Shamrock Rovers walking football team celebrated their third anniversary recently
Walking football three years on the go
SHAMROCK Rovers walking football have celebrated their third anniversary recently with the team continuing to grow in popularity.
Since forming three years ago the group now has over 30 members with over 20 regularly attending Roadstone every Tuesday for training.
Sean McCaughey, a longtime member of the team, spoke on the benefits of joining the walking football team.
“It’s just as much about mental health as it is about physical health. Getting out and interacting with people, obviously when you’re retired a lot of people are lonely and don’t get out as much as you used to. This is an out. People enjoy a bit of craic, have a cup of tea. We have four or five lads who really look forward to it and that would be the highlight of their week.”
The team recently played a game against Bray in the Carlisle Grounds earlier on in the week and is hoping to organise even more fixtures in the new year between themselves and other clubs.
These would run alongside the year event organised by the FAI which sees various LOI teams compete against one another.
McCaughey spoke about the support that the team has received from the club.
“There’s always a bit of buzz in Roadstone. If Pico was in the gym doing whatever he’d be over straight away. There’s great interaction there right through the club. Bradley and Cronin came in with the trophy the Tuesday after the league was won, the club looks after us 100%.”
Sean advised anyone who was considering making the jump to join some sort of walking football regardless of where they are.
“The only thing we could do with was if there were a few more women available to play. They’d be welcomed into the group. It’s non competitive. It’d be good for them, it’s good for people.”
“It’s hard to quantify, it’s hard to put into words as to how much of an experience it is. This will grow and grow and there will be more teams playing. If at all I could encourage people, not just for Rovers but for any club you see to try it out. If you don’t like it, that’s fine but try it out and I’d be surprised if you’re not back next week.”
