Blind football

I was intrigued recently to learn of the existence of the World Blind Football Championship - the BBC has now written a detailed article about it so I have found out some more.

Footballs with ball bearings...some careful and limited shouting techniques between the five players on each team...rebound walls and no throw-ins...opaque eye patches to keep players on an equal footing, since some of them have partial sight and others are fully blind. Would be fascinating to watch, although I don't think it will have TV coverage.

It's interesting to read about the various compromises they've designed into the game to keep it competitive and exciting and allowing visually impaired players to fully express their talents for the game. The goalkeepers, for example, can be sighted and do not wear the eyepatches, but may not leave their areas. And there's no offside rule.

Apparently they also tried to find blind referees to officiate the matches...

...but they are all busy in the Premiership this week.

Comments

Andrea said…
Years ago when I was searching the internet for sports associations for the blind (because I wanted to possibly register my gym with them since wrestling is so incredibly tactile that it may be an appropriate sport) I found that they cover very unexpected sports like archery, football and cricket.

http://www.blindsports.org/sports.p
hp

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