Reading is a town proud of its historic football club, which has just finished celebrating its 150th anniversary season in the past weeks however, sport in Reading is beginning to diversify with the growth of futsal, both nationally and locally.
Futsal is an exciting, fast-paced five-a-side game likened to football, that is played indoors for halves of 20 minutes of stop-clock action.
The balls in futsal do differ from a regular football, a futsal ball is three times heavier to promote close control on the court floor and possession inside the court.
The benefits of futsal are heavily transferable outside of the sport itself and onto the football pitch, with players most notably improving ball control and becoming more comfortable in possession.
Reading as a town provides multiple avenues to get involved in futsal with two futsal clubs to choose from; Reading Royals and Dynamo Tekkers.
Both teams have youth setups starting as early under-7s, with clear progression pathways through the age groups and into the adult teams.
Household names like Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar have credited their world-class dribbling skills to early development from futsal, even Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Max Kilman has a futsal background earning 25 caps for the English national futsal team.
Reading Royals has two men’s teams and a women’s team that plays in the NFS Series Two, LNFS West Division and NFS Tier Two respectively.
Reading’s women’s team saw an incredible turn in results in the second half of their season to finish second in their first season together.
Along with the men’s NFS Series Two team, coached by New Zealand international Brayden Lissington, finishing third and narrowly missing out on playoffs.
While Dynamo Tekkers have a singular men’s team that competes alongside Reading Royals in the LNFS West Division creating an enthralling local derby on a matchday.
Both clubs have seen this season as a great success as they head into LNFS Finals this weekend at Wycombe Leisure Centre.
The LNFS Plate competition will conclude on Saturday, June 4 as Dynamo Tekkers take on Rushmoor Futsal Club in the semifinals for a place in the final later that day.
Sunday, June 5 is the big day as the LNFS Championship competition will find its winner, Reading Royals face Brunel or Braintree as they fight for a place in the grand final that afternoon where the winner will be crowned national champion.
If you’re interested in trying out futsal locally, please visit royalsfutsal.co.uk or tekkersfootball.co.uk.
Report by Scott Hargreaves, Picture by Sheena Booker
