Ben Stevens and Total Futsal: The Journey

Total Futsal Instagram Page

When looking at media coverage of futsal across the UK, it is quite scare. There is the odd article here or there about ongoing events within the sport but, this Is not sustained coverage. When looking at the major news outlets In England, It has become apparent that news on futsal will claim headlines only If there Is no football on the weekend. It goes without saying that futsal is not in a position to challenge football for headlines because of the difference in recognition but, how is the sport meant to get any form of consistent coverage domestically?

Fade in Ben Stevens. Total Futsal founder and BBC published writer. Stevens started Total Futsal in February of this year, he said: "Earlier this year, I thought there was a bit of a gap in terms of the coverage and I wanted to change that."

Since February, his instagram account has risen to almost 900 followers which Stevens sees as an incredible achievement: "I feel like it's become a really nice community that's kind of brought people from all over the futsal together.

"It's it's a really committed and engaged audience, I get a lot of responses and a lot of engagements on my post and it shows that people really care about futsal."

Ben Stevens playing futsal for the University of Liverpool

Stevens passion for futsal started during his time at the University of Liverpool where he competed in the BUCS leagues whilst studying. He then went on to play for Liverpool Futsal Club.

After completing his masters in sports journalism at Liverpool John Moores University, he switched his boots for a pen and started writing articles about futsal in various news outlets. His first piece of work was for the Liverpool Echo as he looked into the rise of futsal in Merseyside.

Whilst that was a big achievement for Stevens in his journalism career, in October he wrote an article on futsal coming out of footballs shadows for arguably one of if not the biggest news sources in the world BBC Sport.

This was huge. Whilst futsal has received coverage on the BBC, this story was integral for increasing the recognition for the sport.

The story was shared amongst the community as a big step forward as there had not been a piece on futsals growth on the website for a very long time.

"It is a really great achievement for me but the most important thing is that futsal needs to believe in itself a bit more" he said.

Following his piece on BBC Sport, we have seen more coverage on futsal. As England have started their qualification rounds for the European Championships, the sport has been getting more attention on various sites.

Hopefully, with the continuation of Stevens efforts to promote futsal in England, we can see Total Futsal grow with the Idea that more aspiring writers around the sport come forward a bring the sport the attention It deserves.