Story added: 21st October 2020

Norwich City Legend Iwan Roberts joined participants at a Walking Football session

Norwich City Legend Iwan Roberts joined participants at the Community Sports Foundation’s weekly Walking Football session at The Nest, this morning.

The former Canary frontman put his boots back on to sample the slower-paced version of the beautiful game, which is aimed predominantly at players aged over 50.

He joined the players for a warm-up, and then a series of three 15-minute games.

Roberts said, “It’s the first time I’ve ever played walking football and I enjoyed it. Some people might think I should be quite good at it as I did quite a lot of walking back when I played!

“The basics are all the same,” he continued. “You’ve got to pass and move and have good awareness. You’ve got to use space well. It’s so hard not to run, but it’s good fun and that’s what it’s all about.”

The Foundation’s Walking Football entry level sessions take place on The Nest’s brand new 3G pitch on Tuesday mornings, with the chance also to step things up a gear with the over 50s and over 60s teams, who train at Carrow Park. These representative teams often play fixtures against similar teams from other clubs.

While the aim of sessions at The Nest is to keep people over 50 active and taking part in social activities, there has also been some excellent progression for those participants looking to take things a bit more seriously.

Five players from the representative teams can currently call themselves England players, with two members of the over 50s and three members of the over 60s featuring recently for the Three Lions.

Around 45 players currently take part in the Walking Football sessions, but the Foundation are keen to see more people, male or female, join the fun at The Nest on a Tuesday morning.

New players receive their first session for free so they can try it out first.

Joe Harvey, the Foundation’s Community Engagement Officer, said:

“Walking Football is a great way for older people to keep playing the game they love, or even try it for the first time! The sessions are relaxed and played in a great spirit and we’ve got a brilliant new pitch here at The Nest to host them on.

“The group loved meeting Iwan today; he was a hero on the pitch to so many of them and hopefully he enjoyed his first taste of walking football.”

Find out more about the Foundation’s Walking Football sessions here.

If you would like any further information please contact us here or call the CSF office on 01603 761122, otherwise you can book onto the sessions here.