As a 65-year-old cancer patient who recently survived a heart attack, John Borg Costanzi, would be forgiven for thinking his football playing days were behind him.
But, instead, he joins his teammates every Tuesday for a game of walking football, a craze that arrived in Malta last year.
“Walking football helps get my mind off my stresses; it keeps me active, and I have fun,” he says.
Borg Costanzi is one of a group of men discovering the joys of playing football in their older years through a slightly gentler version of the beautiful game.
Walking football introduces a few rules to ensure that no one gets injured, such as no headers, no slide tackles and crucially, if a player runs, they concede a free kick to the other side.
It was invented 13 years ago in England, but the game was only brought to Malta last May, when Steve Mifsud founded Walking Football Malta…
On April 20, the Malta team had their biggest challenge yet when they gathered on the Pembroke Athleta pitch to face off against England.
Mifsud has encouraged anyone interested to contact him on walkingfootballmalta@gmail.com and try it out for themselves.
And anyone still with doubts can look to Borg Costanzi for inspiration.
“I hope that when people discover my condition, they say if he can play through that, I can play through anything,” he said.
MORE info: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553490216728
FULL story at source: https://timesofmalta.com/article/i-feel-18-again-walking-football-helping-older-people-get-back-game.1091644
Author: The Walking Football
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