Arbroath Walking Football would like to say a massive thanks to Kevin Middleton from Arbroath FC Community Trust. Kevin is leaving the trust to set off on a new adventure.
Kevin and the trust were a big help when the club had nowhere to play.
Kevin was instrumental in starting up the walking football taster sessions. These sessions now also accommodate players who can’t attend the main walking football sessions, players of any age returning from injury or illness, and anyone looking to fill their spare time and get fit. A lot of Kevin’s work went on behind the scenes; we can’t even begin to imagine how crazy his WhatsApp chats, private messages and emails were. Some say he doesn’t sleep.
The trust also helped to strengthen ties between Arbroath Walking Football Club and Arbroath Football Club.
If you live up the Cliffburn end of town, you’d have been used to seeing Seaton Park (once home to Arbroath SC Junior football club) lying empty and covered in dog poo. This all changed quickly when Kevin and the trust took over. It was great to see the park thriving; kids who would have been lost to the game of football were playing again.
This wasn’t just a one day a week thing; it was every day, evenings as well. It wasn’t only the kids benefiting; adults of all ages were now using the park for games (including the old duffers from the walking football). There were, of course, other benefits and knock-on effects to all this new activity, not least a boost to the local shops. A defibrillator was installed at the park, and it wasn’t long before it was required, not by anyone using the park but someone near the shopping area.
Anyway, you all get the picture. We wish Kevin all the best on his new adventure, and we look forward to our continued affiliation with the trust and AFC.

STATEMENT FROM THE CHAIRMAN

This week has undoubtedly been the hardest week I have experienced in my whole time being involved with Arbroath Walking Football Club. I wish to make a few points: –

The incident that happened at the Wednesday evenings session was unsavoury, to say the least, and could potentially lead to our suspension from RM Condor. This has been dealt with by the committee. The two individuals concerned have been contacted, apologised and accepted their suspension for their part in the fracas. I believe that there were a few members who were upset after Wednesday and have intimated that they may not return to club nights. I hope that this is not the case because I felt when I was there, it was a good night, and some great football was being played. It was just great to see everyone again!
As far as the committee is concerned this matter is now closed.

More worryingly, has been continued references that have been made regarding the two members of our club who through their own choice decided that in the Glasgow Tournament in April that they wanted to play for the Scottish Exiles team. From my own point of view, I was disappointed that they made the choice as they would have undoubtedly been first choice members of our squad however, we had no control over this. I contacted the manager of the Exiles to express my disappointment that they may be chosen for a tournament that we were also due to play in. On reflection, this was an error by me for which I have apologised to the members concerned.
As a club, we are not affiliated with anything and members as such are free to play for whoever they want to. This led to an inordinate number of messages through The Walking Football Updates channel on WhatsApp. A lot of these messages were extremely toxic in nature and a decision was made to suspend the channel for 48 hours in a bid to stop this.
Again, this matter has been dealt with by the committee and I expect no further communications on this.
THIS MATTER IS NOT TO BE RAISED AGAIN and anyone who does not adhere to this will face disciplinary action from the committee.

I know that a few of our members have been unhappy at the whole situation with the club including running and tackling especially, and I hope that I can reassure everyone that now that this has been brought out into the open again that we can make a fresh start. This will include members taking responsibility for their own actions on and off the pitch.
Please ensure that going forward, if you have maybe taken more than 3 touches or are running and tackling (and you know who you are), PLEASE just give yourself up and accept the decision of the referee whether you believe they are right or wrong. It has been said before many times, it is not easy refereeing trying to watch all that is going on at once so be helpful and help the referee. I don’t want to have to bring in yellow and red cards for persistent infringements but will not hesitate to do so should the need arise.
On club nights, IT IS TOTALLY IRRELEVANT what the score is or who scores. NOBODY CARES!

On another subject, it is very important that we always support each other. If you suspect that any of your fellow members may be struggling, particularly with their mental health, please be supportive and don’t hesitate to advise one of the committee members if you feel that may help.

At the end of the day, we should all be grateful that we are still fit and able to play any type of football at our age and the fact that we are all supposed to be mates just adds to the social aspect of the game. There will always be banter in football and this I find to be very healthy, but we must be aware that sometimes this can be taken too far, and it can become a problem for some, so be very careful when you attempt to wind up people.

Finally, I want to add, that there are too many rubbish messages going through the WF Updates channel. No one is interested if the Glasgow mobs have won you a bet or whatever the scores are, this is not the forum for this. This channel is for exclusively AWFC club business from now on. I know that a lot of the lads have used this channel in the past to inform me personally that they have paid for their 50/50 draw. Please stop this, rather than assume that I have the money if you have sent it to me. This will hopefully cut down a lot of traffic on this channel.

I hope that this is the last of this type of communication and please see this in the spirit it is meant to be taken.

Mike J Burnett
Chairman
Arbroath Walking Football Club

Arbroath walking football had their last Walking Football Scotland East league over 50s action of 2021 today.

At stake were second place and a chance of playing in the champions league next February.

AWF started well with a 5-1 win against Saints in the community. Debut boy Steve Cargill bagged a hat trick with Wullie Craib and Dave Milne getting a goal each.
The next match saw AWF lose a close match by 3 goals to 2 against Raith rovers. The goal scorers were – Brain Cowie and Hatchet.
The final match saw AWF finishing on a high with a 3-1 win against St Andrews. The goal scorers were – Alan Durno. Steve Cargill and Hatchet.

Overall, it was a good season for AWF. Third place in the league was a great effort given the injuries and player availability issues.

Having already been to Coventry for trails in 2020 for the Scotland squad (and being selected), two lads from Arbroath Walking Football: Gordon ‘Gogs’ Smith and Dave ‘Wadds’ Waddell, traveled down to Nottingham to participate in the Samantha Birtles Memorial Cup. This event was a walking football tournament organised by Nottingham Forest legend Garry Birtles in memory of his wife, who he lost to pancreatic cancer.

Ten teams were involved in the tournament, and the lads were in some illustrious company as some current and ex England national walking football players were involved.

The lads were surprised when their team (the Scottish Exiles) was piped onto the pitch. A very proud moment that they both agreed made the hairs on the back of their neck stand up.

The Exiles made it through the group stages, winning two and losing 1-0 to Nottingham Forest. Gogs Scored a cracking debut goal against Boston United, an unstoppable howitzer from 15 yards, and Wadds was named man of the match against Nottingham forest.
In the semi-final, the Scottish Exiles came out 1-0 victors in a very close match against Sleaford Town.
The Exiles then faced the North East England Select team in the final. In what was always going to be a very close match, the game finished 0-0. The game went to sudden death penalties, Gogs scored, and Wadds saved the last penalty kick to ensure the cup went to the Scottish Exiles. Wadds was also named Man of the match for the final.

The lads would like to express their gratitude to – Steve Morgon for organising the event. Garry Birtles, for being a great host and for organising this event. Arbroath FC Community Trust for their support, particularly Kevin Middleton for supplying the tops.

Everyone at AWF would like to congratulate the lads; well done.