Tag Archives: Walking Football

Corinthians’ Influence on Modern Day Success

This Saturday just gone (24 February 2024) I was down in Cardiff watching the Tri-Nations Cup (a women’s international walking football tournament). The England over 55s team was captained by former Manchester Corinthian and Manchester City player Lesley Wright. Ultimately, England were successful in a tournament involving Wales and Ireland.

It was great to see England (EWFC over 55s pictured above; photo from @Eilis1979) find success, led by a former Corinthian, in a sport that promotes health, exercise and activities. Another Corinthian, Gail Redston, also played for England and it was wonderful to see the Corinthian influence still there in trophy winning teams.

There were players appearing in the tournament who had played for leading clubs across Great Britain and Ireland. This included Mac Barlow, who netted most of England’s goals. Mac’s previous eleven-a-side clubs included Preston.

The whole tournament was a positive example of walking football and supporters came from across the UK too. There was even a group of Crystal Palace season ticket holders who had sacrificed watching their Premier League match to support England.

Lesley Wright and Gail Redston both feature in my new book on Manchester Corinthians. Details here:

Help the Authorised History of the Manchester Corinthians Get Published

Trophy Success for Droylsden in Glasgow

This weekend Droylsden Town over 50s women’s walking football team won at the Glasgow Life tournament. In fact, in a highly competitive tournament that had teams from across Britain, Droylsden had entered two teams in the 6-a-side competition. The draw kept them apart during the group stages, but both teams managed to win their groups, which meant they also missed each other in the knock out stage.

Ultimately, they both won through to the final that meant that the Over 50s final, played close to Hampden Park at the Toryglen football centre, was an all Droylsden final.

A tense final saw the teams evenly matched, with the game ending 2-2. A penalty shootout was needed to determine the winners.

The trophy was presented by legendary Scottish footballer (and World Cup winner) Rose Reilly. Members of the two Droylsden teams have played competitive 11-a-side football at the highest levels possible earlier in their careers for a variety of prominent clubs including Manchester City, Manchester United, Manchester Corinthians, Doncaster Belles, Brontë, Cleveland Spartans and many more, including a Women’s FA Cup finalist.

Congratulations to Droylsden on your success and on bringing further honour to Manchester’s sporting life.

Here are a few of Droylsden’s goals from the competition. The first is a well worked team goal:

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This is the first equalising goal in the final for the eventual winners:

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Here’s a great goal from Lesley Wright:

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