The University of Gloucestershire are set to host the brand new men’s walking football sessions at their Oxstalls Campus in Gloucester.
The first session started last night (Thursday 8th March, 2018) for men aged 30+ and will run every Thursday, for £3.50 per session.
Jack Costerton, University of Gloucestershire’s Football Coordinator, explained why now is the right time for the University to host the weekly event:
“It’s something that hasn’t really been done with the University before. It’s been heavily run by the Gloucestershire FA and they’ve passed it on to us. We work together on it at Oxstalls with the new facilities – we’ve got a great opportunity to use that.
“It’s a nice central point for the community to get involved in something that’s recreational and is a fun activity. So, it’s a good time for us because it will only grow if anything.”
The Oxstalls campus has recently been renovated to facilitate activities such as walking football whilst also catering for other sports as well. There are six indoor, and four outdoor tennis courts alongside a synthetic and grass football pitches.
Costerton believes these facilities, alongside the growing nature of the sport, provides no limitations on what can be achieved with the new set-up.
“Walking football is getting bigger and bigger in both the male and female game, so as big as that gets, we’re the central venue for sessions. There’s no real limitation with how far it can go but at the moment, as a starting point, Gloucester and Cheltenham is a key target area.
“There’s areas in that, which definitely helps. It continues our strong links with the GSA which is growing. It also helps our link with Aspire Trust and the local community with the new build so there’s a couple of key partners there involved in it.”
The social sport takes the format of small sided football with one exception – no running! Gloucestershire already has over 300 people playing the game, yet Costerton still eyes expanding the sessions to incorporate as many age groups as possible.
“We did the 30+ age cap to open it up to as many people as possible. There are some other centres out there already in the UK where children’s and adult’s walking football come together as a way to help families in certain situations. It’s not ignored and in the future it could be open to all ages, certain groups and certain students.
“In the future we would like to expand it and make it as big as possible. Whatever route it goes down then fantastic! At the moment it’s making sure these men’s and women’s sessions are effectively ran and boosted and from there it will grow and get better.”
For more details please email Jack Costerton jcosterton@glos.ac.uk
