Wakefield Walking Football

Football next week
We will have all the usual social sessions.
Mon, Wed, Fri 3 touch at 10:00 get down for 09:45 for a warm up/stretch..
Mon, Fri unlimited touch at 11:15.
These are “turn up and play” sessions and open to all. We have a wide range of age and abilities and the sessions are social and inclusive and we expect all to play in that spirit.
We are getting terrific numbers at the sessions and no 2 sessions are ever the same - we have different players in different teams and look to balance the sides as much as possible.
Session fees are only £2 but please remember to put it in the box at the entrance.
We also have a couple of competitive sessions next week
Tue evening 2 pitches at 19:00 - DavidO and Glyn sorting sides
Thu evening 1 pitch at 19:00 - NOD will be sorting out the sides.
We will be playing on Monday 31 August which is of course a BankHoliday.

This week
We used 4 pitches on both Monday (44) and Friday (54) and 3 on Wednesday (41) along with 70+ trial games with 28 players on Wednesday after the 3 touch session.
September is looming and the leagues recommence with the NCL 70+ on 1 Sep and the GMWF 60+ Div1 on 3 Sep……

Keep fit, keep active and keep playing - the benefits of regular exercise are immense..

Todays unlimited report courtesy of JohnM
With a noticeable drop in temperature over the last few days there were 28 players that assembled for today’s UT session with a few uttering that well known mantra … 'winter drawers on”. Some even suggested they would dig out their Long Johns for Monday’s session. We were also treated to the first Noel before Christmas - how many sleeps to go ??On the premise that two brains are better than one Lord Toepoke and the Riot got their heads together to assemble 4 teams . Based on their efforts some would later say they didn’t have 2 brain cells between them ☹️☹️ So, after much head scratching and herding of cats the following teams were ready to take to the pitch:
Blues - CakeMaker Dave, Ken, Ollie Embryo (showing off his GCSE results ), DaveBu, Dee, Brendan and KevA
Reds- MarkP (moaning he had to cover up his Hull City shirt). StanM, Marshy, Jan, Glenn, JJ and Karl
Yellows- Naughty Gary,KevB, ColinH, RichS, Skinny, Noel. and the Riot (saving the planet one bib at a time by not covering his Stoke City shirt)
Whites - Time Lord, Bernie, Jo, AndyT, Dean together with Ronan and Danny Boy harmonising a few Irish songs before kick off.
With 4 teams and 28 players it’s impossible to name check everyone (other than team details) but a few highlights stuck in my memory.
Karl Dunbar made an impressive debut and was unfortunate to suffer a hand injury whilst in goal for the final game - best wishes for a speedy recovery. It was good to have ColinH and the 2 Kevs with us and hope they become regulars (and the same applies to Jo).
A total of 31 goals were scored - Yellows being today’s Sunshine Supermen (anyone remember Donovan 🤔). They had the twin benefits of Skinny in attack delivering his own version of 4-4-2 for a tally of 10, and Golden Sands shoring up the defence. (Note to self - split these two for future sessions)
Thanks to SeanW for refereeing on pitch 3 and those that took a turn as player refs on pitch 4. It’s not easy for the game to flow when we have the absolute maximum of 7AS. Inevitably there will be times when players ‘come together (Lennon now?) and we need to self- police (who’s now thinking Sting?) . Let’s remember we show RESPECT for referee, team-mates and opposition by adhering to the tempo and spirit of walking football.
Thanks to ToePoke for organising today’s session, and to Rich for delivering an interesting quiz with the answers being individuals whose first and last names began with the same letter -eg. Brigitte Bardot. Thanks to NG for delivering refreshments and quiz prizes - worn proudly by Dave Bu and Ken - it seems NG has acquired a natty line of head gear as prizes 👏

Another big turn out at WFC this morning with 54 attendees alongside NOD so 6@ 7 and 2@6 and thanks to AlanM, Kim and PeterB for helping get set up and to Kim, Mick, RichS, MarkP and Glyn for assisting as referees.
We started with a 76th birthday shout out for PeterE - a popular member and a terrific player.
A short report as I have grandchildren mithering me ….
Far too many attendees for name checks but aware that the light blues with MickW had 3 wins and a draw.
- Whites played with 6 men throughout with Stan and Joe impressing with DavidHart pulling up lame.
- Blacks had RichH, JJ and MichaelT back after an injury when he failed to put the handbrake on his car and resorted to using his body to stop it!!
- Oranges had a strong side with Ollie, KevinBrennan and Colin and had some decent results.
- Greens had a solid side with MarkP, Ozzy and ChrisB and hammered the blacks in the final game…
Apologies but I didn’t get the chance to see the yellow, red or blue but aware from Glyn that he had words with a repeat offender.
Again would reiterate that the lads who referee are all either top players with plenty of experience or qualified referees who have been involved in more matches than most players have played. The referees decision is final.
We are mindful that the Friday session is our most popular one and that 56 is the most we can “comfortably” accommodate with the 4 pitches available to us. We do have a committee meeting on Monday and we will need to sort out a solution. If anyone has any other issues or indeed ideas can you send me a note ([email protected])
Final note - we will be playing on Bank Holiday Monday 31 August and have the usual 2 sessions.

