LinxWF Community Shield 2022
The Lincolnshire Walking Football annual charity event was held at the Meres Leisure Centre, Grantham on Sunday 3rd July.
This is the third year the event has taken place and it fell on the South of Lincolnshire to host, with previous events taking place at Carres Grammar School in Sleaford and Bradley Development Centre in Grimsby.
The event, founded by Mick Hill of Grimsby Corinthians, has proven to be exceptionally popular in Lincolnshire amongst clubs and players alike, and is always played in good spirit.
The event this season involved representative teams of Over 50’s, 60’s and 70’s from the south, central, and north of the county along with a representative guest team from Northumberland. Each of the squads were made up of players from affiliated clubs in the respective area.
In total, well over 100 of Lincolnshire and Northumberland's best players took part to showcase how walking football has grown enormously in popularity over the last 7 years.
This year’s event was organised by the walking football teams based at Long Bennington, Stamford and Boston and hosted by Grantham Town. A very keenly contested competition was narrowly won by South Lincolnshire, but most importantly, the event raised £350 for St Barnabas Hospice who were invited to present the trophies at a lunchtime meal once the fixtures had concluded.
Steve Longden, secretary and player at Long Bennington Walking Football Club and one of the lead organisers for the 2022 Community Shield Event, said: 2It was a delight to see so many people playing and enjoying themselves. The quality of the football was very good with the best from Lincolnshire and Northumberland.
"It was especially pleasing to see the number of over 70s players that demonstrated how walking football has developed at such a rapid pace over the last few years. To have such an enjoyable day and raise money for such a worthy charity was superb. Great credit must go to all of the refs, players, managers of the teams, Grantham Town and the Meres Centre."
Photo credit: Brian Keates