Rotherham United Crowned Good Mood Champions

Rotherham United Community Sports Trusts (RUCST) Inclusion football team were crowned champions after a fantastic season in the Good Mood league.

The Good Mood league which is part of the Ability Counts League was developed by RUCST & Sheffield and Hallamshire FA and aims to give fun but competitive 11 a side football opportunities to a variety of people including people who experience mental health difficulties, Asylum seekers and people with housing and/or substance misuse issues.

Sam Firth, Disability Officer for the Sheffield and Hallamshire County FA was on hand to award RUCST inclusion team with their winner’s trophy.

In addition to claiming the winner’s trophy, Ryan Heald was awarded Player of the season for his playing quality and continued commitment to the team. Following a successful year with RUCST inclusion, Ryan has now gone onto full time employment.

Rotherham United’s Inclusion Football team also competed in the Ability Counts 7 a side league, where they managed to finish second overall.

Trudi Race, Disability Officer at RUCST said “Myself and everyone at Rotherham United Community Sports trust are immensely proud of the participants who have been involved in the team and the league, they are a brilliant group to work with”.

Brentford FC Over 25’s Ladies Take Part in Charity Football Tournament

Brentford FC’s New Year, New You session started in partnership with Middlesex FA at the beginning of February targeted women over 25 to get involved in football. The session is held at West Ealing Bowls & Social Club on Monday evenings 7-8pm and has engaged over 20 women in the 12 weeks it has been running! It is a very social session where no previous experience or ability is necessary, just a fun environment to learn and play the game.

On Sunday 24th April, the ladies entered a charity tournament, for some it would be their first ever competitive match in football. Brentford Women’s FC club captain, Charlotte Tanner has been supporting the session by regularly attending the Monday evening session and was also with the ladies for the tournament. Charlotte spoke to us about the day.

“When Maria asked the ladies to play in a tournament for charity, all the ladies got really excited! She explained it would be against other women teams. ‘I’m not playing against men’ I remember her saying!”

“On the lead up to the tournament the question was shall we enter one or two teams. Lots of ladies who had joined the sessions over the last 3 months were very keen, so two teams it was; Buzzette’s and Queen Bees!”

“We all arrived at Osterley Goals on Sunday 24TH April, wearing the Brentford FC kit which made the ladies even more excited!”

“When the organiser was going through the rules I looked around and there were all male teams, two mixed teams and us! Some of the ladies were nervous as this was their first ever competitive game of football, having never kicked a ball before February but the ladies got straight involved and had a great time, all in aid for charity.”

“Over the course of the day we played around 10 matches. We stuck together as a group and the ladies showed their skills and team work with the guidance from Lorna, Brentford FC CST coach who has worked hard in explaining and teaching the game to all the ladies.”

“We managed to draw two games and win one! It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for all the ladies and everyone had a brilliant day out. Here is what’s some of them had to say about it,

Janae Pine, “It was a challenging tournament but we managed to match and beat some of our opponents, I enjoyed every second!”

Sharlene Brown, “It was great fun! Fair play to us for not doing a U-turn when we realised there were no other women! Nice family atmosphere as well.”

Maria Diaper, having never played football before has really supported the session and helped recruit a number of ladies said, “It was fun and enjoyable! We have come so far since we started training, and we have recruited a new player out of playing in the tournament today!”

Charlotte summarised the day and told us more about the FREE session on Monday evening, “It was a great day to show others that women can play football and have so much fun whilst playing!”

“When I go down to the session on a Monday evening, I know I’m going to have a good time. All the ladies are really nice and we have a great time learning about the game I love so much. It’s great to see women coming down with hardly any experience enjoying the sessions and finding and new way to keep fit!”

Middlesbrough Fans invited to celebrate memories of ‘66

Middlesbrough Football Club Foundation and the Sporting Memories Foundation have teamed up to stage ‘1966 & the Boro’, a free public event at the Riverside Stadium celebrating the role Boro played in the historic 1966 World Cup.

Fans of all ages are invited to the Hardwick Suite of the Riverside Stadium to share and capture memories of Ayresome Park staging the world’s greatest football tournament. Taking place from 10.30am to 12.30pm on Monday 20 June, the event will celebrate the 50th anniversary of England’s proudest achievement in football – lifting the World Cup.

