WWFC - Joining Advice 

Our Wednesday session is at 10.30-12.00 (meet from 9.30 onwards) in the Wigan Athletic Academy building on Stadium Way (former Soccerdome - entrance next door to Ninja Warriors attraction). There is ample free parking to the right immediately before the Wigan Athletic Academy building (building is first on the right a short way along Stadium Way) - do not park on the ‘Fitness First’ gym car park which is further down the road after the Academy building – you are required to pay on this car park and fines are issued if you do not pay. 

Players arrive from 9.30am and the weekly charge is currently £2 which is payable to a member of staff from Wigan Athletic Community Trust in the canteen area to the right as you enter the building (not at the main reception desk). There is an annual Club membership fee (April-March) payable to the Club Secretary (Dave Heyes) or Treasurer (Ian Barlow) - currently £12 (if you join after Christmas your membership lasts till the following March i.e. up to 15 months. We’ve a rule now that you must become a member within 4 weeks of joining the sessions. There are medical forms that you are required to complete before you partake in your first session (Information will be confidential).  A new player is given 2 bibs (yellow and red), when sides are picked the individual games are always reds v. yellows, therefore one side changes their bibs, if necessary, as the games rotate. These are your bibs to retain – if you lose your bib(s) we charge £2 each to replace them - you can borrow a bib if you just forget them one week but bring it back washed the following week, please.  

Tea and coffee (usually biscuits) are provided in the canteen area both before and after the session free of charge (bring your own cup if you can.  Many of the players attend for a chat and some banter after the games - many arrive earlier for the banter before the game(s). This is important for the mental and social health of the group and you will soon make friendships. If you arrive late i.e. for 10.30 this makes it more difficult for us to organise teams and you also miss out on the warm-up which is vital to guard against injury. Please try not to be late as this lets down the whole group.  

We now ask you to advise of your attendance on the Club’s WhatsApp page from 5.00pm on Monday nights to 12.00pm on Tuesdays prior to the Wednesday session so that we can try to organise teams prior to arrival. Please also post if your circumstances change or you only remember later in the day.  

Walking football is for over 50’s and our oldest members are 80+.  However, most players are aged between 60 and 80. 

There are usually up to 40 of us on Wednesdays (of very mixed ability) and we play 5, 6 or 7-a-side games across 2, 3 or 4 pitches depending on numbers. On alternate weeks we play 3-touch and unlimited touch.  Most people arrive kitted up but there are changing facilities and showers available before and after the session. The best advice is to bring some drinking water and a sweat towel as well - playing walking football for over an hour is a strenuous activity and it will take a couple or three weeks for old muscles to adapt (you will certainly stiffen-up after the sessions for the first few weeks but please don’t give up). The game is a lot faster than newcomers imagine so please take it easy in your first few sessions as pulled muscle injuries to new players in the first couple of weeks are not uncommon. 

We play inside the building and the surface is 3G astroturf.  You need to bring appropriate footwear.  Astroturf trainers are recommended. Moulded studs are also acceptable and plastic screw in studs which are under 15mm in length can also be worn.  Metal studs or blades are not allowed.  You can wear normal trainers but they don’t always provide the best grip. Occasionally, the Academy Building is unavailable to us and we then play outside at FIVES (which is at the rear of the Academy Building) which is again an artificial surface which will take a stud (especially if the surface is wet) but this surface is certainly more amenable to normal trainers. When we play outside, park at the top of the car park (ignore the Fives Booth - top left) there's a gate at the end of the building and you can see the outdoor pens there. Walk along the back of the building and there are changing rooms on the left opposite the central pens. We have no access to the Academy side of the building when we play at Fives so no brew facilities are available - one of our Committee will be collecting the weekly charge if we play outside (not the Community Trust people). The cost remains at £2 if we are outside, and we organise the Fives sessions ourselves.   

Walking football is a strictly non-contact sport so tackling and physical contact is not allowed – in practice pressing and front on blocks with no follow through is OK but tackling from the side or behind or diving into a tackle is foul play and potentially dangerous at our age (give some thought to your fellow players). You cannot play the ball if you are on the ground (no slide tackles) in practice we stop the game if someone takes a tumble and usually restart from the goalie (falling over is also not good at our age). Over head height and running are free kick offences as are goal area infringements. In competition football blue cards are used to sin-bin offenders (after 3 offences) and red cards are also used; walking and tackling offences are strictly imposed. Most of our session games are self-policing unless the occasional injured player volunteers to help by refereeing. Enforcing the ‘no-running’ rule is our main challenge. We advise always wearing shin pads as this is a strict requirement of competition football. We also keep a log of minor injuries with a view to developing advice on how to avoid and treat them so please advise a first aider if you sustain any injuries to improve our knowledge and understanding in this regard. 

Wigan Walkers the Club currently has just under 90 members.  We organise social events and have a Christmas meal for members.  We are affiliated to the Walking Football association (WFA) which covers a players insurance scheme. There are teams in the club for players who may want to get involved in ‘competition’ football.  There are leagues and friendly fixtures for those interested. 

We also run a Friday morning session, currently outside at FIVES, throughout the year. Less members tend to attend the Friday session, but all are welcome.  A separate WhatsApp group operates for this session. 

Wigan Walkers – more than just a game of football