I played soccer, not even in a particularly competitive league, when I was young (think 8-13 years old).
I was OK. Not a great player, but I was okay, and knew position play quite well.
I got a lot of playtime because I was *very* good at playing the man and not getting nailed for it. Nothing like slide-tackling, taking somebody's legs out intentionally, and making it look legit.
Who do you think taught me to do that? My coach! Well, him and my dad, who used to play pretty competitively in college, and knew the tricks.
Later on, I played in a non-coached (self-coached, I guess) rec league, when I was 18ish.
We played even dirtier there. No one got hurt permanently, but if your wind wasn't knocked out once per game, it was probably because the other team was really, abysmally bad.
And you know what? Everyone had fun. It was part of the game. You took your bruises and went back on the field. Our games tended to be pretty low-scoring, even for soccer (*lots* of 1-0 games), but anyone who watched one would tell you they were exciting.
And Jynne, why lock a thread where you and I can post++ to our hearts' content?