Dundee United will host a taster session for amputee footballers on Sunday after the wonder goal scored by one-legged Tangerines fan Tommy McKay.
Interest in amputee football has soared since Tommy, 32, scored a spectacular lob during a half-time contest in November.
A clip of Tommy’s goal has been viewed more than 2 million times online and his effort even earned him the Labrokes SPFL goal of the month.
United will be the first club on the east coast to stage a training session for amputee footballers with Tommy among the players taking part.
The event is open to anyone with an amputation or congenital limb difference.
Tommy lost his leg at nine-years-old to bone cancer but he has now become an ambassador for new charity the Amputee Football Association Scotland (AFAS).
It has joined forces with Dundee United Community Trust to explore the possibility of forming an amputee team in east Scotland.
Partick Thistle Amputees in Glasgow, where Tommy currently trains, is the only team presently.
The team competes in the England Amputee Football league alongside sides from clubs including Manchester City, Arsenal, Brighton, Portsmouth, Peterborough and Everton but AFAS hopes to create its own league in Scotland.
AFAS is currently appealing for support so it can send a Scottish squad to The Netherlands in June to make its European debut in Breda on June 25. It will be the first-time Scotland has been represented on the European stage in amputee football.
Gordon Grady, community manager at Dundee United Community Trust, said: “When Tommy scored his wonder goal at Tannadice, it put the spotlight on disability football, something we are hugely passionate about at Dundee United Community Trust. We would encourage anyone with an amputation or limb difference to come along on Sunday and give it a try.”
Ashley Reid, executive director of AFAS ,added: “Amputee football is a new discipline in Scotland so to see our player numbers grow so rapidly in such a short time is testament to the demand that exists for the sport. It was a natural next step to take the sport east and we already have a strong relationship with Dundee United Community Trust.
“Many of the players have missed out on opportunities throughout their lives due to lack of confidence or activities that cater to their needs. We are appealing for more players to come forward to try the sport, and who better than Tommy McKay to help us launch the sport at his home club?”
A spokesperson for McEwan Fraser Legal, who stepped in to support Partick Thistle Amputees first trip to an international tournament, said: “Tommy McKay’s heroics in our Home Advantage Challenge captured the imagination of the world, and so we’re delighted to see real momentum in the work of Amputee Football Association Scotland. We hope that Dundee United Community Trust’s new programme goes from strength to strength, after all much of the current fantastic attention very much started here at Tannadice.”
Anyone with an upper or lower amputation or limb difference is invited to attend the taster session on Sunday 21 May from 2 to 4pm at Dundee United’s GA Arena.
