In a dazzling display of stamina and tactical ball control, the Great Britain Amputee Football team crushed their French national team counterparts in an incredible 10 – 0 defeat in Manchester on Saturday 5th June.

In the heat of a perfect summer afternoon and watched by a capacity crowd including the Lord Mayor of Manchester and the MP for central Manchester, Tony Lloyd, the game was fiercely contested right from the start but the home team demonstrated their superiority to walk away with the Takeda Cup plus additional funding for their World Cup bid.

The British team needs to raise £30,000 in order to compete in the 2010 World Amputee Football Federation World Cup in Argentina in October. At present they receive no significant funding to help pay for matches, travel expenses, or to finance training weekends.

For team manager Dave Tweed, the result augured well: “The team showed what they were made of today – and if they play like that in Argentina, we’re in with a real chance of brining home the World Cup later this year.

“The Takeda sponsorship has been invaluable and has enabled us to host the friendly international event on Saturday which is helping to raise our profile. But we need to raise more funds. We need to raise £30,000 to send the team to Argentina.”

In a further bid to raise awareness of the sport, the British players had appeared on the BBC’s The One Show the evening before the match to discuss the game and their personal strategies for making the most of the realities of life as an amputee.

MP Tony Lloyd said; “What we have seen here today is an example of great sportsmanship, impressive skill and a resounding triumph over adversity – both teams are an inspiration to us all, and it was a very exciting game to watch.”

The EAFA (England Amputee Football Association) charity, creates opportunities for amputees and others with limited use of their limbs – cancer patients, ex-services personnel and accident victims – to play football at local, national and international level. For more information you can visit their website.