Shrewsbury Town players support disability football event at RAF Shawbury

Some of the countries top disabled footballers were showing off their skills and playing alongside personnel from the base, in an event that was aimed to give an insight in sport both in the way the Armed Forces are supported across Shropshire and how the Football Association Disabilities Team train and play their sport.

The event comes ahead of a planned event on Armed Forces Day on November 11, where an RAF helicopter was planned to land on the pitch before Shrewsbury's clash with Charlton Athletic.

However, it was confirmed yesterday the game has now been postponed, due to international commitments from the visiting players.

Shrewsbury Town players and manager Paul Hurst attended the base yesterday to see how disability footballers go about their sport.

Hurst, whose side sit at the top of Sky Bet League one said it was imperative he and his players got involved with community activities such as this one.

He said: "It is great to come out and see these players, who maybe aren't as fortunate as we are but are doing fantastically well.

"The club has a great relationship with RAF Shawbury, and is interesting to come along today and see how these footballers play and what they do.

"It is important for us to give something back. With our training schedule it is hard to come out to a lot of events like this."

Currently there is a lot of hype around the Shrews, who have surprised many this season, losing only once in the campaign so far.

They take on Aldershot in the FA Cup this weekend, and Hurst is allowing the fans to dream of a fairytale season but he and his players are just going about their business.

He said: "I think we have surprised a few, and the town is a great place at the moment.

"The fans can dream of what could happen at the end of the season, but we will keep going about our business."

Throughout the event at the base, the FA disabilities teams including the blind team, cerebral palsy, and power chair teams were showing able bodied personnel how they play the sport.

One of those elite players was Jack Rutter, a former promising professional at Birmingham City who suffered a serious brain injury and was left dead in one ear after being punched in the head in 2009.

Now the captain of the cerebral palsy team, and led his country to the Paralympic games last year.

He also plays semi-professional football for Lydney Town, and said the event is about making people aware that they may qualify for disability football.

He said: "These events are great because we are able to bounce skills off the personnel, we pick up stuff from them and they pick up stuff from us too.

"It is all about raising awareness of disability football. There are people out there who don't know that they qualify to play maybe CP football.

"By coming to these events it raises awareness and picks those players out."

Project officer and flight lieutenant Isobel Tierney added: "Events like today can show people that elite disability football isn't beyond them."

The event was co-ordinated between Shropshire Council, the football club and Shropshire's Armed Forces as part of the Shropshire Covenant partnership.

The partnership involves 25 businesses in Shropshire, and Squadron Leader Kim Leach added: "The day is all about raising awareness for disability football and the work we do with the other organisations involved in the covenant in Shropshire."