A&H

FA Peoples Cup Finals Walking Football

Hilly1618

New Member
I had the pleasure of refereeing the final of the FA Peoples Cup at FA St George's Park on Saturday evening. This came after an afternoon of refereeing group games and a semi final. The final like all the other categories were televised by BBC through their website. I had a great day and enjoyed meeting a number of referees there for differing categories. I enjoyed passing on the nuances of the walking football game to those who asked and hope that I promoted the game in a positive manner. Competitive Walking Football has previously been blighted by running and physicality and the game desperately needs FA referees to help at affiliated competitions. The FA are currently looking into referee development for both registered FA referees and those just looking to referee walking football. The vast majority of competitions are 5-7 a side with varying age categories (over 50 to over 70) so some of our more senior referees may find another opportunity to play their trade as it were.
Please contemplate your involvement the game needs more FA qualified referees.
 
The Referee Store
Are the rules much different from the 'normal' game? I'm not sure there's any walking football round my way, I think the area is only just being pressured into creating a Seniors league. But I'll keep an eye out for next season if it is easy to transition into.
 
The laws are due a revision and second edition due to be published in August.
Main differences are minimal contact , infringements should be looked at as being at the lower end of the scale bearing in mind the age of the players. So at the weekend we took the consistent approach of any tackle from behind being a careless challenge and therefore a free kick. This is to protect the player being tackled. No charging, no slide tackles, no slide blocks all to keep the players safe.
Running is the other big difference, no running allowed, one foot in contact with the ground at all times, but what many referees are learning is that if it looks like running then it is running. 3 offences of running by one player results in blue card and a sin bin.
The rest is pretty much as small sided soccer.
 
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