As we age, it’s tempting to become less physically active. Joints seize up, old injuries resurface and we make involuntary noise when we get up from chairs. Team sports can be seen as a young person’s game, not for people over 60. However, there are ways to be involved with competitive sports at any age. Over the next few months we will be featuring the stories of some active people who refused to take aging lying down.
 
Like many young boys, Mike Thompson always wanted to become a footballer. When he was injured as a young man, he thought his athletic dreams were over. However, after 50 years, Mike returned to the sport and now he runs a team of his own. Mike shares his story of how he turned disappointment into hope and explains how he got involved in a new sport specifically for older people: Walking Football.

What is your first memory of playing football?
I was about 6 and I remember kicking a football – I haven’t stopped kicking a ball about since then. The junior school I was at had a football team, for year 3s and 4s. Year 4 was when you went up to high school, so that was my first time playing competitive football. I managed to get in the school football team. I remember scoring my first goal, it was a scramble but I kicked the ball over the line. That was when I got the bug. I worked hard trying to be a professional footballer. The way of finding my way in to get a trial was difficult, because I hadn’t played for Bradford or Yorkshire Boys or England Boys.Whenever I was asked the question, “What do you want to do when you leave school?” my answer was always, “I want to be a footballer!” But there didn’t seem to be any means of getting there. However, my dad knew one of the gatekeepers at Bradford City; this man called Mr. Petrie had a word with someone at the club about getting me a trial. I was 17 years old by then He got me in! It was very exciting. I turned up as one of many other trialists - only 4 people were to be selected. At the end of the evening, the chosen people would go to train at Bradford City. I was one of the chosen 4! It was amazing because there was no other way in. The sad thing was that when the manager called my name, my dad went up to him and said, “What are you picking on Mike for, he’s not anywhere near good enough!”  The manager said, “If Mike wants to come down we want to see him.”I turned up (obviously) on Tuesdays and Thursdays when training sessions were on and I kept training. The idea was to train for a year - if we were good enough, we would be kept on. Otherwise you would be discarded. But at the end of the first year I wasn’t discarded. Then there were more trials for the juniors. When the decision came, I seemed to be just sitting on the grass waiting. Others were given positions and I just waited. Then I got my moment. One of the coaches said, “We need someone who plays Left Back.” I immediately stood up and said, “I’ll do it!” The coach said, “You’ll play anywhere to get a game, won’t you Mike?” I said, “Yes - just put me on the field. Let me show you what I can do.” He said he would put me on for half an hour to see how I performed. I told him, “If you put me on, you won’t take me off.” I went on to the field. I was going to go for it. I charged up and down the pitch. I was putting balls across from attackers, I was defending with the goalkeeper, and I was the find of the night. I was then in the team as a left back, even though I was right footed and a forward. I was putting that shirt on.

But then you got injured, is that right?
It was about 9 games into the season for the Under 17s and we were playing Sunderland. I went to tackle for the ball. One of their players dislocated my ankle and broke my tibia and fibula all at the same time. Bradford City did their very best for me: they got a surgeon who put my ankle back to where it should be. But after a year’s treatment and rehabilitation, they told me I didn’t have the same movement in my right ankle as I had in my left. They decided I couldn’t play professional football. So that was the end of my footballing career. I played for amateur teams up until I was 35 when our daughter was born when I gave up. I did a bit of Five-a-Side but not much else was available then.