It was a proud moment and a first for our Community Foundation Walking footballers on Saturday 13th November as they got invited by Walsall FC Community’s Foundation to be a part of their Mental Health Celebration
Over 20 players left Harrogate just after 9.30am on Saturday to meet up with Walsall’s walking footballers and on arrival, the welcome from Chris (Walsall’s Health Officer) proved it was going to be a worthwhile exercise even before a ball was even kicked.
Three pitches were set up on the Astroturf training facility which sits just behind the main stand at the Banks’ Stadium and after a warmup and stretch, the players of mixed age and ability met and started their matches.
The first few matches saw Harrogate play against Walsall but the highlight of the day was at the end when both sets of players combined and played in mixed teams.
Here’s what our Walking Footballer lead, Steve Pattison had to say about the day:
“The results on the pitch didn’t matter, what was important was that two communities joined together, played football and had fun. The social benefit and the health and wellbeing element can play such a big part in a person’s mental health on a daily basis,” Steve said.
“To our new friends at Walsall thank you and we look forward to doing more of this in the future, and yes the icing on the cake and the result that did matter was Town’s 3-1 win in the main event.”
To get involved with our Walking Football community, Email:
[email protected]
#ProudToBeTown