Montrose Walking Football Club was crowned Scottish Walking Football Champions at the National Festival on Sunday 19 June at Spartans Community Football Academy in Edinburgh after a narrow 1-0 victory over local side Midlothian who are based at Loanhead and Penicuik in the final.
The festival, which was co-ordinated by Paths for All as part of the Scottish Government’s Active Scotland strategy, saw 26 teams of over 50’s from across Scotland battle it out to walk away as Scottish Walking Football Champions 2016.
Ian Findlay, Chief Officer at Paths for All said: “The 2016 Scottish Walking Football festival was an overwhelming success. 26 teams who came from all over Scotland to play the latest version of the beautiful game and the enthusiasm from players and coaches made it a wonderful day. Special thanks to Spartans Community Football Academy for providing their fantastic venue and staff to support the event, and also to our partners Age Scotland for providing the Yvonne Coull Memorial Shield which was awarded to Montrose WFC. We wish the team the best of luck as they now carry the hopes of all the Scottish walking football family to the UK play-offs.”
This slowed down version of the beautiful game has grown rapidly across Scotland by allowing people to reignite their passion for football, despite injury or illness, simply by slowing things down.
Peter Davidson, Project Manager, Links Park Community Trust said: “We are delighted that since launching our Walking Football programme two years ago, interest in the sport has grown rapidly and we are now engaging with over 50 adults, both male and female, between the ages of 25 and 75.
“We are very proud of those that represented Links Park Community Trust at the event and delighted that they were victorious. We look forward to representing Scotland in the UK championships, and of course, we’ll be back to defend our title at the Scottish Championships next year.
Well done to Paths for All and partners for what was a fantastic event.”
The festival was organised as part of the Scottish Walking Football Network which brings together five national organisations to support and enable the development of the game across Scotland whilst measuring its impact: Paths for All, Age Scotland, Scottish Association for Mental Health, Scottish Football Association and the Scottish Professional Football League Trust.
The network has been endorsed by a number of Scottish football legends including Craig Brown, former Scotland manager, Archie MacPherson, the ‘voice’ of Scottish football and former Scottish FA Chief Executive, Gordon Smith.
Craig Brown, former Scotland manager said: “It’s great to see so many teams from all over Scotland competing at this year’s festival. The growth of this version of the beautiful game has been phenomenal and I am heartened by the fact that we have so many people still playing football in their later years.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
