\n<\/p>\n
As the players idled by the chain-link fence at the side of the field, taking great gulps of air and water and conducting an immediate autopsy of the game that had just finished, they focused their attention on three outstanding bones of contention. Instinctively, they separated into dedicated working groups to tackle each one.<\/p>\n
The first considered whether a penalty that had not been awarded absolutely should have been, as an aggrieved plaintiff was claiming. The second investigated if a particularly egregious foul was premeditated (yes) and\/or warranted (also yes). The third explored the knotty issue of how many deflections preceded the last of the game\u2019s 12 goals \u2014 estimates ranged from two to \u201cabout a million\u201d \u2014 and whether allowing the goal could, therefore, reasonably be considered the goalkeeper\u2019s fault.<\/p>\n
Before that matter could be settled, the debrief was cut short. Each player had to dig into wallets or pockets to find five pounds \u2014 just over $6 \u2014 to pay their share for the use of the field. As they strolled stiffly to the parking lot, the squabbling gave way to discussion of plans for the rest of the evening, and for next week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
This is all part of the ritual of the scrimmage, the scratch game, the kickabout. It is a conversation that happens thousands of times a week, across the world, after thousands of games like this one. The only difference here is the qualifications of those involved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The 20 players who have just paid about $120 to play for an hour on an unremarkable synthetic field in south Manchester are used to rather different surroundings. Between them, they have made more than 1,000 appearances \u2014 and scored more than 100 goals \u2014 in England\u2019s Premier League. They have played professionally in a dozen or so countries. Among their number are players who have won trophies, tasted the Champions League, represented their nations.<\/p>\n
They wear their fame relatively lightly. There are no replica jerseys bearing their names. Only a couple go as far as to use shorts emblazoned with club crests. Watch them play for a few minutes, though, and it is clear this game is hardly ordinary.<\/p>\n
The quality on display, as one player has put it, is \u201cfrightening.\u201d As it should be: The victim of the contested penalty is Ravel Morrison, once of Manchester United and West Ham. The judge of the debate on the foul is Joleon Lescott, a Premier League and F.A. Cup champion with Manchester City.<\/p>\n
It is universally agreed that the game\u2019s most gifted regular participant \u2014 and most unapologetically competitive spirit \u2014 is Stephen Ireland, who played for a decade with Manchester City and Aston Villa. The two players stretching out their calves, tuning out the bickering, are Papiss Ciss\u00e9 and Oumar Niasse, once of Newcastle United and Everton.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
They are part of a rotating cast of professionals \u2014 most of them retired recently enough that rust has not yet set in \u2014 who come here every week to take part in what may be the best game of pickup soccer in the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
It was not designed to be anything of the sort. The weekly game started a couple of years ago, as coronavirus lockdowns began to ease, when a group of friends \u2014 most of whom had played semiprofessionally, on the lower rungs of England\u2019s soccer pyramid \u2014 set up an amateur team, the Farmers, to play together on Sundays.<\/p>\n
This part of Manchester, though, is a relatively small world. The city\u2019s leafy southern suburbs, and the gilded villages of north Cheshire, are home to dozens of professional players, both current and former. It did not take long before a couple of them, friends of friends, had accepted invitations to join in.<\/p>\n
From there, it spiraled quickly, said Kial Callacher, one of the team\u2019s founders. Soon, the Farmers were winning some games by \u201c30 goals or so,\u201d he said. \u201cAfter a while, it wasn\u2019t really fun.\u201d The team\u2019s opponents, presumably, were of broadly the same view. Everyone involved decided it might be better if the ex-pros just played among themselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n