Staff and volunteers from the Sporting Memories Foundation, as well as participants from MFC Foundation’s ‘Team Talk’ project, for Teesside men aged 40 and over who’ve lost jobs, will be on hand. They will interview visitors, collect memories and add them to www.memoriesof66.com, the official digital archive of the #memoriesof66 project, which has been set up in partnership with the FA, and will form part of an upcoming exhibition at Manchester’s National Football Museum.

Memories of 66

Visitors are encouraged to bring their own memorabilia from 1966 along to the event, including football, music and fashion items, and to share the stories behind them and the memories the items hold.

It was revealed in April that 1966 World Cup winners Martin Peters, Nobby Stiles and Ray Wilson are living with dementia, and that Jack Charlton is also experiencing severe memory problems. Sporting Memories Foundation run projects across the UK with older fans to tackle dementia, depression and loneliness. Sporting Memories is an official charity partner Middlesbrough Football Club for the 2015/16 season.

Boro's Stewart Downing & George Friend with Tony Jameson-Allen from Sporting Memories Foundation

 

Greg Dyke, Chairman of the FA, said: “Good luck to all involved in this special event to recognise Middlesbrough’s important role in the 1966 World Cup. As much as we remember with pride England’s triumph at Wembley Stadium, we should also use this year to celebrate what was truly a national story with places like Ayresome Park helping to welcome the world. I know there are many great memories that continue to be shared across the generations.”

Helena Bowman, Head of MFC Foundation, said: “We are excited to be working with the Sporting Memories Foundation on this event, bringing the community together and using the powerful memories of England’s World Cup win to such positive effect.”

Tony Jameson-Allen, co-founder of Sporting Memories Network, said: “We are looking forward to finding out just what it was like living in Boro during the World Cup and capturing the memories this event helps trigger.”

National Walking Football Cup 2016 – Preview

Older Footballers & Legends ‘Walk On’ as they prepare for the National Walking Football Cup Final at St George’s Park

Footballers aged over 50 are getting another chance of glory thanks to a National Football Competition from the EFL Trust

This year’s Walking Football Cup has involved over 1000 men and women aged over 50 from throughout the country who have been representing their local Football League club.  We are now down to the last 10 teams who will take part in an exciting finals day at St George’s Park on Tuesday 7th June

The ten finalist are; Blackpool FC, Bristol Rovers, Colchester United, Middlesbrough, Mansfield Town, Nottingham Forest,  Plymouth Argyle, Wigan Athletic, Southend United and Sheffield United

Walking Football is a slow-paced version of the beautiful game aimed specifically at the over 50’s. The competition is backed by football legend, Jimmy Armfield, who, comments, “As you get older the opportunity to participate in team sports lessen – ironically at the age when you most need to keep active.  Walking Football is designed to help people keep an active lifestyle despite their age, as well as getting those back playing football who had to stop due to injuries. Simply playing 1 hour a week for 3 months enables players to cover 30 miles and burn 4,200 calories!”

In addition to the cup itself, ex-players and legends of the game Terry Angus (Fulham FC) and David Busst (Coventry City) are part of the PFA Legends teams that will make a return to the game at St. Georges Park testing their skills at Walking Football. For David in particular, he feels very passionate about Walking Football after suffering a severe leg injury that ended his professional playing career ‘’It’s great that I can be part of this event,  like many footballers, amateur and professional, that suffer from a severe injury, you don’t know when and if you will return to the beautiful game. Walking football is a fantastic way of reliving my fondest memories, it brings back my love of the game. I hope that by playing I can inspire more men and women over the age of 50 to take up Walking Football.’’

Last years finalist Blackpool & Plymouth are back again this year.

Last years finalist Blackpool & Plymouth are back again this years final.

The competition comprised of 5 regional events with over 60 team competing, with the top two in each region qualifying for the finals.   Dean Grice, from the EFL Trust comments, “Those dreams you have as a child of playing for your local team never truly go away, so the competition that teams represent in their local club and play in their colours.  We are also grateful to The FA for allowing us to use St George’s Park to provide our players with the experience of playing a top class venue. Having legends of the game like David Busst and Terry Angus coming down to support the event is again testament to the growth of walking football and will only increase the profile of walking Football ”

Walking Football has grown massively over the last few years and as the name suggests it is non-contact and anyone that sprints, runs or jogs while the ball is in play will be penalised with a free-kick awarded to the other team.

Dean continues, “We want this tournament to provide the opportunity for friendly competition and to promote and help grow the game. So that more and more older people can benefit from staying active.”

To find out more about Walking Football click here