Impairment Walking Football is experiencing a huge growth.

Thanks to the vision and drive of the WFA, there are now well over 30 sessions in England offering Walking Football and, more importantly, a support and social group, to hundreds of people living with a variety of health conditions.

For the WFA it started in Lockdown when Stuart Langworthy met Paul Nicholls. Paul was in his mid 50s and had Parkinson’s and joined the We Are Undefeatable Virtual Walking Team run by Stuart. Following lockdown, the two sought out John Roche, who was doing great things with Northern Lights in Liverpool – and Walking Football for Parkinson’s was born – and that has now grown to support many other physical and mental health conditions.

The 3 Amigos made it their mission to support as many sessions in England as possible to enable people to play walking football in a fun, friendly and safe environment

The Walking Football Association & Parkinson's UK Partnership

In 2022 the first ‘Cure Parkinson’s Cup’ was held at St Georges Park with 10 teams taking part – The winners being Northern Lights Stockport. In 2023 18 teams took part with Parkysaurus winning and Abbeymead Rovers winning the plate competition. We are expecting continued growth in 2024 with 20 teams taking part…

Following a successful 12 months of playing exhibition matches WFA Kicking Cancer are now holding trials to select an England squad an initial trial is scheduled for Sunday 26th May at Bishops Cleeve FC its open to anyone who has or has had any form of cancer and anyone over 40 will be considered to register your interest email johncooper160156@hotmail.co.uk

Walking Football Association Kicking Cancer Walking Football Team

There are many things to look forward to in 2024

In April the Parkinson’s team travel to Basque Country to play an International and to show what is possible and what can be achieved
A new ‘Impairment’ Director will be announced following the AGM
2 members of the Parkinson’s group are travelling to Hong Kong – to play in a WFA team but also to meet with local Parkinson’s groups and to help kick start Walking Football for Parkinson’s out there
One of the Parkinson’s team is meeting a group in Melbourne, Australia to help build the game over there
The Parkinson’s team have been invited to another tournament in Singapore
Trials for the Kicking Cancer team start in May
The Cure Parkinson’s Cup takes place in April at St Georges Park
I am sure there will be many more opportunities for these groups to continue to grow and inspire
Simon Forrest has now been appointed as Impairment Director