Colchester United fan Si Collinson on grassroots football

But last summer, that is exactly what happened.

Some of you may read my weekly column on Colchester United and know how I am passionate about football.

But outside of the U’s, it also plays a very important part of life and I thought that some of you maybe interested in my slightly varied footballing story which I hope will just go to show no matter what life throws at you, where the mind is willing the body can do amazing things. So here goes.

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For those who do not know me, I had an accident in Canada while on exercise with my Army Regiment, in 2017. Complications from this led me to have my lower right leg amputated, in 2019.

This was a very stressful period for me and my family. I was trying to come to terms with it all and felt like I was losing part of my identity.

However, during this time I found out about amputee football and go involved with this as a way to keep fit and be around football.

This was an adventure that saw me play for and ultimately captain West Brom and I got called up to the national squad and ended up signing for Chelsea. It was an intense time, challenging and having to live the life of a professional footballer – sadly without the pay.

This was all going well until I dislocated my wrist in a league game.

In an effort to get fit for the World Cup I rushed my rehab as much as I could, but in the end it just would not heal properly.

And as the game is played on crutches, I was given the news that I risked further injury and possibly the full use of my wrist if I carried on.

As gutting as this was, the family came first and I did not want to risk anything that would hamper my time with my young children.

This left me feeling a bit lost and gutted my football playing days were over.

However, I could not have been more wrong if I tried, and it actually opened up the door to a new challenge that at the same time rekindled my love for the game.

The gym I go to has fellow U’s fan James Thompson as the fitness manager and in a chance conversion, he happened to mention he was involved with Feering Village FC. I half jokingly asked if I could come training and to my shock, he was all for it.

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Personally, I’ve always been one to back myself when it comes to football and doing a job on the pitch. But I must admit I wondered if I’d bitten off more than I can chew, as I made my way to my first training session.

Here I was, 40 years old, missing a leg and trying to mix it up with players at times half my age. I must have a screw loose or something.

This said, the manager Tim Perry and everyone I met associated with the side could not have been more welcoming if they tried and made me feel part of the set up from day one.

I trained for the first few weeks in trousers to see how it went before I relieved I was playing on a prosthetic.

To their credit, no one treated me differently and most said genuinely did not even know.

Training progressed and the talk of the new season began. In all honesty, I was expecting at this point to be told carry on training, but we can’t include you in the season.

I would have respected that, as I did not want to feel I was playing as they felt sorry for me and were being kind to include me.

But pre-season came around and I got game time in the build up and from a personal point of view felt good and honestly believed I could offer something.

Tim, to his credit, was open to me signing but made it very clear that making match day squads and any game time could not be promised and would be done on merit.

I was really happy with this as I was being treated as nothing by an equal, something that may seem a given, but was a concern I had.

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At this point there was the small matter of regulations and what the League and FA rules were with a player using a prosthetic. Shout out to Jon Burns and Aaron Fitch here.

Aaron is a very close friend of mine and knew what I was doing and hoping to do, but he still had to jump though a fair few hoops and as the league vice-chairman, it fell to him to get the bits lined up.

Credit to him and after a bit of back and forth with Essex FA, the FA itself and my consultant, I was given the green light to get out there and play.

Pre-season progressed and suddenly it was September 2023 and the season was upon us. Feering play in Colchester and District Sunday League division one.

I went into the season with the mindset of work hard, support the lads where I could and if a managed a few minutes here and there all would be good. In the end, it turned out much better than I could have wished for.

Out of the 18 matchday squads I was included in I started eight, was a used substitute in eight and unused in two. Not bad in my eyes, if nothing else.

But aside from the actual time on the pitch, it was the whole experience that made it fantastic.

The dressing room banter, who would turn up or not given a fun night out on the Saturday before game day. Players forgetting boots, hangovers from hell, it all went on and more.

This was a world away from the sterile environment at Cobham when I was with Chelsea, but in all honestly it was fantastic and I would not swap it for anything.

The reason we all love the game, a group of friends turning up and playing, yes there is a competitive element and we want to win, but the enjoyment is there for all and now the season has finished I’m missing it already.

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Outside of the actual fixtures, one thing that has really resonated with me is how Feering strive to be “more than a football club” and look to help others.

Every Christmas there is an inter-squad charity match, using football to raise money for causes close to the players hearts.

So far, money has been raised for St Helena Hospice, Crohn’s and Colitis, as well as Macmillan.

It is a great way to keep playing over the winter break and the fact it is all for a good cause makes it even more worthwhile and is well supported by players and families.

All of the details are on Instagram @feeringvillagefc if anyone fancies a watch this year.

I know this has been a bit of a whistle stop tour through my football, but I wanted to take the opportunity to prove that football at grassroots level is still a great place to play and also thank the people mentioned above along with my team-mates.

Plus, I wanted to show to all that no matter what happens there is a way to get playing and still enjoy it.

I was planning to give it this season and call it a day, but you know what, one more season can’t hurt.