Asia Pacific Walking Football Cup

Well that's day one of the Asia Pacific Walking Football Cup 2024 over! The day started with plenty of rain as we set up for the event but thankfully it held of for most of the games.

Our opening ceremony started with a Welcome to Country from Elder Rosemary Walley from Kambarang Services, we then heard from the Hon. Bill Johnston representing the Hon. Roger Cook Premier of WA, Rachel Gomez from the N9 Walking Football Club of Malaysia, Sherif Andrawes the Chair of Football West, Maria Hulls ex Matildas, Australian Futsal and now Wanneroo City Soccer Club Walking Footballer, and then finally Paul Lowthorpe Chair of the Association of Walking Football Australia. We thank all speakers for their help opening the event, which is the first international tournament to be held at the Sam Kerr Football Centre.

Other VIP guests included Consul General of Malaysia, Madame Nur Eliza and Hendro Fujiono from the Indonesian Institute.

The players then gathered on the pitch for the national anthems of the participating countries Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and of course Australia.

And then the football began...........

A big thank you goes out to our sponsors supporting this event including:

Perth Wellness Centre providing treatment to players,
Sixt providing a minibus to help transfer players,
Simon Walters Solicitor who has provided us with ongoing support since we formed,
Etched Impression providing water bottles for players and other services,
Lifespan Consultants sponsoring a "Fair Play" trophy,

and John Cobbett Photography

Exciting news for countries around Asia Pacific region join us for the
2nd Asia Pacific Walking Football Cup which will be held in Sam Kerr Centre Perth Australia from 23/8 -25/8/2024
Please contact me for further information
Cheers
Paul

Part 2

Our first APWFC was an outstanding success.

Thursday the 31st of August

30 players from Australia travelled to KLIA Malaysia, where we were greeted at the airport by our hosts.
Headed by Rachel Gomez, Rames Sengodan and several other players & team officials, also one of our own players (Tim) that arrived on an earlier flight.

After all the pleasantries, we travelled to Seremban in a team coach (for that professional touch), everyone’s spirits were high.

We had arrived.

After only a few short months of planning and preparation, our team had become International Football players.
Something that had only been a childhood dream for many, was now a reality.

After checking into our hotel, and a good night’s rest, we had a team meeting Friday morning.

Some players had travelled from different parts of Australia to join our team in the tournament, so some introductions were necessary.

General rules were discussed, then players were presented with their new, traditional Australian Green & Gold coloured playing kits, except the keepers who would wear Pink & Mauve (I accept responsibility for the keepers colour choice).

A newly styled combination of shirts and shorts, that reflected our new travel polo tops, were well accepted by all of the players.

AWFA pennants were given to all players as mementoes with the option to keep, trade or gift as they saw fit.

The rest of the day was to be free time for the players, committee members had a pre-tournament meeting with N9WFC officials to discuss the program for the next 2 days, confirm that we were all going to be playing to the same rules and ensure that the true spirit of walking football was followed and played.

Saturday the 1st of September, competition day.

An early start to the day, most players gathered in the dining room to “fuel up” for the day ahead.

John Cobbett had scouted the hotel and discovered an ornate marble staircase that would be perfect for a team photo-shoot (it was handy having a professional photographer in the team)

After a few minutes of arranging us all, some great photos were taken, then it was time to board our coach to take us to Public Star Futsal Courts.

Fifteen minutes later, our coach arrived, we were eagerly greeted by our Malaysian and Singaporean opponents.

Joining N9WFC and the AWFA in the inaugural APWFC were players from Singapore, D’Legends.

They will be joining us in 2024, for the next Asia Pacific Walking Football Cup, hosted in Perth, Western Australia.

Hi All,

Welcome to the OFFICIAL Asia Pacific Walking Football Cup page
Please like and follow us, for all your updates for the 2024 cup.

How it all began

The tournament stemmed from an invitation I received from Rachel Gomez, who was the first to register a Walking Football Club in Malaysia, she asked if we would be interested in arranging a friendly competition between N9WFC (Negri Sembilan Walking Football Club) and the AWFA (Association of Walking Football Australia)

We realised, that up to this point in time, that there had not been any truly dedicated, REGIONAL, Walking Football tournaments in our Asia Pacific area.

Most enduring tournaments have previously been played in Europe, and many of our players had mentioned how good it would be to play in a quality tournament, without needing to fly halfway across the world.

So we took the opportunity and began planning.

After a short discussion, it was agreed, that our friendly will become, The Asia Pacific Walking Football Cup

Our intentions are to invite representative teams from across the region, to play in a friendly (yet competitive) tournament, to celebrate walking football and to play in the true spirit of the game that we have come to love.

The inaugural Asia Pacific Walking Football Cup (APWFC) was planned to be hosted by N9WFC, in Seremban Malaysia, and played over the weekend of Saturday the 2nd and Sunday the 3rd of September 2023.

The second Asia Pacific Walking Football Cup will be Hosted by the AWFA in Perth, Western Australia, approximately 1 year later (dates to be confirmed and agreed upon)

We had discussed signing a MOU (memorandum of understanding) between N9WFC and the AWFA, giving both parties equal rights in all future decisions on the APWFC, this was signed by at the beginning of the closing ceremony of our first tournament on Sunday the 3rd of September 2023.

The intention of the memorandum, is to ensure that there will be longevity in our tournament, to hold regular, International competitions, to invite other likeminded nations, joining with us in celebrating the sport, creating new and lasting friendships and travel within our region to play Walking Football.

Please join us on our journey, whether as a player, a club, as an association, or as an affiliate.
All are welcome.

Paul Lowthorpe
The Association of Walking Football Australia