Australian Walking Football Seventies
A Brief History
In September 2022, a chat between Siggy Nowak from Queensland and Ian Stewart from New South Wales led to ideas about how to encourage and help spur on the continued activity of players in their seventies in the realm of walking football. They began gathering the names of players over 70 during walking football tournaments. By February 2022, the list had expanded to over 40 names.
In February 2023, the news of Harry Hubball's visit to Sydney sparked interest. Harry, a globally recognized researcher and coach in short-sided football, with close links to FIFA, expressed an interest in conducting a walking football clinic in Sydney. With the help of Cliff Parker in organizing a playing field, Siggy, Ian and Cliff selected 16 players from the data base list to be active participants in a 2 day intensive coaching session led by Harry, where he shared his valuable knowledge with specially invited walking football administrators and coordinators from around Australia. This two-day session led to the formation of the Australia Walking Football Seventies committee and an announcement of an inaugural 7 man Australian 70s representative core group.
In March 2023, Nick Bron, a certified coach and major tournament organizer, joined Siggy, Ian, and Cliff on the Australian Walking Football Seventies committee. Alan Templeton, from Football Queensland was also invited in, and the committee widened its selection panel and assembled a group of talent scouts in New South Wales, Queensland, and South Australia.
In April and May 2023, the AWFS representative team participated in two local competitions. Nick Bron acted as the coach/manager. Players in the data base were kept up to date about upcoming social and competitive activities - for example the NSW North Coast Septuagenarian Walking Football Festival (with 8 teams made up of only 70s+ players competing). With the resignation of Nick Bron and Ian Stewart due to work commitments, Bob Daley from South Australia and John Gaitley from Ballina were added to the committee.
In July 2023, as part of the International Walking Football Federation’s Australian walking football delegation, selection trials were conducted to form a 70s representative team to compete in the IWFF Winter Nations Cup tournament in Cardiff in December 2023. The selected team included players from Tas, SA, northern and central NSW and from Sunshine Coast, Qld, and Brisbane.
In October 2023, when the IWW announced the Winter Nations Cup to be held in Chesterfield in May 2024, several selection trials were again held, after which the AWFS committee revealed its 70s representative team, comprising 9 players and a dedicated manager/coach, Robbie Glover (who could act as an emergency reserve for the team). Robbie was then invited to join the committee to represent the interests of Western Australia.
In December 2023, despite limited playing time together, the 70s representative team performed admirably in the Winter Nations Cup tournament, winning more preliminary matches than they lost and even defeating the highly fancied Wales during the tournament.
In January 2024, all players listed on the 70s database, and new players turning 70 during the year, were updated on future events.
In February 2024, Bob Daley resigned from the committee but continued as a talent scout for South Australia. Giancarlo Zumbo, a high profile member of the futsal and walking football community, took his place, and Kevin Milstein joined the committee to represent walking football interests in Victoria. Talent scouts throughout Victoria were identified and added to the AWFS advisor list. A series of selection trials is to be held across Victoria in May.
In March 2024, John Galletley stepped down from the committee to spend more time on family and local matters. The player pool was surveyed to gauge interest in upcoming local and international 2024 walking football tournaments. The committee focused its efforts on selecting teams to participate in these tournaments. Some tournaments coincided with the Chesterfield event, emphasizing the importance of having a pool of available players. Players continue to be polled as new tournaments are advertised.
In April and May 2024 the AWFS fielded teams in the Central Coast and QUT tournaments. A highlight was the IWFF Walkaroo 70s team that competed in the Nations Championships in Chesterfield. The team’s spirited performance against very fierce European competition in games of fine margins is an important prelude to future development.
In July 2025 Alan Templeton and Robbie Glover resigned from the AWFS committee to concentrate their efforts on team selections and planning for future tournaments. They have taken over the role. of selectors to create Over 70s and Over 75 teams to compete in IWFF based tournaments. The AWFS will not concentrate on creating Over 70s teams to compete in FIWFA based tournaments.
Planning for national and international competitions in Asia is now a priority. Currently the emphasis is on the Pan Pacific Masters Games on the Gold Coast in Nov 2024. 2025 will also hopefully bring Asia Pacific countries to our door as we build relationships and seek to compete in regional and international tournaments.
In August 2024 the AWFS announced its next big project - creating an Over 70s national representative team to compete in the FIWFA World Nations Cup in Alicante Spain in Oct 2025.
Being part of the AWFS fraternity has now become an aspiration for walking football players turning 70 all over Australia. Not only does AWFS celebrate the fact that players in that age group are still actively playing, but the goal of being selected to play for Australia is something that many players never thought possible. AWFS truely represents all of Australia and has become the model for other walking football age groups to follow. AWFS is now being recognised and liaising with countries internationally and has being invited to send representative teams to compete in Asia Pacific and European based tournaments. A major goal, having separate Over 70s divisions in Australian based tournaments has finally become a reality with the Pan Pacs and the Victorian WF Tournaments in Nov 2024. More to come in 2025 with the possibility of a Walkeroos 70s national team touring Asia and playing up to 6 Asian countries in Sept of that year.