A number of the state’s best walking footballers are currently representing Australia at the 2022 International Walking Football Federation (IWFF) World Championships in Florence alongside Football Queensland’s Officer – Walking Football Alan Templeton.
Two Australian teams (Over 50s and Over 60s) have travelled to participate in the second edition of the international event, with the four-day tournament running from Thursday, 14 July to Sunday, 17 July and featuring 20 teams from across the globe.
Templeton, who is also captain of the Over 60s Men side, said the World Championships would be a fantastic opportunity for local players to test their skills against some of the best walking footballers in the world.
“Walking football has been going here in Australia for three or four years, while other countries particularly in Europe have been going for 12 or 13 years so I think we’ll be fully tested, particularly in that first game against England and quickly followed the next day against Italy,” Templeton said earlier in the week before matches kicked off.
“They’re two of the top nations in walking football around at the moment and it’s going to be a real test for us, but I’m very confident that we can match them for skill and tenacity and also technically as well, I think we’ll do well.”
The players representing Australia hail from across the country, predominantly from South Australia, New South Wales and here in Queensland.
Local representatives include walking footballers from a range of club programs including those based at Coolum, Perry Park, Club Oxley and Bayside.
“It’s been very hard for us to play together [prior to this tournament] as a squad,” Templeton said.
“We’ve also got two or three expats coming from the UK, so it’s important that we get a few games up our sleeve before the first game so that we can work out a bit of team structure and how we’re going to play and approach each game.”
Alongside his role as FQ’s Officer – Walking Football, Templeton is also an Australia representative for IWFF and hopes to build the profile of the game by welcoming walking football sides to the country in the future.
“It’s going to be a big learning curve for us and we believe that by going to a tournament like this, it’s showing that Australia is alive and well when it comes to walking football and that we are able to take at least two teams to travel 10,000 kilometres to play in a tournament that’s a long way from home,” he said.
“This also allows us as Australia to consider doing similar things down here to give the walking football format even greater exposure; we’re more than adequate and well organised to return that favour further down the track.”
Whilst only Men’s sides are representing Australia at the tournament this year due to the availability of players (in addition to one female walking footballer, Noelene, competing as part of the Under 50s team), Templeton acknowledged the opportunity to grow female participation within the modified version of the game, especially with the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023™ on the horizon.
“We’re disappointed this time that we were unable to take a Ladies team, but that’s my aim for 12 months down the track,” Templeton said.
“We hope to hold something along the same lines as the World Championships here in Australia, but it will maybe be world club teams only and not national as such, that way we can attract more players.
“We hope that in doing that, we can also improve the women’s participation side of it and it gives greater options for club teams to come here and play maybe against the Australian team or maybe against our club teams here.”