MEMBER LEAGUES’ PROFILES

The aim of the Worcestershire Walking Football Development League is to encourage walking football in Worcestershire by providing local clubs with the opportunity to compete against each other on a regular basis. The objective is to create a social environment where an equal emphasis is placed upon enjoyment and the competitiveness of the sport. All league matches in both age divisions are played monthly on Sunday afternoons at the same time and at the same venue. We have chosen to join the Walking Football Leagues’ Alliance as it opens the door for Worcestershire based walking football clubs to enter national/international tournaments and competitions as well as play against clubs from other leagues.


The North West Women’s Walking Football League operates at a central venue, with fixtures held on the first Sunday of each month. Catering to players of all abilities, we prioritise inclusivity and a warm, welcoming atmosphere. Whether you’re new to the sport or a seasoned player, our super-friendly induction process ensures everyone feels right at home, supported by both our dedicated organisers and participating teams. Match days with us are vibrant and full of energy, making it an easy decision to partner with our local county, Lancashire FA, in our mission to grow women’s football. By expanding our affiliation to include the WFLA, we’re excited to provide the North West Women’s Walking Football League with an even greater platform for participation. This move allows us to embrace their extensive tournament programme while benefiting from their exceptional administration of this rapidly expanding membership group. Join us in celebrating the joy of women’s walking football and the community spirit it fosters.


The Kent FA Walking Football League is in its second season, with 34 teams taking part. The competitions available through the WFLA help expand this offering and add to the walking football pathway. Also, I hope that national competitions like these will increase the popularity of the sport and ensure more sessions around the UK are using the FA laws of the game.


The Spedding Goldthorpe Northern Counties Walking Football League plays one Sunday per month from October to April. Based indoors at Wakefield Football Centre, it boasts 6-a-side walking football for the 50+ category, with 2 divisions and teams attending from Manchester, The North East, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. Commencing it’s 4th season in October 2023, it is also ready to welcome new teams and a 60+ league. We see the Walking Football Leagues Alliance as a vital cog in promoting FA Laws of the Game for Walking Football and are delighted to be involved and ultimately invite our teams to participate in future events.


The Oxfordshire Walking Football League is now in its second season, with successful Over-50s and Over-60s sections and soon to pilot an Over-70s section. Oxfordshire WFL is looking forward to its affiliation with WFLA and believe it will become the 25th league to join. A couple of Oxfordshire WFL teams already compete in WFLA events, via their participation in the Thames Valley Walking Football League (an existing WFLA affiliated league), but Oxfordshire WFL’s affiliation will now extend that opportunity to even more clubs should they wish to take part in national/inter-league competitions that follow the FA’s Laws Of The Game.


The Cheshire FA Walking Football League are pleased to announce that they are now members of the Walking Football Leagues Alliance. We recently completed a pilot season with great success and we are now planning to launch our 2nd season in September 2023. We believe membership of the WFLA will provide the platform to further promote and grow our league and provide our clubs and players with additional opportunities to play competitive walking football, as well as enter the prestigious WFLA competitions when eligible.


The Age UK Cornwall Walking Football League has joined the WFLA because Cornwall as a county is a tad isolated and once our league is fully established it will allow our affiliated clubs to be able to compete in National/Regional Competitions.


The Northamptonshire FA Walking Football League and its member clubs are excited to be joining the Walking Football Leagues Alliance. The opportunity for our clubs and players to compete with fellow counties is a rewarding experience that we are glad to be a part of.Name


The Essex Women’s Walking Football League are delighted to be the first ladies league to join the WFLA and hopefully other FA affiliated ladies leagues will soon join us.


The Middlesex FA Walking Football League and member clubs are delighted to sign up with the WFLA. Despite having a strong league set up in the County we are always keen to learn from other leagues and develop the game. By being a member League, we are excited to offer further playing opportunities to our existing clubs.


The Nottinghamshire FA East Of England Walking Football League are excited to be joining the Walking Football Leagues Alliance and look forward to the continued growth of the wonderful game which we all know and love. We are keen to share our experiences in running League and Cup competitions and hope to continue to grow together and forge new friendships for the benefit of all Clubs and players.


The Thames Valley Walking Football League see the development of Inter League tournaments, through the WFLA, as a natural progression and another great opportunity for our 500+ players and 50 or so teams to enjoy tournaments with their UK contemporaries.


The Durham County FA Walking Football League are happy to join the Walking Football Leagues Alliance. We hope by being members we can provide additional opportunities for players in Durham to play Walking Football and continue to grow the game across the country.


The Surrey FA Walking Football League are delighted to join the WFLA. We are keen to learn from the other leagues as we develop this great new sport, to create new friendships within our league as we start a rep side involving players from different clubs, to create partnerships and regular matches with other leagues as well as enter the WFLA competitions where possible. Our League aim is to provide safe, fun, friendly, well organized walking football to help the health, well-being and fitness of all participants. – Mark Blythe, Co-ordinator Surrey FA WFL


The Birmingham County Walking Football League are delighted to be joining the WFLA. It has always been our wish to link up with other like minded Leagues, to share experiences and knowledge. We are looking forward to some friendly competition with other member Leagues.


The East Riding FA Walking Football League and its member clubs are pleased to join the Walking Football Leagues Alliance. We are excited to engage with, and learn from, all members of the Alliance to develop, strengthen and unite walking football across the country.


The Sheffield & Hallamshire County FA Walking Football Flexi League joined the WFLA to seek further good practice across walking football initiatives and leagues, as we are looking to adapt or add to our current flexi offer with a more centralized league format following feedback from teams and participants. We would also like to use this platform to showcase the current opportunity in our county and potentially recruit further teams to the competition.


