Normative Data for Physical Activity and Heart Rate Metrics of Recreational Football Among the General Male Population—The Football Cooperative Initiative

Everard, E, Carroll, P, Doherty, S, Harrison, M, and Krustrup, P. Normative data for physical activity and heart rate metrics of recreational football among the general male population-the Football Cooperative initiative. J Strength Cond Res 40(4): e366-e372, 2026-Owing to established benefits associated with recreational football, there has been increased focus on developing the concept of Football is Medicine. This is leading to the development of more formalized and larger scale recreational football initiatives in general populations, such as the Football Cooperative (FC) in Ireland. The aim of this study was to determine the physical activity and heart rate (HR) metrics of FC games and to compare these metrics between the 2 FC game sites. One hundred two men (age: 37.4 ± 8.5 years, height: 176.2 ± 18.2 cm, body mass: 90.6 ± 21.5 kg) volunteered for this study. The games were 9 vs. 9 and 30 minutes per half on an astroturf pitch (36.5 × 27.5 m). Global Positioning Systems and chest-strap HR monitors were used to measure physical activity and HR metrics, respectively. Subjects ran an average of 6,632 m with 32 accelerations per session. Furthermore, subjects had a HR mean of 77% of their peak HR achieved during matches (Match-HRpeak) and played 81% of the time above 70% Match-HRpeak, 52% above 80% Match-HRpeak, and 23% above 90% Match-HRpeak. Despite a mean age difference of 10 years between the 2 sites, the only significant physical activity differences between sites were maximum speed and high-speed running. This was the first study to provide normative data for HR and physical activity metrics related to a 9 vs. 9 recreational football initiative. The results show recreational football provides a training stimulus in relation to HR metrics and distances covered that is to the upper ranges of recommended exercise guidelines.