Match of the Dads was the idea of 37-year-old father-of-two Paul Godfrey, and since it first started in April last year it has grown to be a seven-team league with more than 50 players.
Papathinaikos, Dads Army, Dadalona FC, Real Ma-Dad, Oldman Athletic, Dadston Villa and Dadford City are among the MOTD squads which play most Mondays at Goals in Hall Road.
“The main aim of MOTD is to get dads out and about, socialising with other dads at the same time as improving fitness,” said Mr Godfrey, who works for Aviva and lives in Dussindale with his partner Lucy Daynes and their daughters Charlotte, three, and Sienna, one.
“I also run another dad group – the Norfolk branch of The Dad Network – and I just thought why don’t a few of us get together and have a kick about with a football. The first time we had 12 dads and we decided at that point we would like to play more together He added: “The reason I started it, it’s all to do with mental health and being a dad. When I became a dad I kind of lost a little bit of my own identity. “From a lot of dads’ perspectives, when a baby is born a lot of the attention, quite rightly, is is on the mother and the young child, and what I wanted to do is give an opportunity for some of the dads to regain their identity and also increase their social circle, and part and parcel of that is the mental health aspect too. It’s a well known fact that physical exercise can help alleviate symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression.” MOTD has also linked in with a charity called CALMzone – which stands for Campaign Against Living Miserably – and has raised about £500 for the good cause. State of Mind think this is a great idea and maybe rugby clubs could replicate this type of activity?