With a backdrop of palms and a hint of tropical warmth, it could pass for a scene from Cocoon, the classic 1985 science fiction film about a group of old friends rejuvenated by aliens living underwater off the coast of Florida.
However, this is Coventry and, from the available evidence, free of aliens. The attendees are mostly older men, mostly cancer patients, all bundled up to beat the damp cold of an indoor dome on a winter morning.
They're all in motion, combining vintage football shirts with eye-catching flashes of modern fitness equipment as they shuffle across the 3G surface. They are all buzzing with anticipation, smiling and laughing and radiating the golden glow of a secret revealed.
This was the magic promised to me by a friend who took up walking football, exulted in its benefits and advised me to take a closer look at its silent rise in popularity. It became one of the most fun and uplifting assignments of 2024.
Most of those involved offer a variation on the same story. The idea seemed a bit boring, but once they started playing, they never wanted to stop.
Former Coventry City players David Busst and Dave Bennett provide several sessions each week. Busst is 57 and has managed Sky Blues in the Community since his professional playing career ended after a sickening legbreak against Manchester United at Old Trafford in 1996. Bennett, a goalscoring hero of Coventry's FA Cup win in 1987, is now 65 and combining ambassadorial and community roles for the Championship club.
It's been ten years since they added walking football to the program and it has proven to be a phenomenon, just like it is across the country. Last season, 43 EFL clubs organized almost 4,000 walking football sessions. There are thousands more. An FA Cup has just been introduced.
Football at elite level may be faster and more intense than ever, but men and women across the UK are moving at a slower pace or reviving the sport they love.
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 European Under-21 Championship in Sweden.
We set up a game in small goals with no goalkeepers and Waddle, there with BBC 5 Live and playing for broadcasters against newspapers, scored with his second touch virtually every time he got the ball, no matter where he was on the pitch or in the towards he was confronted. In the end we needed a goalkeeper to keep the score low.
However, walking football was originally intended for post-operative rehabilitation among people over 50. It flourished and then flourished again in post-pandemic Britain.
All kinds of categories exist. Busst regularly plays in a competitive league for people over fifty. “Far 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 for Maidenhead FC four times a week since he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“I was as cynical as anyone,” Parry told me. 'I recently gave up competitive five-a-side and thought walking football was for the old and infirm, but it has become an important part of my life – I'm still kicking a ball at 76.
'I don't know anyone who started it and stopped because they didn't enjoy it. I've made new friends and see smiling faces and people enjoying themselves.'
There are some basic rules. No heading, no contact and of course no running, which means one foot must always be in contact with the ground and penalties can be awarded for repeated running offences.
Games are often limited to three or four touches, although the rules are customizable and each group has its own speed and etiquette. In Coventry, where I was invited as part of the EFL's Week of Action, there is a regular with learning disabilities. If he gives the ball away to the wrong team, they give the ball back to him and the game continues.
This is a participation sport in the truest sense of the word. Dan is 41 and the youngest in the group. At the age of 32, he was diagnosed with leukemia and received three rounds 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-stricken walking football team.
The physical benefits are clear: getting people active at a time in their lives when it is easy to stop exercising. The psychological benefits are no less important: they bring people together, give them purpose and forge friendships.
Nigel is a fairly new addition to the Coventry group and says it saved his life after 'five years of hell' with illness and bereavement, got him out of the house, helped him lose half a stone in eight weeks and his mental health has improved. and self-esteem. “Inspiring,” he says.
Another is 80 years old and suffers from dementia after a career in semi-professional football. His wife hides his equipment because he wakes up every day thinking and hoping that it is Friday, his favorite day of the week.
The secret is that it's not really about football. Well, it is and it isn't. The secret is that it's about whatever you want it to be.
Ron Bannister was one of the originals, a Coventry fan of over 60 years and one of the first to sign up after hearing Busst on local radio talking about his plans for walking football when his beloved Sky Blues lost at Crewe in League One in 2014.
“I had just retired after sitting on my backside as a truck driver for 20 years,” says Ron, 76. “I was thirteen and a half stone and looking for something to keep me sane, so I went along on Tuesday – and Thursday evening.
'Within eight months I had lost half a stone and I have never felt so fit in my life. Within 18 months I had agreed to volunteer for Sky Blues in the community.”
By October 2017, Bannister had been studying for sports leadership qualifications and had accepted Busst's invitation to lead a new group he wanted to set up in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support.
Just before it started, Bannister was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was diagnosed three days before Christmas 10 years ago, so he started the new walking football group just as he started his own treatment.
There were initially eight players. Now there are 38 active members and some are lost and fondly remembered.
“We lost our oldest member this year,” Bannister said. “Harry, he was 92. A week before he died, we had a community day at the CBS Arena and he played. We named a cup after him.”
It has become a family, like-minded people with common interests. They can sound off, share advice and give practical tips. They are teammates long after they thought they would ever bask in the company of a team sport.
They are there for each other, whether the most relevant issue of the day is Coventry's recent form and management change, an upcoming radiotherapy course or blisters from nice new boots.
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