There was something very refreshing in the news former Premier League star Ian Pearce is now paying matchday subs for a local side so he can still get his Saturday football fix .

On Fulham's books last year, Pearce dropped 11 divisions to turn out for Surrey South Eastern Combination First Division with Oxted and District FC.

After years spent playing in front of thousands, turning out in front of 150 people must be a surreal experience perhaps even more so than for those teams from the lower leagues who get their day out at Anfield or Old Trafford. While an FA Cup glamour tie is the fulfilment of a dream, playing alongside sales reps, graphic designers, machinists and postmen, as Pearce is now doing, is a glimpse of the kind of life he could have had if his footballing gene had been slightly less well developed.

After a summer spent following the efforts of Emmanuel Adebayor, Dimitar Berbatov and Cristiano Ronaldo looking to wangle their way to a bigger contract at another big club, it was a real antidote to find a case where it is so obviously a desire to keep playing football rather than the money that is the motivation for running out onto the pitch with your team mates.

Yes, you get former players having a laugh and a kick-about in a charity game with some other retired pros, but it is not too often you hear of a player who once lifted the Premier League (in Pearce's case, with Blackburn in 1994/95) trophy turning out for a district side on a regular basis.

When football has become such a business, it is good to be reminded that at its heart football is about the enjoyment of playing a game. That is why kids start kicking a ball, not because at the age of five they already see it as a serious career option which could make them millions, although it may well figure alongside astronaut and fireman on their list of things they want to do when they grow up.

Another player who seems to have refound the joy of playing football is Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Since finally calling time on his disappointing three seasons at Chelsea, the s22million ex Blues reserve is a man reborn back home at Manchester City.

Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch have been similarly reinvigorated since joining Portsmouth.

Any genuinely ambitious footballer once again spending his afternoon taking his Wag shopping or driving around in a flash motor while their team mates are doing the business on the pitch should remember Pearce and Wright-Phillips and ask themselves whether they would get more enjoyment out of life kicking a ball in anger rather than just cashing a pay cheque.