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Young girls might dream about being the next Lucy Bronze, Millie Bright or Ellen White, but for a significant chunk of the female population that ship has already sailed.

While a generation of youngsters can aspire to a career as a footballer, and have the opportunity to actually play, until recently there has been a void for older women who have a passion for the beautiful game, but no facility to participate safely at a slightly slower pace.

And that is where the beauty of Walking Football comes in.

Aimed specifically at those aged 40 and above, Walking Football has very specific rules that outlaw all running and allows no contact between players. Over-head height restrictions and indirect free kicks ensure that the sport is played safely with full consideration to the participants’ age. Many tournaments are now catering exclusively for the over 60s and over 70s age groups too.

Rachael Mutch, over 50s coach for the England Walking Football team, is a big advocate of the sport, but while delighted with the increasing numbers taking part, wants to encourage even more women to get involved - and possibly even play for their country.

In October 2019 the Walking Football Association (WFA) held a series of trials in Solihull to select squads for both over 40s and over 50s.

The players who attended had each been nominated by their club and then put into pre-determined teams to simply play lots of football while "spotters" looked on to narrow the numbers down to manageable squads.

History makers

A mixed age match was arranged against Guernsey and history was made on Friday 1 November when the first ever Women's Walking Football international was played - in dreadful conditions - on a re-arranged pitch as the original venue was rained off. 

Immediately after the women's match, history was made again when the over 70s men also played the first ever over 70s international, also against Guernsey.

"Following the Christmas break, both squads trained in January and Karen Sharman was appointed as over 50s manager, supported by Paul Murtagh, with myself as coach," says Rachael.

"The over 40s continue to be run, as an interim measure, by Stuart Langworthy, who is the men's over 60s manager with Elle Gough as coach. 

"The biggest problem facing Women's Walking Football is that it is so new - and very few other countries have had trials and been able to select national teams - as we have. 

World Cup ambitions

"This is a similar situation to the men's game, which is about two years ahead, where 24 teams from 12 different countries were due to participate in the World Cup in May. Again, this has been postponed and more teams are expected next year as the game continues to grow.

"We expect to see the same growth in the women's game and hope that in the next year or two to have a European Nations Cup and maybe a World Cup.

"It's a really exciting time for girls and women in football, but also for Women's Walking Football too. It's a great way to enable women who have loved the sport  to get safely get back to playing and also for those who perhaps have never considered playing before.

"The social side of it is great too so it is win-win all round."

To find out more about Walking Footbal please click here.

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