the team after you is warming up ready for their game.
The same thing happen…
Sulley Muntari probably would prefer to be remembered for his spells playing for some of the biggest clubs in the world – both Milan teams for example…
After Newcastle beat Cardiff in a televised game on Friday night, Cardiff Manager Neil Warnock turned his attention to referee Graham Scott.
…
“Leisure Leagues perform a vital role in bringing people together….”
We know that already, and we are extremely proud of the fact we have l…
Leisure Leagues are delighted to be announcing our biggest ever competition.
The World’s Largest Provider of 5 and a 6 a side football is giving aw…
David has purchased a franchise to run Leisure Leagues in Chelmsford, Essex. In our latest Franchisee in Spotlight feature, we catch up with him to fi…
Andrew Ison looks at increasing role of TV in enforcing the rules of sport
Last weekend, Lexi Thompson was cruising to victory in a major golf …
On the 22nd February, Surrey Heath Borough Council had a meeting. Nothing especially unusual that, except at this meeting it was decided that houses…
We talk to Joe Evans, who has recently started running his franchise full time, and he tells us why he’s been able to …and why he’s looking forwar…
With the words of Damian Collins MP back in early February no doubt still ringing in their ears, the FA let everyone know about their blueprint for ch…
Another day and another Tweet from Valerie Vaz. The Walsall MP replied to us yesterday by, well, not replying to us at all. Merely saying she “wil…
The above was a response on the official Twitter Account of Valerie Vaz, MP for Walsall South after our blog earlier this week regarding the use o…
Occasionally some Councils in the UK try and shore up their decreasing budgets by putting usage on their sports pitches out to tender or, in reality, …
Speaking in the wake of the Labour Party’s historic by-election defeat in Copeland last week (where they became the first opposition party to lose a…
It is a statement that shows everything that is wrong with modern football.
“His warmth, charm and charisma have helped transform perceptions of …
In the latest in his articles with an historical perspective, Andrew Ison looks at the loss of a local connection
Many people will have loved t…
So the self-styled “best league in the world” lost what is commonly regarded as the best referee in the world yesterday – and it’ll be interes…
You would have thought, perhaps, that having a vote of no confidence in you by MP’s would see you retreat and try and make reforms – or at the ver…
“This is possibly the biggest sports development to happen in Bury for a very long time. The investment, not only in Bury Grammar School pupils, but…
The Isle of Wight league is going from strength to strength – more than doubling in size since it was taken over.
We speak to Richard to find out…
On a weekend of high FA Cup drama, Arsenal made it look rather easy against Southampton – or to be accurate Southampton Reserves.
The debate about …
Leisure Leagues is delighted to announce that we are sponsoring a charity game at Tamworth FC this weekend.
The match takes place at The Lamb on S…
When Theresa May became Prime Minister in the summer, one of the first things she set out as a key policy was an end to the ban on new grammar schools…
Everyone at Leisure Leagues was shocked a little while ago when we learnt of the passing of former England Manager Graham Taylor.
The legendary bos…
“New Year, New Me”. The subject of millions of Internet Memes at this time of year, but if that expensive gym membership you took out on January 1st i…
You already know that Leisure Leagues is the benchmark provider of 5 and 6 a side football, but did you know that you can share in our success and bri…
Probably like the tens of thousands of people that play in Leisure Leagues competitions both in the UK and internationally every week, we all view the…
While we’ve all been off over Christmas, eating too much, drinking too much and spending time with our families, there has been a more or less const…
Back in the summer the Chairman of the premier League, Richard Scudamore admitted that talks regarding a winter break in football were “ongoing”.
…
“Apologies from my end it was never a penalty, but genuinely thought defender was going to slide, so tried to ride the tackle”.
That was the tw…
Yesterday to the general surprise of no one in particular (let’s be honest, when you only interview one candidate for the job, there’s not a lot o…
The picture above, of the little boy in shock, and the video below of the best day in the history of Chapecoense, a Brazilian top division side show …
“Let’s assume there is a problem and let’s get after it”.
Those were the words of Greg Clarke, Chairman of the FA, speaking on Radio 4 last night…
The Premier League had a meeting last week and one of the topics up for discussion was “Safe Standing”. The decision made after the talks was that…
Football returns this weekend.
It could, of course, be argued that it’s never been away, Leagues One and Two, non-league teams and FA Cup replays…
Have you got what it takes to work for the largest provider of international 5/ 6 a side football?
Or put another way, we are the Barcelona of the …
UK Sport and Sport England recently published its ‘Code for Sports Governance’. This outlines a range of targets to do with transparency, accounta…
My Nan used to have many a saying. One of them she used to say a lot: You could choke on a fly and swallow an elephant.
Like a lot of my Nan’s ph…
Discipline was at the forefront of the football news last weekend, as yet again high profile managers couldn’t behave themselves.
We had the uned…
2016 has been a year of disturbance and sadness with deaths and tragedies aplenty to remind us of our frail humanity: David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Carol…
The ugly crowd trouble that marred the EFL Cup game between West Ham and Chelsea last night was as predictable as it was sad to see.
Ever since Wes…
Today, the FA Chairman Greg Clarke and its Director of Governance and Regulation, Darren Bailey will appear in front of the culture, media and sport S…
There was a story in this morning’s newspaper that showed the current state of refereeing in an interesting light.
On Monday night there is one o…
Teams in the Lutterworth league in Leicestershire became the first in the country to receive the brand new Nike Balls we have on offer across a range …
“On reflection it was a silly thing to do.”
As understatement’s go that might be the best one of the year. Nonetheless, that was the respon…
We’ve got an exciting announcement….and five pairs of boots to give away!
We’ve built new Facebook groups for every single Leisure Leagues ve…
The Hartsdown Academy in Margate made the news this week when the back to school run didn’t go as smoothly as planned.
You may have seen this on …
Quite why Chelmsford City Council are happy to turn on their back on a potential £55,000 a year to benefit tax payers is a question that is being as…
Steven Hart was the winner of our Player Card Competition – and celebrated with a bottle of Leisure Leagues champagne at his wedding!
Steven, the s…
Everyone at Leisure Leagues is shocked and saddened by the tragic death of Colin Taylor, the Managing Director of Oxford City FC.
Mr. Taylor was fo…
So congratulations to Portugal on their first ever major tournament win, but it was a Euro 2016 final that left more questions than answers.
Questi…
The Euro 2016 hype is slowly dying down. We know how important it is to prepare your fantasy teams however, so we’re looking towards the future. The…
2016 looks to be shaping up as the footballing year of the underdog.
As we saw with Leicester’s heroic domination of the Premier League earlier t…