u3a Oliva's Walking Football group is a form of the beautiful game designed for those of more advanced years who thought their footballing careers were over! Same skills, just less running around.
They recently hosted a mini tournament - here´s the match report from group leader Mike Thomas.
The Oliva u3a walking football group hosted near neighbours Moraira and two visiting clubs from the UK, Eastbourne and Shrewsbury, in their annual mini tournament at Oliva Sports Centre recently. The tournament, held over two days in November, the 10th and 12th respectively, is the second time this event has taken place, but this time it was decided to play later in the year after many visitors found the 2024 September temperatures (it reached 35°C) a little more extreme than they were used to!
The format also changed to even up the abilities of those participating and make the competition fairer, with two separate divisions being created, one for players aged between 55 and 65, and one for over 65s. Oliva and Eastbourne provided teams for both age groups, while Moraira only competed in the 55-65s and Shrewsbury only in the over 65s.
Oliva were at something of a disadvantage given that the group only has about 22 regular players, whereas Moraira and the two English visiting clubs have literally hundreds of playing members. In the event, Shrewsbury were the runaway winners of the over 65 group, amassing 15 points over two days. In the younger age group, Moraira were victorious with 12 points, but Oliva Panthers gave a good account of themselves and reached a total of 8 points. Particularly noteworthy was their final game, a 2-1 victory over Eastbourne with the winning goal coming two minutes from time and scored by the tournament’s oldest player, Doug Glossop (74).
Oliva is always looking for new players, so if anyone is reading this and feeling their footballing days shouldn’t be over, come along on Friday morning and watch or take part.