In a sumptuous summer of sport, we’ve had the Euros and the Olympic Games, with the Paralympics a week away. But for Selhurst Park season ticket-holder Seth Gillman, the match of his lifetime is still to come
Little did Seth Gillman think that, at the age of 58, he would be playing football for England.
But that unlikely dream came true two weeks ago. Gillman learned that he had been chosen after taking part in a trial weekend in Liverpool. “They announced it at a team dinner that evening,” he told Inside Croydon.
“At first I felt shocked and surprised. Then I felt elated and proud. I thought it was a great honour.”
The team in question is the England Parkinson’s Walking Football team. The players all have Parkinson’s Disease, which can cause tremors, muscle weakness, slow movement and stiffness. A progressive neurological condition resulting from a loss of dopamine cells in the brain, it has no known cure, but the symptoms can be controlled for a time with medication…
Gillman has played in tournaments around the country. When Fighting Fit played at St George’s Park, the FA’s training centre in Burton-on-Trent, they won the Cure Parkinsons’ Cup, the major competition for Parkinson’s football in Britain.
He is now due to play in Norway in the Ray Kennedy Cup, named after the former Liverpool, Arsenal and England midfielder who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1984 and died in 2021.
It will be the 13th staging of the Ray Kennedy Cup, which this year is being held in Moss, Norway, over the weekend of September 6 to 8…
FULL STORY at source: https://insidecroydon.com/2024/08/22/58-year-old-palace-fan-gets-england-call-up-for-a-special-game
Author: The Walking Football
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