Dan Burn has been named as an ambassador for Newcastle United’s Foundation.

The club’s charity runs projects around the city and Burn now joins his team-mate Sean Longstaff as an ambassador for the organisation. The Foundation is an important presence in communities across our region hosting events in Newcastle, Gateshead, North Tyneside and Northumberland.

This week, 6ft 7in centre-back Burn was on hand to oversee a Walking Football event at Cochrane Park. Both Burn and Longstaff sponsored the event with Burn handed the whistle to referee a game in the weekly league.

After celebrating becoming an ambassador Burn told Chronicle Live: “It was fun! I found it hard to referee. I found it hard not to run to keep up with play so it must be hard for the players to contain themselves just walking. I enjoyed it, it is always nice to come over and meet people.

“I have spoken a lot about mental health and the importance of it. My tip is always to go and get some exercise and being part of a team is a great way to do that. You realise that everybody has their own problems and you can share that with others is very important.”

And Burn is eager to be part of more events moving forward with the Blyth lad keen to put something back into the community.

Burn said: “I am really proud, when I was younger I was a bit more selfish and didn’t find the time for this sort of thing. I just wanted to play football. Now I have had kids, I have a different perspective. I want to give back to the community. It’s something I feel really close to. We can make a big difference.”

The Foundation will host their annual dinner at St James’ Park later this month and for more information on their work go to.

Walking Football Background

When did the Walking Football start at the Foundation, and how did it come about?

Newcastle United Foundation launched their first Walking Football sessions during the 2016/17 season with this becoming an apparent need for the community to re-introduce people aged 50 and over back into physical activity.

They are currently are in their sixth season of the Walking Football league where have 195 registered participants across 16 teams that engage in the league. Comparing this to the first season where we had 53 participants across six teams.

They have 301 active participants engaging in Walking Football provision where they facilitate 13 FREE Walking Football session per week. Three of the sessions are bespoke to a particular audience including our Headway Walking Football session designed for people with diagnosed head injuries, Dementia Walking Football sessions designed for people living with dementia, and Female Walking Football sessions designed for women aged 18 and above to increase female engagement in Walking Football.