“To be reintroduced to kicking a ball again is just wonderful...

Walking football is a sport that is constantly expanding both within the Foundation and around the country; in fact,

it was the subject of an international competition last month.

Made up of the top players in the country, including five from the Foundation’s own Walking Football Team,

England over 60s defeated the top walking football team in Italy.

Paul Kerrison, one of these five Foundation representatives, graciously shared with us his competition experience.

Paul compared it to falling in love with your first love again.

It’s fantastic to be able to kick a ball once more. You all have a lot of friends and respect one another.

After being directed to the Foundation’s Walking Football program, Paul has been participating in the sport for more than five years.

Since then, Paul and his fellow Foundation members have been able to practice and perform at such a high level that

they were later asked to try out for a representative England squad.

The chosen handful went to Sweden earlier this year to experience international competition for the first time, and

they came home victorious.

Five of our Foundation players travelled to Florence in July to compete in an IWFF international tournament on

behalf of the England over-60s Walking Football Team.

They would play Sweden again in the semi-final, where they won handily, after defeating Sweden, Australia, Italy,

and France in the group stages.

Les Bleus, the team that gave them the most trouble in the group stages, would be their opponent in the final once

more. England emerged victorious with a 5-2 victory in a thrilling final that featured two equal scores and a sin-bin.

Paul finished as the competition’s best scorer for the over-60s with eight goals after scoring a hat-trick in the final.

Apart from his evident satisfaction with the outcome, Paul believes that these kinds of gatherings would encourage

people to participate and eliminate any restrictions that Walking Football is a simple or non-competitive sport.

“You have to put in a lot of effort for your teammates, even if we’re walking; I’d say you have to be better off the ball

than on. It all comes down to location; you can’t run back to challenge someone if you lose your guy.

“To be reintroduced to kicking a ball again is just wonderful”