New football partnership will see players stay in community from four to 74 years old
FIRST FOCUS OF LINK-UP IS DEVELOPMENT OF NEW WOMEN’S WALKING FOOTBALL TEAM
A NEW footballing partnership between Grimsby and Cleethorpes will give players the opportunity to stay within the same footballing family from the age of four to 74 and beyond.
Cleethorpes Town and Grimsby Corinthians have come together to merge their footballing pathways meaning that boys and girls in the area could be playing at the same club from the youth teams right through to walking football.
One of the major developments that is the first focus of the partnership is the development of a new women’s walking football team who will be the first in North East Lincolnshire and will play on a specially developed pitch within the myenergiuk Stadium at the Linden Homes Club.
Grimsby Corinthians are one of the most successful walking football teams in the area with two of the players having recently been picked for England duty for their age category.
The club was also the first FA Charter Standard walking football club in Lincolnshire (and one of the first in the UK) having been awarded the status in 2019.
Mick Hill, club secretary at Grimsby Corinthians, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for the club and I know we’re all very much looking forward to using the brilliant facilities down here.
“We’re lucky enough to be one of the leading walking football teams in Lincolnshire and this partnership is a way to secure the long term future of the club and encourage more people to get involved if we can.
“Walking football is a great way to improve fitness and mental wellbeing and we’re always on the look out for more players whether you’ve not kicked a ball for years or maybe have never given it a go before.” Grimsby Corinthian’s treasurer Mike Smith said: “For a lot of people football is about more than the competitive side of things, there are people who play for all sorts of reasons.
“It is a community and a lot of people come down to help with mental health which I think is a big reason to be involved in sport and exercise.
“We often have people who come down to the games quite early to have a chat and to meet with friends and we want everyone to have those opportunities especially coming through the times we’ve just had.” Over the coming weeks, the club will be running a series of events in partnership with Cleethorpes Town as they seek to find budding walking footballers for the women’s team. They’re also on the lookout for someone who might want to step into the role of managing the team when it is ready to play competitively in the future.
The women’s team will be among the first to try out the specially developed surface within the myenrgi Stadium that the club says is as close to being a synthetic surface while still being real, so no emptying your shoes of 5g particles if you’re playing on here.
For more details on the upcoming events, keep an eye on the Corinthians and Cleethorpes Town Facebook pages. Vice-chairman of Cleethorpes Town, David Mann said: “Football is about so much more than the competitive side that you see on a Saturday and that is what we’re developing here.
“We’ve got our junior girls teams s up and running and they’ll give the e opportunity for everyone to get t involved in the sport from the age of four. Now with this partnership and the things that we’re developing together with the Corinthians we can offer football to people of all abilities and ages within the community.
“This is all part of football caring about people, we’ve already got our Andy’s Man Club mental health ambassador and I know the Corinthians have a big focus on that side of things too.
“It is a really exciting partnership that I’m looking forward to seeing in action, I’m looking forward to giving walking football a go myself.” Steph Powell, Lincolnshire FA
football development officer, said: “It’s currently a very exciting time for females within football in Lincolnshire.
“We have just launched a new league, in which Cleethorpes Town play a big part and have a thriving youth recreational set up too. “We have also just seen the launch of six ladies’ recreational providers in the county so to have the Corinthians and CTFC looking to build on that is pretty impressive.
“We can’t wait to support and to see how two great clubs combine for the community in the North East of the county.”