twofootedtackle.com

twofootedtackle.com writer Chris Bridger got in touch recently to tell us about Blind Ambition: The Simon Hill Story, his superb short documentary film about the captain of the Sporting Club Albion blind football team. Here, he shares his insight into the sport.

I do not profess to be an expert surrounding the subject of disability football, but my knowledge of it has certainly expanded since Christmas. Having spent the last couple of months gazing at the same man on my computer screen, I feel obliged to write a few words about the subject. I am of course not referring to some sort of schoolgirl crush on anyone – I am, in fact, a university student studying Television Production. And for my graduation film I decided to make a documentary about a blind footballer, a competitor in a sport that in my opinion has been woefully under-represented in the modern day media.

In what will seem like a shameless plug of my production, here is my video. I feel it compliments this piece well so please do have a watch and let me know your thoughts on the film.

Back to business, then. Having now finished the film, I feel I owe it to the sport to write a few words on my feelings on it. I am also echoing the sentiments of George Ogier, who recently wrote a very touching piece on disability sport.

I should say that by writing this article about blind football, I am by no means discounting other disability sports. It just so happens that my knowledge is greater on blind football than it is on any others. So allow this article to act as a beacon for all other disabled sports, which I’m sure are equally as impressive and inspiring. Secondly, this is not me asking you to sympathise with anyone that plays blind football; if anything I’m jealous of the competitors. Every single player that I met on my journey had their own story to tell, of how they have overcome adversity to become what they wanted to be. Their bravery, and their courage was truly admirable.

Simon Hill, the man that allowed me to make the film about him, plays not only for England, but for Sporting Club Albion, club run by the ‘Albion Foundation’, a registered charity that has close ties with West Bromwich Albion, and endeavours to provide sporting and educational opportunities to those that live in the surrounding areas of Sandwell and Stourbridge. West Bromwich Albion is also one of only two professional clubs to have a blind team competing in the Blind Football League (Everton are the other).

Now, the term ‘beautiful game’ is bandied around all too easily these days, but if you are ever given the chance to go and see what The Albion Foundation does, then please do. It will restore your faith in the power that football can have in people. The volume of opportunities it provides for the people of Sandwell must be seen to be believed, and i’m not just talking about opportunities to play football. The Albion Foundation, as I mentioned earlier, also deals with education and learning.

As part of my project, I was lucky enough to go to the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford, home of the England Blind Football Academy, where once a month each of the six blind football teams that compete in the FA National Blind League plays four league games. Due to the lack of funding within the sport, and the fact that each team comes from a relatively long distance away, it is impossible for the league to work in the same style as, say, the Premier League. A Premier League player is usually forgiven for having a bad day at the office – everybody’s human and one bad performance once in a while is readily expected in the modern game. So think of the pressure that puts onto these blind players. if they are having a bad day of it, that’s four league games that they may as well not have bothered turning up for. That’s a lot of pressure to perform!

Simon, despite being captain of his club and having been in the England squad for over five years, somehow manages to find time to work for a living as well. This is an area of the sport that particularly interested me. Funding in this time of economic crisis is hard to come by for any cause, but in particular it feels like the sport of blind football is suffering in contrast to other countries In Brazil, for instance, there are 80 professional blind football teams as a consequence of funding from the government.

France and Spain are just two of the other countries to have full time professional blind footballers, so why are England so far behind? Exposure is certainly an issue, and before this venture I had no idea that blind football was something that even existed, let alone how it is played, a sentiment that has been reciprocated to me from a lot of people that I have spoken to about the sport. Last August the Blind World Cup was held in Hereford, England. England finished fourth, meaning that we have the fourth best team in the world and the second best team in Europe (behind losing finalists Spain). Not bad for a team that has no professional players in it.

Think back to the amount of times last summer you heard about England’s sighted football team underachieving in South Africa. Surely some of that news space could have been used to inform the people of our nation that our blind football team had just surpassed expectations at their World Cup, held in our country?

I spoke to a journalist about this who informed me that “the demand just wasn’t there” for these sorts of stories – that’s a statement that leaves me dumbfounded having seen what I have seen over the last couple of months. The demand isn’t there because people don’t know about the sport, but the sport isn’t given any exposure because people do not know about it, so how are people supposed to be able to learn about it if the materials just aren’t there? I suppose this issue is summed up by the fact that I have been scouring the internet about blind football facts for a while now, and it’s clear that there is a real shortage of information readily available to interested parties.

The fact that Simon works for a living makes his achievements all the more impressive; here’s a man that has travelled to two World Cups, has played for his country at the Paralympics in Beijing, and harbours hopes of being picked to play at the 2012 Paralympics. And throughout this whole career has managed to have a working life as well, something which he told me himself he finds very challenging. The Football Association advises all of England’s blind football squad to train six times a week in the weeks leading up to games or tournaments, training sessions that Simon has to fund himself. His love for the game means that he simply gets on with it, and never complains. That’s remarkable when you think that some professionals complain that their £100,000 a week salary isn’t enough to accommodate their needs.

I have written this article as a means of giving a bit of exposure to a sport that I really feel is worth watching. The skill level of some of the players that I have witnessed is as good as any professional football match I have had the pleasure of seeing. It hasn’t only been the sport that has impressed me, it is the people that are involved in it, the people that make it what it is. So whether you look it up on Youtube, or you go to the Blind Football League’s website, spread the word – you will not be disappointed.

Simon told me that the England blind football team trained with the England sighted squad a couple of months back; I can only hope that Messrs Terry, Rooney and Cole will take to conducting themselves a bit more like Simon in the future.

Follow Chris on twitter: @itsbridgertime

Tags: Blind Football, Everton, Simon Hill, Sporting Club Albion, West Bromwich Albion