It’s step-by-step football and it’s not a bench joke. “Walking Football”, just like in English for now, is slow football, a sport for those who want to stay active and have fun playing even when the body no longer allows great adventures. It already has thousands of practitioners across Europe, it is taking its first steps in Portugal – pass the easy pun – and in England it even has official rules.
It was through the Algarve that he came here. In English, through Walking Football Algarve, an organization that was born two years ago and promoted the formation of several centers of the sport in the region, as well as some international duels. Like this one, one of the first.
The names of the teams play with what they represent. People who are past middle age but still enjoy playing football. Keeping yourself healthy. That’s what explains to morefootball Chris Wright, 71 years old from England who retired to the Algarve in 2005 and lives in Olhão. In fact, he adopted Olhanense and is part of an Algarve club made up of Britons living in the region: the «Gorillas» of Olhão. can see them on here.
On that poster there are several things that draw attention, in addition to the well-intentioned attempt to write in Portuguese, and one of them is the name of John Mortimore.
Yes, explains Chris. «John Mortimore, former Benfica coach, is my friend. He sponsored our first tournament and sponsors the annual tournament. » And play, Mortimore? «He doesn’t play, no. He is 82 years old. »
“How to be a child again”
He doesn’t play Mortimore, but among the regular “stars” of Walking Football in the Algarve is the former English player Brian Kilcline, captain of the Coventry team that in 1987 won the FA Cup in a final with Tottenham, and who currently spends most of of your time in the Algarve. Now 54 years old, Kilcline says he has rediscovered the joy of gaming. “Obviously it’s a slower game, but it’s very energetic and competitive. Playing “walking football” is like being a kid again,” Kilcline told the British newspaper “Birmingham Mail”.
Who better than an old player to describe this new sport? Word then to Kilcline: «Since I retired I had not returned to play football at 11. But this gave me a new lease of life. I recommend it to anyone. It’s a form of football that takes us back to the essentials: controlling the ball and passing it from foot to foot. Not just toss it across the field and hope it goes well. And I love the teasing between players. That has always been part of football.”
Chris Wright’s definition complements the concept: “It’s slowing down the game for everyone, for people over 50 to play football. It is very good for the cardiovascular system. Doctors approve. There are people who come to practice after a heart operation. It’s very good to keep the activity going.”
The descriptions already frame some of the specific rules of Walking Football. Rule number 1: no running. One foot must always be touching the ground. Then there is usually a limit to the number of touches each player can make before passing the ball. And this one also cannot be played above a certain height, for some above the waist area, for others the head. Also try to avoid physical contact. Otherwise there is play, enthusiasm and goals.
And basically you train yourself to play, explains Chris. “There is a mini-tournament in every session. Practices are games. We have a warm-up period, then it’s playing and staying active.” And there are also referees: «The referee is chosen from among us. Usually someone who is already 80… Sometimes we have one on the pitch and another on the sideline.» Teams can be mixed, joining men and women.
«Walking Football» was born in England six years ago, an initiative of the Chesterfield FC Community Trust, a social organization associated with Chesterfield. Since then, it has been growing, a lot in England but also a little throughout Europe. In the Algarve it started in 2015 and now it is also played in Lisbon, organized by the Benfica Foundation.
“In England there are more than 800 teams. We started here in Portugal two years ago. We now have groups in Olhão, Tavira, São Brás, Vilamoura and Lagos», says Chris Wright. The Algarve club also organizes international tournaments, there will be one in March in Albufeira, and takes advantage of every occasion to compete: “Tottenham legends also come here regularly, in charity initiatives, and whenever they come we play against them.”
There are still not many Portuguese to join, says Chris. “We have some, we would like to have more. But besides the English we have Germans, Dutch, several nationalities. We normally have 30 people in each session.”
At Luz, to promote active aging
Walking Football Algarve is now in contact with Fundação Benfica, which promotes sessions at Estádio da Luz, in an initiative that emerged from a European project with a network of clubs that develop social projects. «Walking Football comes with us following a project with the European Football Development Network, where we have 13 more clubs. It is in the area of social responsibility, a response in the area of active aging», he explains to the morefootball Nuno Costa, from the Benfica Foundation.
«We are developing regular sessions with several Foundation partners at Estádio da Luz, in synthetic, to do this work of avoiding some isolation and achieving greater inclusion of people in active life, improving health and also the social aspect», he continues. Half a hundred people, users of various institutions, participate in these sessions at this time. Some of these players will participate in a tournament in the Netherlands in September.
The first initiative promoted at Luz within the scope of this project was a game to which former players, Veloso, Stefan Schwarz or Paulo Madeira, were invited last September.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srBIMDj4Lbo
But this is still a slow start, notes Nuno Costa. «We are still in a very embryonic stage, especially in Portugal. The only club to practice that we are aware of is Walking Football Algarve, we have already made contact with them. European partners can easily get together, several Dutch clubs can get together to play and socialize. We in Portugal are a bit isolated.”
The official rules and «Laws of the game»
It’s also not easy to set your own rules, he adds. Yes, that’s one of the issues around sport, there’s a lot of different guidance on some of the specific regulations. “There is even a difference in terms of rules between who plays more in the British zone and who plays in Germany or the Netherlands. Differences such as having or not having contact, or more practical things. The general rule is that the ball cannot pass above the waist. But, for example, when a ball kicked by one player hits another and rises above that line, whose fault is it?”
It was to try to get ideas on the subject that the English Federation (FA) decided to formalize a book of regulations for Walking Football. It had already declared its intention and this week announced that the Walking Football “Laws of the Game” were ready. It includes principles such as the definition of “walk” and the penalty for running, which is the award of a free kick to the opponent. Also the prohibition of the ball rising above the height of the head (defined as 1.83m), or even having players inside the penalty area, to avoid “tactics” that are too defensive. This one.
Ahead of this weekend’s #PeoplesCup first round action, the official #WalkingFootball laws have been launched. ⚽️????️https://t.co/NYCBqbP0aN
– The FA (@FA)
February 22, 2017
Anyone who plays here approves of this step in defining the rules. «It is good, there was this objective of being able to harmonize rules, we hope it is a step in that direction», says Nuno Costa. “I knew they were going to publish the rules. It’s good”, comments Chris Wright, although the British veteran admits that, basically, the practice is “adapting the rules to the situation”. In particular, the number of players available to play.
Nuno Costa believes that Walking Football can evolve as another variant of football. For now, still in English, there is no Portuguese name adopted for the sport: «We have kept Walking Football, it is the name by which it is known, even in countries like Holland or Germany.»
“Basically, maybe you can also go through a process like street football. Currently the team organized by CAIS is already recognized as a national team within the Federation, there are already regional clearances to define the selection. I hope that the path can be in that sense, valuing a new modality in football», says Nuno Costa.
But it will always have in essence the simple practice of sport and socializing. Preferably with humour. Chris Wright again, talking about Walking Football Algarve: «We have a social component, we have a get-together at Christmas, we have an annual dinner where we give away prizes. We call them the Zimmer Awards.” It’s boring to explain a joke, but this one has to be. «Zimmer frame» is a walker, one of those devices to help those who have mobility difficulties. «We choose the player of the year, the best goal, or even the player who runs the most, which is the «Diarrhea» award»
