The Ultimate 5-a-side Book: The 5-a-side Bible

To order your copy of the 5-a-side bible, just click on THIS AMAZON LINK. 

Over the past decade, a revolution has been going on in the UK with more and more people playing the game. The FA have estimated that 1.5 million people play some form of “small-sided” football each week and it’s now played more widely than the full 11-a-side game!It was only a matter of time before the game got its very own book: step forward the 5-a-side Bible.

Yeah, yeah, tell me what’s in it…

The book is your essential guide to 5-a-side – it’s got everything covered that we know you guys love to read.

Anybody who has turned up at their local 5-a-side centre on a wet Wednesday night can testify that 5-a-side has developed it’s own culture. Yeah, we might all play the game in different locations and in slightly different ways, but we all share a lot of common experiences.

The book taps into that – whether it’s the entertaining 5-a-side team names, ‘the 15 people you always see at 5-a-side’, ‘the worst excuses for not turning up to 5-a-side’, or tales of temper tantrums from the pitch, anybody who has ever set foot on the hallowed artificial turf of their local 5-a-side venue will be able to identify with this comical side of the game.

But we didn’t stop there, we also covered the best tips on how to improve your game. One of the beauties of 5-a-side is that it’s such an informal game, but the flipside of this is that a lot of people have never really thought about the way they play and prepare for it (although the fact you’re on this site probably means you’re ahead of the rest in this department). So we’ve included lots of advice that should not only make you a better player, but should improve your overall enjoyment too. Whether it’s the articles on sport-science, nutrition, skills or tactics – it’s practical stuff that can be applied by any player, whatever their standard, to improve their overall experience.

And it’s written with the emphasis on fun, not as a dull reference manual.

Does it include any of the articles from this site?

Yes, it does include versions of several of the very best posts from the site – worry not: your favorite, most useful content is in there.

But it’s also got loads more stuff that you’ve never seen before. And that includes some brilliant contributions from other writers and some guys who really know the 5-a-side game inside out, including:

• Interviews with five 5-a-side legends (who also share the knowledge that made them 5-a-side masters)
• The unlikely story of how 5-a-side as we know it in the UK today grew from a couple of shabby tennis courts in Scotland;
• ‘Le God’s’ (Matt Le Tissier’s) view of the 5-a-side game
• The best 5-a-side venues in the world
• Confessions of a referee
• How to score at penalties – by author of the definitive penalty guide, Twelve Yards, Ben Lyttleton – specially adapted for 5-a-side.

It should satisfy all of your 5-a-side cravings, and as if that wasn’t enough, it’s printed in glorious hard-back edition so the covers can be recycled as makeshift shin-pads when you’ve forgotten to pack your own.

Buy it, buy it now

It really is the definitive and wry guide to the highs and lows of the great British 5-a-side game. Full of lots of anecdotes and practical information, The Five-a-side Bible covers sports science, tactics, nutrition, fitness warm-ups and warm-downs, but with an emphasis on fun.

If you do buy it, and you like it, tell your friends!

Thanks for supporting the site, and for those of you who do decide to buy a copy, thanks for supporting the book – it’s kind of a big deal for us and we really appreciate each and every person who takes the time to read it.

Interview with Talksport

Here’s the audio from when I went into the Talksport Studio to discuss with Hawksbee & Jacobs:

Book Club Video Review

So you still want to know more. This is an excellent review, which we think captures exactly what’s in the book: