Wednesday 9th April A beautiful cool still and sunny Melbourne morning saw us gathering at the Konman's local park adjacent to the Newport to Sunshine railway line in South Kingsville.  And this park was no con, it was the real deal with real grass, some pre-marked white lines, and the odd mysterious clumps of a white unidentified diaphanous substance. First up we celebrated Janette's birthday, admiring her fancy new birthday boots, and commiserating with her on her recent tumbles (memo: don't wear super grippy footwear on varnished timber courts)  Next we setup up the goals to utilise some of the aforementioned pre-marked white lines.  This lazy approach resulted in a longer than usual ground and thus a very thorough workout, but good training for Friday's big Broadmeadows tournament where we have two lots of 2 back to back matches scheduled. We did some silly walks to warm up and get the feel of the grass under our boots, followed by an excellent "pass to the cen...

 Wednesday 2nd April. With various team members jetting off to New Zealand and further afield, and pressing work commitments for some of the Young Ones, we were reduced to 10 participants for the first session in April. Red vs Blue once again - no goalies, no one allowed in the yellow penalty semi-circle, and open goals - resulting in a high scoring extravaganza.  Enthusiasm contributed to a larger than usual  number of high balls, including a speccy sky ball from Kon that lodged on a ledge near the ceiling.  This required a pickle ball playing acrobat to help retrieve it after the match.  Well played everyone! Scoreline: Red many || Blue many

No, it's not an April Fool's joke.  On the first of April, a " scoop " of Hobsons Bay Pelicans were up early and flew north west to the Macleod Recreation and Fitness Centre to play as special guests of the Banyule Walking Football Hub.  Check out their web site:  https://activeseniorsleague.com.au/ Alex and his crew of a dozen players gave us a warm welcome when we arrived.  Helen led us through an impressive series of warm up stretches and exercises.  Alex explained the house rules: Any players from both sides can enter the goal semi-circle Scoring shots can only be attempted from the top third of the court Corners are taken a metre forward of the backline Attackers must vacate the top third of the court when the goalie is kicking in. We started with a Pelicans vs Banyule 5 a side match, and quickly adapted to these variants (although your correspondent had great difficulty actually crossing that yellow semi-circle!).  After 20 minutes the hosts came...

Where: Broadmeadows Aquatic and Leisure Centre, 41-85 Tanderrum Way, Broadmeadows When: Friday 11th April - 9:30am to 3:30pm Who: Walking Football 4 Health Victoria Why: World Parkinson's Day What: Mens Over 60s Mens Over 70s Women Mixed How Much: $10 per player ($5 donated for Parkinson's Research) Fixture: 9.30 - Speeches, Announcements 10am - Mens 10.45am - Mixed and Disability 11.30am - Mens 12.15pm - Mixed and Disability 1pm - Mens 1.45pm Mixed and Disability 2.30pm - Mens 3.15pm - Finish Further Information: Walking Football 4 Health Victoria's next tournament is on Friday 11th April. This day is World Parkinson's Day and so this tournament will be about raising awareness of Parkinson's Disease. The tournament will be in collaboration with our partners Shake It Up Australia Foundation, The Rotary Club and Soccer for Peace Foundation. We will also be raising funds for Shake It Up Australia Foundation in aid of Parkinson's Research. 50% of the player cost wi...

Tuesday 1st - Banyule Friendly Wednesday 2nd - Altona Sports Centre Wednesday 9th - Edwards Reserve, Truman St, South Kingsville (outdoors) Friday 11th - Broadmeadows Tournament Wednesday 16th - Altona Sports Centre Wednesday 23rd - Altona Sports Centre Wednesday 30th - Altona Sports Centre

Our usual indoor venue was not available on the last Wednesday in March, so on a cool overcast and breezy morning we bravely set forth for Apex Park on the chilly Altona coast line.  Passing dog walkers watched with bemusement as the Minister for Silly Walks (aka Mike) took us though the full Monty Python warm up routine. A makeshift oversize ground was marked out with cones and Red vs Blue went at it.  With 5 a side and no goalie we set up a spare ball in each goal, and you had to hit this ball to register an actual score.  The long grass that concealed potholes made for some interesting shots - and many misses.  Half time in a close fought match saw Blue draw ahead of Red 2-1 thanks to a long shot chancer from Stephen on the wing, Well, let me tell you, after the half time drinks break there must have been something pretty special in the Blue's cordial because that man Stephen was on fire, easily converting two long passes to score at a distance from the forward po...

Where: Diamond Valley Sports and Fitness Centre, 44 Civic Drive, Greensborough When: Wednesday 26th February - 9:30am to 3:30pm What: Over 60’s and Over 70’s Mens Open Age Mens, Womens, Mixed Open Age for People with Disability How Much: $10 per player Over 60's Fixture: 10am Court 2 – Sunbury v Beechworth Court 3 – Hobsons Bay v Victorian Walkeroos 11.30am Court 2 – Sunbury v Hobsons Bay Court 3 – Beechworth v Victorian Walkeroos 1pm Court 2 Sunbury v Victorian Walkeroos Court 3 – Beechworth v Hobsons Bay 2.30pm (If teams wish to play another game) Court 2 - 3rd v 4th Court 3 – 1st v 2nd [Other fixtures not available at time of writing]