Probably more acutely felt in the UK, England certainly, due to the poor quality of pitches and facilities. Why would you want to play on pitches covered in dogshit then not being able to shower afterwards.
Councils seem to have given up any sort of maintenance of either. First sign of heavy rain, they immediately postpone all matches on municipal pitches.
The decline and loss of company sponsored pitches and facilities doesn’t help either. The likes of Elida Gibbs, Leeds Perm, Yorkshire Bank, and Yorkshire Copperworks, all had top quality facilities in the recent past, that are no longer sports grounds. Similarly in York, all the Rowntrees pitches have vanished along with British Sugar and General Accident places.
So it’s understandable why playing 5 or 6-a-side game on a reasonably well maintained Astro pitch, then warm showers and a bar to go to afterwards beats getting changed on the side of the pitch, getting bladdered in mud, then having to go to the pub without showering.
