Ahead of the Walking Football Association (WFA) 70+ National Cup Finals at the University of Nottingham, Kingston Walking Football Club (KWFC) 70+ set off for Nottingham on Friday, 5 September, and says its first opposition was the M25/M1 journey.
This enabled the team to have an overnight stay in Nottingham the night before the big event on Saturday.
KWFC had a “Team Meeting” that evening, “in which gluttony was allowed, for food only and with a slightly restricted alcohol intake rule in place,” KWFC’s Manager, Peter Yiannakou, told Kingston Nub News.
He added: “I wanted to avoid “Roomgate” happening again! I kept my beady eye on them, so I know they had conformed.”
As the current 2024 WFA 70+ National Cup Champions, KWFC was aware that it is another year older than last year.
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It was also aware that some of its squad members are in their latter 70s with John Farrington now 81 years young.
“People do not believe me, when I tell them that I must keep telling John to stop running,” Yiannakou said.
KWFC’s senior players John Farrington, 81, Brian McCarthy 78, and Ray Wake 75, are still competing at the highest level.
Yiannakou said: “All three are amazing and inspirational to younger players. These senior players had support from Alan Kumrou, Dick Hobbs, Zac Philipps, Larry Byrne, Jim Mellish and Neil Brister.”
Walking Football Association (WFA)National Cup Winners
He added: “The Kingston squad (being the same as 2024, but with one addition) are all awesome players but I realised that the opposition would have ‘younger blood’ coming through this year. We knew that our retaining our National Cup Champions status was a tough ask this year.”
Throughout the match day on Saturday, telecom contact was made to KWFC by the squad’s remaining members.
“Dave Pooley, John Fincham, Keith Harris, Derek Kearey, Kevin Murphy, Ray Watson, and Martin Moore wished us the best and wanted constant updates throughout the day,” said Yiannakou.
“It was also great to see best wishes and support from our other Kingston club members on social media.
“Thank you Kingston Supporters and followers, for your tremendous support. It is greatly appreciated. Thanks also to Mike Armitage, for being our Squad photographer on the day.”
During the tournament, the top eight teams in the country were placed into two groups of four, with the top two teams going through to the semi-finals.
“We were placed in a very strong group,” Yiannakou said.
Yiannakou says that the match against Worthing was “a tough and apprehensive first group game, where both sides strongly defended and both sides were restricted to attack and score took place”.
He added: “Having played Worthing recently in other Tournaments, we both knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses, so we knew this would be a low-scoring game.”
The match score was 0-0.
Speaking about KWFC’s match against Dorset, Yiannakou said: “With tension slowly subsiding, we were able to return to our normal flowing style of play in the second game. Only once did we fear conceding a goal.
“Alan pulled off the save of the decade (or maybe of all time) when he dived and saved a fierce shot with his right hand which forced the ball to spin upwards and sideways to the other corner of the goal…
CONTINUE READING at source: https://kingston.nub.news/news/local-news/kingston-walking-football-club-70-wins-2025-national-cup-finals-retaining-2024-status-271351
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Author: The Walking Football
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