Words and photos by Jonathan White
Nantwich Town Disability Football (NTDF) hosted a ‘24-hour Football-a-thon’ on Nantwich Town FC’s Swansway Stadium 3G pitch on Waterlode in Nantwich.
The Football-a-thon started at 7pm on Friday 31st May and went through to 7pm on Saturday 1st June.
The event took place in dry weather with participants each playing in 3 hours segments with at least 3 players per side. Scorers recorded their goal with a clicker in each goalmouth.
The Football-a-thon raised £2,000 from online donations, donations on the day and sponsorship. The money will go to NTDF towards helping with their transport and the day-to-day running of the club.
Craig Acton, NTDF Head Coach, said: “Thank you to the backstage organisers of this event, Pete Stenton (Assistant Coach and Player), Josh Downing (Vice Chair NTDF, Player and Assistant Coach) and Keir Welch (Secretary and Treasurer NTDF) for all their work in setting up and ensuring the event ran well and was publicised.
“Thank you to the players of NTDF who took part, the coaches from Nantwich Town who took part and people who got in touch to take part. The event was amazing and definitely happening again next year.
“On a personal note, it was amazing to be playing football and watching the sunrise. Everybody is aching and sore and regretting their life choices, but all came off the pitch smiling.
“A big thank you to those that spectated and to Nantwich Town FC for helping ensure the event ran smoothly. Thank you again to all our supporters and local Dabbers who are behind us every step.”
NTDF are a disability football team based in Nantwich, who currently have over 50 players across our Visually Impaired, Adult Pan Disability and U16’s Pan Disability teams. They are an all-inclusive team and have players with a range of disabilities from motor neurone, autism to visual impairments and anxiety.
NTDF give free pan-disability football training sessions every Friday (7-8pm) on the Swansway Stadium 3G pitch at Nantwich Town Football Club on Waterlode, Nantwich CW5 5BS. The sessions are open to anyone with a disability.
NTDF are sponsored by local disability company Direct Access, https://directaccessgp.com/uk/
For further information relating to NTDF please visit: https://www.facebook.com/NantwichTownDisabilityFootball