Joe Gregory saw his brother earn six full England caps, so when he got his call to play for the England Parkinson’s Walking Football team, he couldn’t have been prouder.
Joe is the brother of former Queens Park Rangers midfielder John Gregory, who made six appearances for the Three Lions between 1983 and 1984 and has also appeared in an FA Cup final. Joe, in contrast, has played most of his football career in the park and, before the emergence of walking football, playing for England was just a pipe dream.
In 2022, the England Parkinson’s Walking Football team was founded and Joe, who was diagnosed with the condition in 2019, attended trials and was one of the lucky few to be picked.
“The proudest thing is to play for England, in my 60s and to be chosen to play for England is incredible,” Joe told Fen Regis Trophies. “One of the first people to ring me after I had been chosen was my brother, John.
“I felt a bit bad, I said ‘it’s only Parkinson’s walking football’…he said, ‘but it’s England!’”
Parkinson’s Diagnosis
Parkinson’s disease is a condition in which parts of the brain become progressively damaged over many years. The main symptoms include involuntary shaking, or tremors, of body parts, slow movement, and stiff and inflexible muscles. Most people with Parkinson’s will develop symptoms over the age of 50, and it is more likely to affect men than women.
Football has always been an integral part of Joe’s life and, as he was approaching 60, he decided that he wanted to get back into playing, having not played since hanging up the boots in his early 40s. In late 2018, as he was training to build his fitness up to return to playing, Joe noticed that his leg was dragging whilst out running.
“I couldn’t understand it at all,” said Joe. “I couldn’t understand it because I knew I hadn’t been injured at all.
“So, I would rest it for a week, and then rest it for two weeks and then a month until I went to the GP.
“I went to the GP on April Fool’s Day in 2019 thinking it must be my age, that I must need a hip or knee replacement or something like that.
“The GP immediately referred me to the neurology department at the local hospital and then I went 11 days later.
“That day is significant as it is World Parkinson’s Day and that is the day that I was diagnosed.”
He added: “It was a real shock. I had been spending six months dragging my leg and my left arm was just not working properly, but in my mind, I was just blocking it off…I did not expect at all to be diagnosed.
“It was a real shock, and my first thought was ‘oh bloody hell, I’m not going to play football now!’”
Walking Football
Though Joe’s diagnosis did put an end to his hopes of playing regular football, the popularisation of walking football has meant that he has been able to get his boots on and play. Joe participates every Monday evening at Watford FC’s training dome.
“We’ve recently come back from the off-season for summer and there were 20 people there one evening,” he said. “Everyone had happy faces smiling away and everyone was enjoying themselves.
“I’ve had some absolutely fantastic times. I used to play football, but since I’ve had Parkinson’s I’ve made more friends in the Parkinson’s football community and had greater times.”
You can follow the England Parkinson’s Walking Football team on Twitter/X, and you can also find further information on how you can get involved in walking football here.
By Aaron Gratton
