The buzz, the laughter… new team-mates with a new purpose – MATT BARLOW shines a light on the wonderful world of walking football

With a backdrop of palms and a hint of tropical warmth it might pass for a scene from Cocoon, the classic sci-fi movie from 1985 about a group of aged friends rejuvenated by aliens who live underwater off the Florida coast.

This is Coventry though and, from the evidence to hand, alien-free. Those present are mostly senior men, mostly cancer patients, all wrapped up to beat the damp chill of an indoor dome on a wintry morning.

They are all on the move,coupling vintage football shirts with hi-vis flashes of modern fitness gear as they shuffle around the 3G surface. They are all buzzing with anticipation, smiling and laughing, emitting the golden glow of a secret uncovered.

This was the magic I had been promised by a friend who has taken up walking football, rejoiced in its benefits and advised me to take a closer look at its quiet rise in popularity. It became one of the most enjoyable and uplifting assignments of 2024.

Most involved offer a variation of the same story. The idea seemed a bit naff, but once they started playing they never wanted to stop.

Former Coventry City players David Busst and Dave Bennett run several sessions each week. Busst is 57 and has led Sky Blues in the Community since his professional playing career came to an end after a sickening leg break against Manchester United at Old Trafford in 1996. Bennett, a goal hero of Coventry’s 1987 FA Cup win, is now 65 and combining ambassadorial and community duties for the Championship club.

The games attract players of all ages and offer many a chance to re-engage with their beloved sport

A decade has passed since they added walking football to the programme and it has proved a phenomenon, just as it has all over the country. Last season, 43 EFL clubs ran nearly 4,000 walking football sessions. Thousands more exist. An FA Cup has just been introduced.

Football at its elite level might be faster and more intense than ever, but men and women across the UK are engaging or re-engaging with the sport they love at a more sedate pace.

Former England winger Chris Waddle has been spotted playing walking football for Hallam, his local club in Sheffield, prompting a personal flashback to an impromptu and low octane kickabout among journalists during downtime at the 2009 Under-21 Euros in Sweden.

We set up a game in small goals without goalkeepers and Waddle, out there with BBC 5 Live and playing for broadcasters against newspapers, scored with his second touch virtually every time he got the ball, regardless of where he was on the pitch or the direction he was facing. In the end, we needed a goalkeeper just to keep the score down.

Originally, however, walking football was designed for post-operative rehabilitation among those aged over 50. It blossomed and then blossomed again in post-pandemic Britain.

All sorts of categories exist. Busst plays regularly in a competitive over-50s league. ‘Way too competitive,’ he says. At the other end of the scale are therapeutic wellness sessions and everything in between.

Commentator Alan Parry has been playing four times a week at Maidenhead FC since he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

‘I was cynical as anyone,’ Parry told me. ‘I’d not long since stopped playing competitive five-a-side and thought walking football was for the old and infirm, but it’s become an important part of my life — I’m still kicking a ball around at 76.

Former England international Chris Waddle has been known to play the sport for his local club

Busst, who saw his promising career ended prematurely through injury, plays in a competitive league for over 50s

‘I don’t know anyone who has started and given it up because they’ve not enjoyed it. I’ve made new pals and see smiling faces and people enjoying themselves.’

There are some basic rules. No heading, no contact and obviously no running, which means one foot should always be in contact with the ground and penalties can be awarded for repetitive running offences.

Games are often limited to three or four-touch although the rules are adaptable and each group settles into its own speed and etiquette. In Coventry, where I had been invited as part of the EFL’s Week of Action, they include one regular with learning difficulties. If he gives the ball away to the wrong team, they pass it back to him and the game moves on.

This is a participation sport in its truest sense. Dan is 41 and the youngest in the group. He was diagnosed with leukaemia at 32 and had three courses of chemotherapy. He started playing with this group to get fit for a stem cell transplant and has now been called up to England’s cancer-affected walking football team.

The physical benefits are clear — getting people active at a time of their life when it is easy to stop exercising. The psychological benefits are no less important, bringing people together, giving them purpose and forging friendships.

Nigel is a fairly new addition at the Coventry group and says it has saved his life after ‘five years of hell’ involving illness and bereavement, getting him out of the house, helping him lose half a stone in eight weeks and boosting his mental health and self- esteem. ‘Inspirational,’ he says.

Another is 80 years old, living with dementia after a career playing semi-professional football. His wife hides his kit because he wakes every day thinking and hoping it is Friday, his favourite day of the week.

The secret is it is not really about the football. Well, it both is and isn’t. The secret is it is about anything you want it to be.

After hanging up his boots Busst has led Coventry’s efforts in the local community

Veteran commentator Alan Parry revealed the burgeoning sport has become an important part of his life since taking it up after being diagnosed with cancer

Ron Bannister was one of the originals, a Coventry fan of 60-plus years and one of the first to sign up after hearing Busst on local radio talking about his plans for walking football as his beloved Sky Blues lost at Crewe in League One in 2014.

‘I’d just retired after 20 years sat on my backside all day as a lorry driver,’ says Ron, 76. ‘I was 13-and-a-half stone and looking for something to do to stay healthy, so I went along on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

‘Within eight months I’d lost half a stone and never felt so fit in my life. Within 18 months, I’d agreed to volunteer for Sky Blues in the Community.’

By October 2017, Bannister had studied for sports leadership qualifications and accepted Busst’s invitation to run a new group he wanted to set up in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support.

Just before it started, Bannister was told he had prostate cancer. The diagnosis came through three days before Christmas a decade ago, so he started the new walking football group just as he started his own treatment.

There were eight players to begin with. Now there are 38 active members and some lost and fondly remembered.

‘We lost our oldest member this year,’ says Bannister. ‘Harry, he was 92. A week before he died, we had a community day at the CBS Arena and he played. We’ve renamed a cup after him.’

It has become a family, like-minded people with common interests. They can sound off, share advice and offer practical tips. They are team-mates long after the time when they thought they could ever bask again in the companionship of a team sport.

They are there for each other, whether the most pertinent problem of the day happens to be Coventry’s recent form and managerial change, an upcoming course of radiotherapy or blisters from fancy new boots.