Mr Lambert is a member of New Zealand’s first team to play at the IWFF Walking Football World Championships, being held in Brisbane at the end of this month.
Walking football is a low-impact, modified version of the game designed for over-50s or those recovering from injuries, where running is prohibited and physical contact is banned.
Players must keep one foot on the ground at all times while playing on smaller pitches.
Mr Lambert said he had only played a couple of games of walking football, but had lots of experience with the conventional game.
He had been involved in the football community for most of his life and continued to do so when he moved to Southland from Wellington about 20 years ago.
Before he was injured, he played football in national competitions including the national youth league and Central and Southern Premier leagues.
He had aspirations of playing for New Zealand from a young age, but his legs had other ideas.
He tore the ACL and meniscus in one of his knees playing conventional football in his 30s.
And the bad luck kept coming.
“Two months later I ripped my calf and my quad muscle off the top of my knee as well.”
The walking adaptation of football was one of the fastest growing sports in Europe, he said.
Games were made up of two teams with six a side, a match was played in two halves of about 20 minutes each.
The contest involved a smaller and shorter net and was played in a field a quarter the size of a traditional football field.
The game is intended to “promote movement” but “without the same impact [on the body] as normal football”.
“I didn’t think at 50, I’d be doing something like this, that’s for sure.”
