Playing soccer

Play is a big thing when you're young and it happened in many places some of which I'll talk about later but there's one form I feel like talking about now.

We didn't have a playground where we lived never mind one set in open countryside so with the exception of the school playing field which was small by modern standards, we played on waste ground or one a tree lined recess between the road and our houses.
The usual game for us boys was soccer for which we improvised goals from coats which worked well as at that time traffic was small and we know everyone and when their fathers would come in from work in their cars as our mothers didn't.
The nearest park was a good mile and half walk along a dangerous road with no sidewalk so the only proper soccer we played was at school during recess or for games where we'd have one sesson a week and the girls had one of their own usually borrowing the same pitch.
With my co-ordination I was put in as 'defence' or as goalie not really being trusted to take a ball and score goals with it and if it wasn't so busy I'd get frozen in the winter with just a fleecy red and white soccer jersey, white shorts and socks on.
 From memory I'm sure I had proper soccer shoes that had studs and had to be tied up which was something I couldn't and still can't do and the ball was a big heavy one.