BY RYAN FERRY
ADOPTED Donegal man Jim Boyle has been on a high all week after a big result in Denmark.
Boyle, who moved to Ballybofey from Scotland with his wife Angela last year, is part of the management team for the Ireland Walking Football team.
They stepped away from that brand of football last week to take part in the FIFA Super Masters World Cup and Ireland claimed the silverware in brilliant style.
“It’s been a great week with the sun out and I’m basking in the glory of having assisted Ireland in winning a World Championship,” Boyle told the Donegal News.
“It doesn’t matter what the level it is at – it’s still sweet.
“ It’s a tournament that is run annually by FIFA the world governing body.
“It’s for older players like myself and they hold an over 60s tournament and an over 65s tournament.
“I was assistant coach for the 60s and there were 13 countries participating and this year it was in Copenhagen.
“I played in the over 65s competition two years ago when it was held in Manchester and there was a penalty kick competition and I won that for Ireland.
“We headed to Copenhagen with the aim of doing a little bit better than last year in Zurich where we came fifth.
“Lo and behold, we’ve gone and won it this year.
“I shouldn’t play it down because it’s the highest event for men of our age that you can play football in.
“It’s a five-a-side competition and it’s running football which has slightly different rules than you would get in a normal game with no heading for example.
“You’re up against the best of the best from other countries. We played six games the first day and six games the second day and the top two teams played in the final.
“We topped the league and played Northern Ireland again and beat them on penalties.
“To win it was amazing. To have beaten Northern Ireland in the final was great and the two best teams in the world at that level come from this island.”
Boyle has helped with some goalkeeping coaching with Castlefin Celtic and has played some Walking Football in Clonmany but it’s still in its infancy here in Donegal.
He is a big advocate for Walking Football and explained how he got the opportunity to represent Ireland.
“I played football all my life over in Scotland where I lived.
“I have a strong Irish heritage and it was always my intention to come and live here when I retired. I have always felt like that would be coming home.
“I was playing five-a-side with my friends when I got a bit older and I was then asked by one of my friends who was kind of involved with the walking football for Ireland what my Irish heritage was.
“I explained that my great grandparents were from Donegal and Leitrim and I was subsequently asked to play in a trial down in England and I was selected to play in a tournament in France as a goalkeeper.
“I went on to play fifty odd times for Ireland with caps to prove it.
“Injuries started to take a toll and arthritis gave me a lot of issues and bother and when I stopped playing they asked me to help the management.
“As you can appreciate walking football is huge in England where it started.
“It has cascaded around the world and I have played in Spain, France, Germany, Morocco and numerous more places and it’s only going to get bigger.
“The difficulty we have in Donegal is the GAA is huge. But as you get older you can’t play walking GAA.
“The game doesn’t translate to that format but football does.
“It’s pretty much like speed walking but it’s all about making the ball do the work.
“You take control of it and play to feet. You can’t kick into space because you can’t run onto it. You can block but not tackle.
“The mental health benefits for men and women are huge and when you’re in the dynamic of a group, people can see if someone isn’t themselves so I can’t recommend it highly enough.
“We go for a coffee or a drink afterwards which is good for people as well.
“To get it going properly in Donegal, we need to up the profile.
“It’s important to get the message out there that you can participate in active sport in your latter years as I am doing and thoroughly enjoying it.
“We’re trying to get the FAI to connect with us and get official accreditation.
“We’re not looking for anything other than their approval for what we are doing.
“You hear about the FAI being into grassroots football, well they need to walk the walk and talk the talk.
“All they would need to say is walking football for older people is a good thing.”
The Ireland Walking Football team have to pay their own way to tournaments but that is not an issue for a committed group of footballers.
They have another big tournament coming up in June.
Boyle would encourage anyone who thinks they would enjoy Walking Football or who could contribute to the national team to come forward.
“We’re back to Walking Football next week and we have a Four Nations tournament with ourselves, England, Northern Ireland and Wales.
“I’ll be taking the team because John O’Dwyer is on holiday.
“The great thing is because it’s in Dublin, we have quite a number of players coming up from different areas in Ireland with a view to trialling for the team.
“It will be a full international but these guys are getting a chance to represent Ireland at a tournament.
He added: “I would put an invite out there to anybody who might be interested to get in touch with me.
“We could do a one-day event in Donegal if there were enough people interested and show them what walking football is like because it’s a great avenue for keeping fit and meeting other people.”