On The Road: How Walking Football left our intrepid reporter flat on his back... and what makes it such a unique form of the beautiful game

Moments of clarity can come out of the air with the velocity of a clearance by a Junior centre-half.

Ball and thought struck me at the Firhill Complex. The first rendered me prostrate, the second provoked a smile and a sense of gratitude.

Lying on the plastic turf of the complex with a match raging around me, I took a moment to reflect on the absurdity of this old dodderer playing fitba’ at 70. But I also basked in the joy of the game and all it offers. It surrounded me.

The John Sutton Community Club runs 16 kids’ football teams and a couple of veteran sides of over 50s and over 60s. But its walking football group on Friday morning is a microcosm of what the former footballer and his gang of volunteers want the club to be all about.

The key word is inclusion. This may drift into the world of cliché but its wondrous reality is visible amid the drizzle of a Firhill Friday.

There is Margaret Mary, a woman of venerable if undisclosed age, who is partially sighted and taken two buses from Cambuslang to attend.

The pace of play during walking football may be slow but the action is still ferocious

Our man Hugh MacDonald, not quite stripped for action, prepares for a 50-50

The hilarity is evident all around as Mail Sport's finest is left flat on his bahookie

There is the chap who fell from a roof when working and struggled to walk again. He is now perfectly able to thread a pass or shrug off a challenge.

There is the character who plays with the aid of a crutch and is not averse to using his stick to control the ball.

There are others, young and old, who play without obvious physical disadvantages. These include Sutton’s daughter, who is nine-years-old, a couple of guys who play for the over-50 and over 60s teams, and others who are younger and impressively mobile.

The game is close and gently competitive and the after-match is glorious. There is fruit, coffee and an array of cakes. A couple of dozen players scoff the grub and scoff gently at me. There is community. It is wonderful to witness.

Margaret Mary says: ‘Aye, I’ve come from Cambuslang and the two buses were on time. I have been partially sighted since birth. I have always loved football and I go to see Motherwell. I can make out shapes and the colours of strips but I can’t recognise faces. You can get commentary piped to you on earphones but I prefer to watch it in my own way.’

She came to the club after the loss of her partner last year. ‘I saw it advertised and I thought it would be good to get back out and about,’ she says.

‘It’s made me feel a lot better and I enjoy a cup of tea and natter. I like the company and have made some good friends. If I don’t turn up for one week, I always get a wee call to see how I am.’

Nobody is out of place on the walking football field, with all shapes and sizes joining in

Alongside her sits Eddie Hughes, 59. He plays for the over-50s side and spends much of the morning poking the ball between my legs.

‘I was 20-odd stone and had walking sticks so I started playing for health reasons and it has helped me greatly. My mobility has changed completely. I always played football when younger and I used to sell the macaroons and spearmint gum at Firhill.’

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This brings a flood of memories to older heads but Eddie is focused on the future: ‘When I came along here there were only three of us but look how it has grown. Hopefully, more and more will come.’

The future, too, holds a significant move for Eddie. ‘Aye, I’m 60 later this year so I will qualify for the over-60s. We try to play a lot of friendlies and build up through that,’ he says.

A triple role is held by Jim Cairney, who is chairperson of the club, manager of the over-60s team, and a trustee of the community club.

‘I was wandering down Maryhill Road a few years back and I thought I would pop into the complex,’ he says. ‘There was a poster looking for players so I signed up and got involved.’

Jim had played amateur football in the past and coached under-age sides. ‘I have always been part of football,’ says Jim, 63, a retired civil servant. ‘I believe in the good of the game. We are inclusive here. Anyone can come along.’

Walking sticks are permitted on the field of play, so be warned if you get too close

John Sutton watches the walking, stumbling football with a smile on his face. It’s football but perhaps not as he knows it. The lad from Norwich is now the family man of Scotland. He has played football in this country for more than 20 years, from Raith Rovers through Dundee, St Mirren, Hearts, Motherwell, St Johnstone, St Mirren and Morton.

Brother of former Celtic and England striker Chris, John leads the charitable trust that is committed ‘to the advancement of public participation in sport’. His involvement began when a job ended. He coached Morton reserves until they were no more.

‘I had my personal training business up and running but people approached me about doing football camps,’ he says. ‘I wasn’t too keen on it at first but we did it and it proved to be a success.’

This led to the formation of the community club. ‘It has grown enormously. We have 16 teams now but the priority was and is allowing everyone to have a place where they can play football.

'We have lads who are heading off to pro youth teams and this is great. We also have a partnership with Maryhill Juniors which offers lads a pathway in the game. But this club is open to all kids, including those who have never kicked a ball.’

He adds: ‘I grew up in an era of ‘jumpers for goalposts’ with a couple of dads giving their time to teams. It was a great system. Personally, I believe football has gone away from that a wee bit.

'We have to cover pitch costs and referees here, but we want to make it accessible.’

He is wedded to the Firhill Complex. He wants kids from the area to be able to walk to training, acknowledging that many may be disadvantaged in terms of money. ‘We want to stay here, stick with the community,’ he says.

Sutton, too, has hopes of branching the club out into boxing, even netball, but for the moment allows himself the brief luxury of reflecting on how far the club has come.

‘Did I ever think I would come to Scotland to play football? No. Did I ever think this would be where we are? No. But we now have aspirations.

John Sutton played football north of the border for over 20 years and is settled in Scotland

'Some of the people who have helped out with that have been incredible. I will give you the example of the 2011 team. They started off in the bottom division but how they have progressed.

‘They are brilliant kids who put in a lot of commitment as do their coaches. Many parents don’t drive so you can imagine the pick-ups, organisation when we have to play a game in, say, Greenock.’

He is talking in a corner away from the Friday walking football crowd and the noise of their animated chatter reaches us. ‘I think it is important to have a place where people gather.

'Jim, our chairman, has done such a great job on this and so has Angie, who makes the cakes. In modern football, people meet up for a game or training and disappear afterwards. We want them to stay on, to chat, to become part of the community at this club.’

Jim, the aforementioned chairman, offers me a specialty coffee and dispenses cakes liberally.

There are laughs and the retelling of highlights of the match. My performance is referenced as one chap points out that my talent for being nutmegged was outstanding.

‘There was a line of passes going though your legs like cars shooting down the Clyde tunnel,’ he says.

Jim points out that there may be an over-70 team in the offing. He offers me a bun but not a signing-on form.