The importance of a captain to his football team is immeasurable – leading his troops out onto the field, wearing his heart on his sleeve and remaining vocal no matter how high the odds are stacked up against them. When thinking of a football captain the mind immediately goes to the big names – Terry, Gerrard, Kevin Davies to name but a few – strong, bold characters who lead the line with their hearts on their sleeves.
However going down the rungs of the football leagues even small-sided teams, such as Lincoln 5-aside outfit Scoregasm FC, need a leader. And that leader is Jamie Slinn, a twenty-five year old graphics student – originally from Northampton, now studying at Lincoln. Which is where he first met and brought together his team, who narrowly finished second last season. Now of course there’s a world of difference between the role of a premiership captain and that of a small-sided captain, but Jamie is keen to explain that there is still a lot to do: “well yeah, there’s a lot of difference between our little league and the professional leagues. But sometimes when you find yourself a goal or two down, it’s actually harder for me as a Captain to motivate the boys – especially when you think that they’re not actually professionals and they’re certainly not being paid to do what they’re doing”.
