They didn’t know each other but they already feel like “a family.” They had never heard anything about walking football and some had not even played the game. … soccer. A talk at the Parkinson Bizkaia-Asparbi Association inspired them to embark on a project that they now live with passion. Jesus Etxebarria, president of Euskal Walking Football Elkartea, told them in 2022 about a strange sport that would help them against their illness. «The interest was to create a team with Parkinson’s patients. I remember the faces, as if they thought ‘this guy is crazy,'” Etxebarria himself recalls.
But his proposal convinced. Twelve people signed up and there are now twenty, including five women. Pedro Gómez, one of the adventurers, says that “he explained to us that the injuries were minimal and the rules will prevent them. “He spoke to us about hope, empathy and socializing.” Rebeca Atxalandabaso also embarked “to strengthen her muscles, to gain balance, stability. With Parkinson’s it is important to do sports at a muscular level, but it has become an illusion and is a physical and cognitive therapy. And it is very good for us to socialize.
The idea materialized in the creation of a team, Beti United Berango, to compete in the Biscayan league, the only one of its kind in these latitudes. There are similar tournaments on the Costa Blanca and the Costa del Sol with players from the United Kingdom, a country where walking football was invented to promote physical activity in the older population. In fact, the rules of this sport stipulate that male players must be over 50 years old and women must be over 40. Participation in the Bizkaia championship has increased from three to ten teams. Beti United is the only team whose members suffer from a neurological pathology. «We are the first team, without being national teams, in the world that plays continuously. “We are pioneers in playing in a league that is not exclusive to patients,” Pedro highlights with pride.
Beti United plays its matches and trains at the Iturriaga field in Berango, whose City Council gave them the playing field and equipment. The walking football players prepare there. They neither run nor jog, it is penalized by the regulations. They also cannot enter from behind or from the sides, nor raise the ball above their head. Because walking football was designed so that there were no sudden actions and trauma was avoided. For the same purpose, the goalkeeper is master of the area; No one else must enter it nor can he leave it, and thus the shocks disappear.
In just two seasons many objectives have been achieved, especially human and personal. “There are teammates who may be a little worse off, but you see them on the field and they move, and that gives them, above all, a lot of self-esteem,” details Rebeca, team coordinator. Jesus Etxebarria, who also works as a coach, adds that “I change in the locker room with them and some have real difficulties getting dressed and changed. They help each other. “Then they go out to the field and some of them seem to have nothing.”
During training, the footballers stimulate each other, they stand out, they circulate the ball and they see good shots and saves. Women and men share the terrain set up across the width of the conventional soccer field. Although the goals are smaller than those in classic soccer, there are chances and goals in this slow-paced soccer.
International departures
Those of Beti United move, a lot. They have already taken part in a tournament that took place in Plentzia with three English opponents and one Welsh opponent, and in April they faced the English Parkinson’s team in Berango. Last year, Ray Kennedy (Arsenal and Liverpool player, English international, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 32) attended the international tournament in Norway. In September they repeated the same event, this time in Cardiff (Wales).
This week the second Walking Football World Cup was held in Torrevieja, with the participation of the Basque team (they were in the previous edition, in England two years ago), under the leadership of Etxebarria. The players pay for their travel. «We subsidize everything. Apart from three sponsors and the help of the Berango City Council, we cover the rest. It means a lot for us to go to the World Cup (1,200 euros each) and to Ray Kennedy (1,000 euros).”
“Only nice words”
The walking football league has the support of the Biscayan Football Federation, but runs into the obstacle that this sport “is not recognized at an institutional level. “We only receive nice words, nothing more.” They face the costs of arbitration and material, although no obstacle can stop the walkers. «We want to make Parkinson’s visible, it is one of the reasons why we are playing. Let people see that we can play walking football.
For their social example, their Biscayan rivals paid tribute to Beti United at the San Ignacio field. A well-deserved recognition for an enthusiastic team whose reduced mobility has not been able to stop them. On the contrary, footballers who do not run have a “wonderful experience.” This is how Pedro feels as he welcomes a teammate on the Iturriaga bench. The newcomer is Txema, who proposed the team’s own greeting. «We give each other a hug, we shake hands with anyone. “Our friendship is very intense.”
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