Now in its 3rd season, the FA People's Cup – in partnership with the BBC Get Inspired – is a nationwide 5-a-side competition open to all who love playing football, with the winner getting a chance to play at Wembley Stadium and this year the regular attendees of Charlton Athletic Community Trust’s Walking football session took it upon themselves to put together a team ‘The Charlton Rangers’ to represent the Trust and compete in the Walking Football category.
As we know walking football is a slow-paced version of the game which is accessible to all regardless of age and ability, but no less competitive.
Charlton Rangers competed against teams Woking, Epsom and Brighton in the group stages of the tournament where they came second and got through to the next stage. Unfortunately, the guys were beaten by the experienced Caterham & Crawley FC 1 – 0, but this is a fantastic achievement in such a highly-regarded tournament for the Charlton Rangers first time.
Rob Shaw, walking football team captain, said “It was great to get a team together for the FA Peoples Cup from the walking football session at Eltham Goals which is at 10.30am to 11.30am on a Tuesday morning. Charlton Athletic who sponsor the session provided the team shirts so we also looked the part.”
“This was the first major competition Charlton have ever entered in walking football and we made it to the semi-finals to see who would go on to the next round. We only lost 1 – 0 to Caterham & Crawley who have been in tournaments for 2+ years as a team, so I think we did well for our first time out.”
“The Walking football session at Eltham Goals is always worth attending. I’ve played at eight different sessions across Kent and Surrey. Eltham is one of the few that we can spread out on across the pitches so everyone can play a full hour rather than having to rotate teams on one pitch. We regularly get 20+ people turn up and usually play a round robin of 4 teams which is all good fun.”
If you’re interested in taking part in Walking Football, contact Matt Phillips on 0800 470 4831