Nedlitz – Walking football (German: Geh-Fußball) is a young sport for older people. The players are rated “Ü 50” and have a lot of fun. Like in Nedlitz (Jerichower Land), where the first state championship in walking football was set up. There were enough goals. But that doesn’t really matter.
In the video: National championship in walking football with only three teams
For the first time, a state championship in walking football took place in Nedlitz. (Camera: Thomas Pusch, editing: Torsten Grundmann)
The sports field on Vehlitzer Weg has a permanent place in the sports history books. The first national championship in walking football was held there. Tournament wins and national titles were won by others, but organizer SV Germania Nedlitz would have deserved a trophy for their organization.
Not a mass sport, but with a good inflow
Walking football is not a mass sport. Just three teams play this variant of football in Saxony-Anhalt, in which you can only walk, but not run or run. The field of participants at the state championship with the host SV Germania Nedlitz, the TuS Magdeburg-Neustadt and the Harz team from the SG Heudeber/Derenburg was quite clear. TSV Mariendorf from Berlin was a guest. And that should surprise.
Read about walking soccer also a comment.
“The football association had asked if we could host the championship and that’s a nice advertisement for our club,” said club chairman Henrik Hartmann in an interview with Volksstimme. So the SV Germania Nedlitz will always be connected to the first edition. This year he was happy about good growth, in the youth sector and – in walking football.
There were many exciting game scenes, like here in the duel between Germaniea Nedlitz (orange) and TSV Mariendorf.
Photo: Thomas Pusch
This has been played in Nedlitz for five years. Department head Holger Schock originally played football. As he got older, he and his teammates got injured and after years on the small field he searched the internet for a new sport. “That’s when I accidentally came across walking football, which was invented in England,” he told Volksstimme. Unlike in Saxony-Anhalt with three teams, there are thousands there.
Referees have to be careful
The sport can be practiced from the age of 55, two players who are only over 50 years old can also play in the six-man team. The spectrum at SV Germania ranges from 52 to 73 years. “On average, we’re in our early 60s,” said the department head.
The difficulty with the variant is to control yourself, not to run. “So you can’t play the ball into your teammate’s run, you have to watch the man carefully,” he explained.
Andreas Haertel was part of the team of referees in Nedlitz and explained what makes the difference to conventional football.
Photo: Thomas Pusch
It’s not an easy task for the referees either. It is already a change to conventional football, said Andreas Haertel. “You can’t just keep an eye on the ball, you have to keep an eye on the entire team,” he explained.
Game operations for the Nedlitzer primarily mean training, which always takes place on Fridays, in summer on Vehlitzer Weg, in winter in the hall in Königsborn. Tournaments are a nice change. “In June we were at a tournament in Berlin-Wannsee and only lost to Hertha BSC,” he said happily.
However, winning is not the focus at all, it is about social contacts. So the players still sit together after training, chatting about football and God and the world.
Tempers calmed down very quickly
However, the teams did not go onto the pitch that unambitious, after all, the national championship was at stake. There was sometimes yelling at teammates on the pitch, doubts about referee decisions or screaming out loud, even if the foul wasn’t that bad. However, tempers quickly calmed down again. Free kicks were only awarded when a player made a step mistake or the ball was played above waist level, which is also not allowed.
In the end, the SG Heudeber/Derenburg won the title. TSV Mariendorf, who played out of competition, won the tournament. Only fourth place remained for the hosts. But there were no disappointed faces. “We had to accept a few failures and were also busy preparing for the whole week,” said organizer Werner Meyer after the end of the tournament.
At the end of the day, the Berliners were presented with the trophy for winning the tournament in Nedlitz, but they did not become state champions.
Photo: Thomas Pusch
His praise also went to the players’ wives, who had mastered the organization on the day of the tournament themselves. “We men were on the pitch, but they did it very diligently and well,” he said and took the opportunity to thank TuS Magdeburg for providing the goals.
And of course we sat down together after the tournament. Peter Weber and Sven Riedziewski had done a great job on the grill, sizzling steaks and sausages from Sonneberg in Thuringia.
2023-09-04 07:29:06
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