Twenty20 Cricket to 5-a-Side Football?

On a day where the English Cricket Board (ECB) gather to consider proposals to revolutionise the domestic game, I consider what, if anything, Football can take from Cricket's recent growth.

When Twenty20 Cricket was spawned three years ago, it was a breath of fresh air in the world of Sport. It rode on the wave that had been created by the Ashes victory in 2005, and brought hundreds to thousands of new fans to the Cricket Ground. No-one then could have imagined what Twenty20 Cricket has become today, as England prepares to host the second Twenty20 Cricket World Cup in 2009. Twenty20 Cricket has put fans back in the stands.

But what is it that is so great about Twenty20 Cricket? It's quick, and it's exciting. It's what all sports should be like, and that is why it's so popular. Can Football take anything from this Cricketing revolution?

The alternative "short-form" of the Footballing world would be 5-a-side Football. This is an exciting proposal. Logistically it could become difficult in what is already a very long season, and most of the Premiership does not struggle significantly with attendances to introduce an experimental "Second League", but we know that it would be quick, it would be exciting, and it would be popular.

Masters Football is a popular annual event, live on Sky Sports, where ex-professionals represent their former clubs in regional 5-a-side tournaments, before competing nationally to be Masters Champions. I don't doubt for a second that there are current professionals looking forward to representing their clubs in Masters Football when their careers are over, and introducing a 5-a-side tournament during the professional season could actually be met with a lot of excitement from the current pros.

Is this a more ridiculous concept than playing a 39th Premier League match in Asia at Christmas? I don't believe so. I actually believe it would be a quite feasible project for the Richard Scudamore to consider at a time where they look to make money they don't need from anywhere that they can.