With over 40,000 amateur and semi-professional clubs in the UK it is safe to say that grassroots football is a far bigger part of the football family than league football. Despite this, non-league football is rarely represented in the mainstream media or entertainment otherwise filled with football. Video games like FIFA or Pro-Evo make it seem as though football doesn’t exist outside of the professional leagues. That said, it may well be the sheer size of the non-league set up that it’s not yet received the video game treatment.
FIFA is a great game but if there is one limitation it is that the casual gamer has no chance of playing without frustration unless they use a top level team. Part of the fun of Football Manager games is you can take AFC Wimbledon to the Champions League final. A casual player in FIFA would struggle to score with the same team.
Other themed football games are a chance to immerse yourself in a fun game where it is your skill that matter, not that of the player you control. For example, Flick Kick Football on the App store is a simple and intuitive swipe to score free-kick game. There are no star players to choose from, no internationally feared defenders to curve one around – just you, your skill and an increasing level of difficulty to master.
The move from mainstream console games, that serve to promote league football, to indie, online and mobile games that are based on skill and luck illustrates the necessity for new kinds of representation. Where blockbuster games still appeal to large audiences, newcomers are taking their fair share of the popularity of football in entertainment, taking on new approaches. Mobile app Football Chairman, for example, owes its great appeal to the easy nature of the game and lack of licensed player names. Player purchases are based on simple statistics, not big names, and results are based on luck.
Similarly, many traditional games have been given a simple football theme to make them more interesting, without forcing the player to have extensive football knowledge. Some hugely popular pinball machines,for example, have seen a football makeover, where the flippers are the goalkeeper’s arms, the drain is the “goal” and the bonus hole is how you score against the opposition. Protecting your goal turns a basic game into a game of Italian defence. A similar idea has been applied to themed video slots like MrSmithCasino’s Football Star. The game works in a familiar way, but the symbols range from tackle, shoot, cross, goal, header, bicycle kick and the dreaded referee. It’s the recognisable terms and iconography that increase the appeal of football-themed games.
The global appeal of football has inspired many football-themed products and services from video games to TV shows to crockery and bed linen. Football-themed games are often a release from daily life into a world we know, love and feel comfortable in or another way to get your fix of your favourite sport. I probably spend as many hours now creating my likeness in FIFA as I do playing it or ever played Subbuteo as a child. This is also the exact reason there is a need to turn towards smaller names and teams, to allow football fans of all abilities to work their way up and into their own local favourite teams.
The appeal of non-league football in games is especially visible in football management games, where one of the greatest achievements can be taking a small team to the highest echelons of the game. Nonetheless, in the mainstream, any football adds appeal to almost anything. It added scores – excuse the pun – of viewers to soaps like Dream Team and Footballers’ Wives. The initial attraction of football sucked people in and then the drama of the show, preposterous storylines and cheesy acting kept you coming back. The connection to football can be pretty spurious but we’ll still find it entertaining. Mutant football games like Rocket League is a great example because you never actually kick a ball but the environment is familiar enough to make you think it’s still football despite it being about rocket powered cars.
Non-league football may not appear much in popular media or crossover entertainment like video games but the need for that is growing, and it is becoming more and more important to add smaller teams and names to some of the most prevalent forms of football in everyday life. Until then, though, it’s still football with beautiful moments of magic and that’s enough – we can all see the appeal of non-league football and there’s no changing that.