The Devon Walking Football League has joined the WFLA to share ideas, experiences and knowledge between other Walking Football Leagues across the UK.


The Dorset Walking Football League is a relatively small but developing league comprising teams from Bournemouth, Hamworthy, Poole, Weymouth, Swanage and Dorchester. By joining the Walking Football Leagues Alliance, we would like the opportunity to further promote the Dorset Walking Football League and share valuable experiences, knowledge and resources in order to attract new teams to the League. We also regard this as an opportunity to forge relationships with other leagues for future friendlies and tournaments.


The Lincolnshire FA Walking Football League is proud to announce it’s affiliation to the Walking Football Leagues Alliance. This online platform allows the league to work alongside likeminded people & organisations in order to provide the best possible playing environment for members of the local walking football community. We are excited to engage with, and learn from, all members of the Alliance to develop, strengthen and unite walking football across the country. – Jake Park (Lincolnshire FA Football Development Officer)

The Lincolnshire FA Walking Football League are pleased to join the WFLA. Our inaugural season will consist of an over 60’s league. We look forward to co-operating with the WFLA member leagues. We hope to share best practises and experiences with the WFLA and its member leagues. We look forward to contributing as the need arises and commit to avoiding any conflicts with other member leagues with their planning and scheduling of leagues. – Gary Wildsmith, Chair of Lincolnshire FA Walking Football League


Developing and launching the Wiltshire Walking Football League has been fundamental to the overall growth of walking football across the county. Some of our clubs have played league football outside the county for a while so bringing everyone together within the county was vital. We are looking to see this whole league structure develop and the evolution of the WFLA fits well with how we see this progression and will hopefully provide an excellent forum to enhance the game. – Kev Turner, Secretary, Wiltshire County Walking Football League


The Lancashire Walking Football League are very pleased to announce that they have joined the Walking Football Leagues Alliance as an affiliated member league. We have organised 6/7 a side leagues since 1997, it seems fitting that we will now be able to offer the great game of walking football in what will soon be our 25th year. The WFLA and its member leagues are a credit to the sport and we feel honoured to be involved with organisations/people who obviously care passionately for their sport and local community. We look forward with optimism and excitement as we aim to emulate them and provide our own local community with the same opportunity to play walking football in a safe, friendly yet competitive league environment. Our league motto is: “Participate, enjoy and respect the beautiful game”


The Wales Walking Football National League is delighted to have the opportunity to join our friends in the Walking Football Leagues Alliance. Our first season was in 2019, with friendly competition for teams from across Wales. Our second season has started in 2020, but it has been put on hold as a result of the current nationwide (indeed worldwide) Coronavirus restrictions. Of course we hope to complete 2020 fixtures later in the year. When we are able to move on from the current restrictions, we hope that we will continue to make more friends in the walking football family, to share knowledge and experiences with walking football leagues in England, and to provide more opportunities for clubs and players to play walking football in a competitive but friendly environment. – Hedley Austin – Chair Wales Walking Football National League


The Staffordshire Walking Football League are delighted to join the Walking Football Leagues Alliance. The first season of our league begins in April, and we hope that having the extra promotion from the WFLA will help build the reputation of our league. We look forward to the future and providing more teams and more players the opportunity to play Walking Football in a competitive environment.


The Greater Manchester Walking Football League are pleased to announce that they are now members of the Walking Football Leagues Alliance. We felt the timing was right for the birth of this organisation in order to develop, support and unify the many walking football leagues across England.


The Essex Walking Football League one of the largest walking football leagues in the UK, are proud to announce their involvement in the newly formed Walking Football Leagues Alliance. The alliance promises to be a positive and constructive organisation enabling a platform for leagues to share problems, solutions, thoughts, ideas, procedures, resources and of course mutual respect and cooperation going forward.


The Peterborough & District Walking Football League Region 1 are pleased to announce their involvement in the newly formed Walking Football Leagues Alliance. Our mission is to get as many people playing walking football in the best possible environment. We are progressive and forward thinking, embracing new ways in which we can improve and deliver the best service to our clubs. We will promote inclusivity and eliminate all forms of discrimination and focus our attention on our Clubs and their needs. We are also committed to learning in order to further the development of the League. Our Mission Statement: – Working for the benefit of our members and the whole community by delivering the highest standards of service for walking football in the Peterborough Area.


The established Hereford FA Walking Football League now in our 5th season are pleased to announce our involvement in the new WFLA alliance. We are always looking at ways to grow and promote Walking Football and we are looking forward to working in co-operation with other leagues to achieve this goal. Joining the WFLA for me was a no brainer. I did speak to The FA down in Wembley before agreeing to join up so that there wasn’t going to be any conflict, The FA’s take on it was it wasn’t going to do any harm if Herefordshire FA Walking Football League joined the Alliance. The key factor for me joining was that WFLA isn’t political and the only people to benefit are the players/teams. With smaller Counties its always trickier to promote and gain interest so by having this platform, for me personally, it can only be a good thing to help Walking Football to continue to grow in Herefordshire – Scott Russell, Football Development Officer (Disability, Inclusion & Recreation) Hereford Football Association Walking Football League.


The reasoning behind County5IVES Walking Football League joining the WFLA was a mix of a few factors. One, the accessibility – it’s very easy, it’s free and a simple way to create added benefits to those that participate in our Walking Football Leagues. Two, the benefits it provides for the players and/or teams is great – if we can give back to our teams then we’d strive for it and WFLA have given a great platform to help us with that. Three, growing Walking Football. Not just County-Wide but nationally. It helps for all players and teams to have that platform and the outreach of which represents them all – a great idea, executed perfectly.