The Whites played at Matlock on Tuesday and the league table with the final positions has just been released - they finished 2nd in the 16 team tournament - a tremendous result for a Chris and the squad.

ChrisH had selected a couple of decent squads for tonight’s competitive session
Whites; PeterI, Michelle, Sutty, MarkR, Pip, Dave Marsh and Ian Rose.
Reds; SeanW, MarkC, GlennB, Barry, TonyW, StanB and DaveH.
The boards were out of bounds and to keep the game even we had variations on the number of touches with NOD as referee.
The first 10 minutes saw the reds really work hard to contain the whites who had Sutty and Michelle marshalling the team and MarkR and Marshy looking to get the ball to IanR up front. The reds had Glenn in charge at the back and Sean up front holding the ball with Stan, TonyW and DavidH trying to go forward but desperate not to over commit…It ended 0-0.
The second 10 saw the whites get the upper hand and they had a number of chances where MarkC was called into action and then Sutty put a clever ball in to IanR who turned and hit a beauty to make it 1-0. The next 10 saw an almost carbon copy of the first goal from Ian who then went on to complete an impressive hattrick and it was 3-0 at the half time.
Discipline was good but the whites were on 3 fouls and so we continued the game with the same rules and the first 10 minutes of the second half was scoreless. Reds switched TonyW up front and Sean dropped back and the reds started to get shots away and PeterI made a couple of routine saves.
The game clicked into life when whites committed their 4th offence and Reds were awarded a penalty that Stan confidently struck home and a minute later there was an element of pinball outside the whites penalty area that saw DavidH convert the loose ball and it was suddenly 3-2 with the reds in contention. Just as they had their hopes raised Pip got free to score and it was 4-2 going into the last 10.
Sutty returned to the action and after having a tutorial on how to count to 3 he steadied the shop alongside Michelle and the final 10 saw the reds knock the ball about with increasing confidence as the reds chased the game. With the clock ticking down whites were awarded a DOGSO that would have sealed the game but MarkC pulled off a terrific save from IanR and it remained 4-2.
Good game with the Whites showing some nice touches and continuity with Pip and IanR impressing while the reds improved and showed more cohesion as the match progressed. Glenn and Barry both worked hard for reds throughout.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=q8Snj-2M2u8&is=L0HKPd9mcLPkEh7M

Keepy Uppy Challenge As part of the WWFC prostate cancer fundraiser this year, Steve Z h...

The 70+ training games saw a fine turnout of 28 finely tuned athletes….
Geoff had selected the following sides:
Greens, Al P, GrahamW, John M, Mally, KevinBrennan, Ray, Steve C.
Reds, DavidA, DaveHart, DaveHolbrow, Jan, MickW, NOD, Rich Kershaw.
Blues, Bernard, ColinJ, GlennT, Lyndsay, PeterI, RichH, Rossi.
Blacks. AlanH, Frank, Gary, GeoffA, KenJ, Kev Brook, TonyClarke.
Results
Blues v Greens 1-1, Blacks v Reds 2-0
Blues v Reds 2-1, Blacks v Greens 1-3
Greens v Reds 3-0, Blacks v Blues 2-1
Sean refereed on pitch 3 and reported “A good tight opener with goals from RichH and JohnMsaw a close 1-1 game and the second game saw Bernard up front knock in a goal followed by Lindsay while RichH was again on the scoresheet for reds. Final game saw A comprehensive victory for the greens over the reds with Ray impressing with a hattrick”
Ash refereed and kept the time on pitch 4 and reported” I didn’t get the names of the scorers but there were some good tight games. Blacks overcame the reds 2-0 and it could have been more but Mick saved a penalty. Greens had a solid 3-1 win and again blacks conceded a penalty while the final game saw the blacks overcome the blues 2-1 and again the blacks conceded a penalty”
Greens were the leaders on 7, Black on6, Blue on 4 with the Reds failing to register….
Thanks to Geoff for arranging and Ash and Sean for refereeing - they gave penalties in 4 of the 6 games which saw 3 goals scored for avoidable offences. Our discipline in competitions has been one of our strong points and we need to make sure that we improve this aspect before we return to competitive fixtures.

We had a couple of sessions at WFC today and we started as usual with the 3 touch where we had 41 attendees plus NOD so we had 6@7 a side which worked well as we were limited to 3 pitches.
Thanks to Eamonn, Mick and DavidH who assisted with the refereeing.
We had a good turn out of senior and experienced players notwithstanding there was a 70+ training game to follow.
Great to see Brian, Bernard, Barry, RichH, JohnL, Ray and Colin all down with a few of them staying for the 70+ game along with DavidH, Rossi and RichardK who are all knocking on the door. Tracy, Lindsay, Jan and Julie all played well and there were good performances from DavidB, KevinBrennan, PeterM and PaulC, ChrisB, PhillJ, Frank and KenJ all impressed and led their teams with distinction. AndyG had plenty of touches as did DavidL & TonyT while Bren was a big presence in defence and made a few incursions in search of a goal.
We did however have a few moaning Minnie’s with a bit too much to say - a reminder to all that these are social sessions and we want them to played in that manner - let the referees make the decisions and get on with the game…