Wakefield Skywalkers gear up for 12-hour charity ‘Footballathon’ event
Wakefield Skywalkers are aiming to put their best foot forward to raise money for a good cause through a “Footballathon” they are organising to take place in the city next month.
The Skywalkers are a 15-man squad of walking football players who are part of the Wakefield Walking Football Club – one of the longest established in the country and one of the most successful in terms of participants, currently boasting 180 members.
They are staging a special charity event to raise funds for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance with a “Footballathon”, which will see them stage matches for 12 hours non-stop.
It takes place on Saturday, October 11 at the Wakefield Walking Football Centre, Denby Dale Road. Kick-off time is 9am and the squad will rotate players while playing a number of visiting teams up to 9pm in the evening.
While the football games rest at the core of the fund raising initiatives, there will also be an on site tombola, raffle, cake stall and other food available to buy. Any additional money raised will also be for the benefit of the YAA.
It is free entry to the event, with ample free on site parking and spectators are very much welcomed.
The Skywalkers are looking to attract sponsors for their marathon football session and will ensure all proceeds go to the YAA.
Donations to the YAA are being encouraged via Just Giving and one of the organisers Graham Jones explained why the Air Ambulance charity has been chosen to benefit.
He said: “Unfortunately there has been three separate instances over the years of a player suffering a heart attack whilst playing at WWFC.
"Thankfully, there wasn't any fatalities, all three players subsequently recovered and returned back to playing walking football again.
" The narrative may well have been different had the immediate support of YAA not been available. This is our way of showing our gratitude and appreciation to YAA.
"John MacCarthy had a heart attack on the pitch. The YAA landed in Wakefield WFC car park, helped revive him and seven hours later was sat up in bed in the LGI drinking tea and having toast!
“Gary Walsh’s heart attack at the centre coincided with the YAA filming for a TV programme. They filmed Gary's incident and he subsequently appeared on television.”
Graham explained how the Wakefield Skywalkers came into existence: “The 15-man squad are all members of the Wakefield Walking Football Club, formed in 2016 with a handful of players and having grown massively since – in line with the national growing popularity of walking football.
"The age demographics are largely older people, mainly in their 50s, 60s and 70s. Our oldest member is aged 81 and still playing wonderfully well!”
WWFC has its own publicly available Facebook page with hundreds of hits every week. It can be found at https://www.facebook.com › WakefieldWalkingFootball
“Walking football is a modified game of 5/6-a-side football that slows the game down and reduces the risk of injury,” added Graham.
"It was created in 2011 by John Croot and has since become one of the UK's largest growing sports. It's aimed at both male and females who no longer wish to or are unable to play in faster versions of the 'beautiful game'.
"Typically, it's popular with older people and provides both the physical benefits of regular exercise as well as promoting mental wellbeing, due to the social interaction with like minded individuals.”