It means that old has-beens and never-wases like me can share a pitch with Great Britain internationals like Barrie McDermott, Hugh Waddell and Chris (shudder at the memory) Burton. Everyone has a good time and you all walk off under your own steam.

That is made possible by a system of colour-coding. The 35 to 50s wear black or white shorts and tackle and get tackled normally. We 50-somethings in red can only be grabbed, whilst the gold-shorted over-60s - led on this occasion by the 70-year-old Bev Risman - must only be tagged.

That's the theory. But as both Bev and I found, it's easy to get carried away and start mixing it with younger players. Not a good idea.

Terry Flanagan, ex-Oldham and GB, is the man behind the concept and he's confident that, once people get used to it, it will serve its purpose of keeping players involved in the game after they have had enough of getting beaten up every week.

The plan is for a series of tournaments at amateur clubs through the summer. Look out for it if it comes your way. It's well worth watching or, better still, participating in.