Walking football new form of the beautiful game

Thousands have rediscovered the joys of playing football again thanks to a slowed-down version of the game...


The pace of walking football may be more leisurely, but the game is still fierce, which is the way we likes it. That and the camaraderie.

Walking football was designed as a way of tackling both inactivity and social isolation among older men. Activities for older people, such as tea-dances and sit-down aerobics, tend to be dominated by women and shunned by men.

One of the pioneers of the game was Roger Jones, who first came across the idea of working with older men in Glasgow’s Govan area. “We tried various activities but the most popular was football at walking pace. 

The success is down to capturing men’s passion for sport. Men like being with other men, they like the banter, they want to be able to swear and fart.”

And kick each other? “It’s supposed to be a non-contact sport, but I’ve yet to see a session of walking football where that doesn’t happen.”

The other offence that the walking footballers can’t resist is running.  We try to temper it because if we dropped the walking rule entirely it would put people off - they wouldn’t be able to keep up.”

Even if widely flouted, the walking rule is the sport’s biggest appeal as it means games can accommodate a much wider range of fitness levels and abilities than the traditional form of the game.

Matthew Weaver theguardian