Regular powerchair football comes to Essex

Regular powerchair football is coming to Essex for the first time in an effort to ensure the sport is accessible to everyone.

Starting from Saturday, Lift New Rickstones school in Witham will host organised sessions for children and adults, after the Essex Football Association (FA) held taster events in January.

Players, who typically have severe physical impairments, operate their powerchairs with a joystick.

George Shippey, 18, was having to travel from Billericay to Watford to play the sport, and has been pushing for opportunities more local to him.

The teenager has muscular dystrophy, a rare genetic condition meaning the muscles in his arms and legs "will eventually go", and he is unable to walk or move a wheelchair unassisted.

He is aiming to represent England one day, but in the meantime, he is a multi-schools ambassador pushing to make the sport more available.

Shippey said it had been "tiring" travelling 45 miles to Watford on top of full time education, but added that it was "all I looked forward to on the weekend".

Mum Kerry Shippey said: "It took him quite a long time to even find somewhere to go and do it because Essex didn't have anything, which is quite shocking in this day and age."

Three years ago, the pair reached out to the Essex FA to find a solution.

Essex FA disability lead Harry Moreton said one of the obstacles was the cost of the chairs, which could be several thousand pounds, plus finding a location with ample power access and space to store them.

He explained that making opportunities more local and accessible remained one of their "big challenges", but said football clubs were listening more than ever.

"I guess disability football is almost at the stage where women and girls' football was 10 years back," he said.

Moreton said Saturday's session would be his first time coaching the sport, and he was "excited" to get started.

Of the 13 players who turned up to both tasters, he said only one of them had played previously.

"[George] was amazing at getting some of the new players involved and really brought a good energy to the session."

Sessions will be free to attend at least until the end of 2026, when the lease for the chairs expires, but the body is hoping a local football club will take over before then.

The Wheelchair Football Association (WFA) donated the six chairs.

A WFA spokesperson said: "Many people who would benefit from the sport simply don't know it exists yet, so a lot of the work we do is about introducing people to it for the first time."

There are between 500 and 600 active players in England, with close to 100 teams across 40 clubs competing nationally and regionally.

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