The world’s largest walking football festival will take place on Saturday at Glasgow Green.
The draw for both the Over 50’s & Over 65’s Walking Football Scotland Scottish Cup and the Friendly Festival was made earlier this month by patrons Craig Brown and Rose Reilly at the Scottish Football Museum in Hampden Park.
Walking Football Scotland are looking forward to welcoming the 73 teams from across the country including Hearts who will represent Edinburgh in the Over 50s competition.
They will face Arbroath , the SFA and Tullibody in Group G.
Tranent Colts will take part for the first time and will face Gala Fairydean Rovers, Kirkcaldy and Stenhousemuir in Group E.
Previous winners Midlothian will play Gretna 2008, Lochgilp Rovers and Montrose in Group H.
Midlothian will also enter a team in the Over 65s competition and their ‘Ladies’ team will play in the non-competitive festival.
It will be a poignant event for the Midlothian team who will go into the tournament without ‘Mr Walking Football’ Peter Collins who sadly passed away earlier this year.
Peter was an inspirational figure who played the sport well into his eighties and was a goalkeeper in the team that won the Scottish Cup aged 85.
Gary McLaughlin WFS Chair said: “This has been a huge undertaking and we are delighted to be returning to Glasgow Green for this year’s event. This will be the largest gathering of walking footballers in the world and it would not have been possible without the help and expertise from Glasgow Sport and Matt Ramsay in particular. We hope to see walking football played at its best whether in either of the Scottish Cups (Over 50’s and Over 65’s) and the non competitive Festival.”
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.
