Bit harsh to go all Vinnie Jones on your own sonI watch my son play football, and they are coached to play lovely triangles and passing, and they can all do fancy flicks and turns and it’s good to want him. However, I know my 12 year old self and old team would wipe the floor with them, as we would play Wimbledon style aggressive route one and press from goal kicks and destroy them. Which in some respects is rather sad.
Seriously though, at that level (assuming none of the players concerned actually turn/turned out to be world class) anybody can win by just kicking the other team up the arse if they're allowed to play that way.
For what it's worth (and this is comparing the 60s to the 00s, rather than 70s to now) me and my friends would definitely have thrashed my Dad and his at age 12. Though to be fair, I am about a foot taller than him. And actually enjoyed football.