Located at Blackmore Millennium Park, 166 Nine Ashes Road, CM4 0QR right at the heart of the community is Blackmore Village Hall and Blackmore Sports & Social Club. This amenity, the envy of many other villages, boasts excellent recreational facilities. These include rugby, football and cricket pitches with changing rooms but also a state of the art floodlit tennis court and a 3G Astroturf Multi Use Games Area with 5 aside and Walking Football size goals. This indeed was the birthplace of Blackmore Athletic Football Club.

It was back in 2015 that driven local resident Malcolm Hurford had the vision to utilize this facility. He felt age was only a number and too many had hung up their boots too early, and the answer for veterans was Walking Football as a way of carrying on playing the beautiful game and to also boost one’s fitness and social life at the excellent on site Sports and Social Club.

Ten years on Walking Football across the United Kingdom has advanced into one of the fastest growing sports for over 50’s women and men both in participation and spectatorship with the formation of hundreds of clubs, leagues and tournaments most of whom are affiliated to the Football Association following their playing rules.  We are proud that we were one of the trailblazers in Essex and South East England.

From our early humble beginnings, we evolved with the formation of Blackmore Athletic Walking Football Club run by a hardworking and knowledgeable committee. Monday evenings are set aside for friendly matches amongst the group with two sessions for signed up subscription paying members: 6.30 to 7.30 pm for over 60’s and 7.30 to 8.30 pm for over 50’s.  We are delighted that so many of our founder members are still playing with the same degree of enthusiasm.

Taking health & safety responsibilities seriously, the club requires all members to complete a health questionnaire. We have defibrillators and dedicated CPR and first aid trained volunteers.

In addition to Monday nights, our well run club has also participated in several  friendly and formal overseas tournaments especially in Spain and Portugal taking away up to 30 players and supporters.

 In 2022  we felt the time was right  to join the FA affiliated and Essex County Football Association endorsed Essex Walking Football League by entering both over 50’s and 60’s teams. 

In 2023 our 60’s team were crowned champions of Division 2 thus achieving promotion to Division 1 for season 2024 in which they finished a respectable fourth and also reached the quarter finals of the cup.  

In season 2024 our 50’s team also reached the quarter finals  of the cup and won by 5 points, the highly competitive first division league that boasts big name teams with bigger squads and ex-pro’s including; Chelmsford, Southend, Colchester, Norwich, Romford, Grays and Billericay etc.

We are proud that our success has given rise to England International Walking Football recognition with some of our players being called up to their training boot camps.

With cause for celebration, we held our annual Christmas Dinner and Presentation evening last December with the cup and winners  medals  presented to our glorious  50’s team  and Player of The Year 2024  trophies  awarded to winners Pat Fahy and Simon Moore for the early and late sessions respectively.  Golden whistles were also awarded to our Monday night referees; Richard Ward and Dennis Mitchell in recognition of their efforts and helping us adhere to the strict Walking Football rules.

Blackmore Athletic currently play in the Essex Walking Football League. The EWFL was developed from scratch by a group of active Essex Walking Football Clubs from all corners of the County and was created with the help and expert guidance of the team at Essex County FA. The League was formed in November 2016.

The EWFL is a not-for-profit community-based organisation and is dependent upon donations from our clubs and other sources of revenue to be able to pay for our administrative expenses, tournaments and events. Our Officers and Committee members are volunteers and they give up their time freely.

The EWFL believes that Walking Football is a social and recreational sport.

Their aims and objectives are:

• The promotion of walking football in Essex.
• To support the development of the Essex Walking Football League, within Essex and the five London Boroughs of Essex i.e. Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge and Waltham Forest.
• To provide competitive opportunities with no contact between its players.
• Not to promote a ‘win at all costs’ attitude. We will cultivate an all inclusive environment in, which players can enjoy themselves.
• To help others to become more mobile and physically fit and to expand their social circles.

 

Below is a selection of photos from our Instagram feed. Click on a photo to enlarge.