Walking football - the beautiful game without the huffing and puffing

Youre never too old to bend it like Beckham.

'˜Stop trying to walk the ball into the net!' It's a complaint that can be heard on the terraces of football grounds everywhere. But now, thanks to the exponential growth of walking football in the UK, there's a whole new meaning to the phrase.

The good news is, you don’t need the lightening pace of Theo Walcott, the mesmeric dribbling skills of Lionel Messi or the Rooney-in-his-prime-esque ability to pick out the perfect pass from 30 yards to play it, either.

Walking football is exactly as it sounds - it’s a slowed down version of the beautiful game that’s taken off among a new breed of latter-life sportsmen who probably thought they had hung up their boots for good years ago.

Aimed predominantly — though not exclusively — at the over-fifties footballer, walking football was invented five years ago in Chesterfield, and it’s spread like proverbial wildfire up and down the country since then, with clubs popping up all over the place.

Increasing popularity

Two years ago there were just 125 clubs offering the game — then came a Barclays television advert in July 2014 featuring a walking football team and its popularity skyrocketed.

Now, there are around 800 clubs playing, with thousands of former players rekindling their love for the game — albeit in more leisurely fashion than when they were in their sporting prime.

“Walking football is providing an ideal opportunity for men to socialise and engage in regular activity - often at a time of life when developing new friendships can be difficult,” says Steve Rich, founder of Walking Football United, a website he created to bring the ever-growing number of registered teams in the UK closer together.