AT ONE disability football club in Bolton, anyone can become a master.

In 2005, teenagers Aaron Kearsley and Dale Kellett founded their own football team and now, AFC Masters boasts more than 80 disabled players across a range of age groups, training and competing alongside each other every week.

AFC Masters have grown exponentially over the years and have become a key part of the community in Horwich where they train at the St Joseph’s High School sports dome.

Iain Massingham, leisure and befriending coordinator for children with disabilities services at Bolton Council, helps run the club and believes cultivating the right ethos has been the key to AFC Masters’ success.

“Two of our players who have autism were 13 back in 2005 and they invented a football team as a bit of fun, really,” he said.

“They were coming up with the name and the badge, and it just went from there – we started training every month, then it was every other week, and now it’s turned into this.

“It’s grown and grown but we’ve kept all of our original players all those years down the line and we’re now getting players from the under-11s coming through to the under-16s, and then the over-16s.

“There’s a real pathway. It’s the retention of players that’s really important as well.

“Our focus is always on fun, friendship and football, and that’s something that really helps us to keep hold of players and develop the club like we do.

“Horwich is where we’re based and so we’re very much a part of the community, and after every match, we always go to the local brewery and have a social.

“For a lot of our players, that’s more important than the football.

“We’re really proud to be from Horwich. The community really look after us and recognise us as one of the local sporting clubs.

“We get a lot of positive attention from people here.”

TSB and Sport for Development charity Sported help local community groups like AFC Masters use the power of sport to make a positive difference to young people and the communities they are part of.

With their support, AFC Masters will become stronger over time so they can help even more local young people.

‘Football4all’ is one of the club’s main mottos and, as they continue to thrive, AFC Masters hope to continue to offer an unrivalled stage for disabled footballers to get their kicks.

Massingham added: “We have players with a range of conditions and sensory impairments, and physical impairments, and we adapt everything to suit everybody’s needs.

“Some of our players go from the under-11s, move into the under-16s and then start playing mainstream football, which is something we try to work on if possible.

“Again, everyone’s achievements are different, so it could just be a player actually stepping foot into the building that we do our training in – for some of them, it’s a real success just to do that.

“We’ve won trophies and stuff like that but for me, that’s not why we’re in it. We’re in it to build friendships and create memories, and they’re the successes that we look at.”

TSB, in partnership with Sport for Development charity Sported, is proud to help local community groups across the UK use the power of sport to make a positive difference to young people and the communities they are part of. #TSBLocalPride