News
May, 2021
National Blind Football Series launches at The Hangar
Sunday 16 May 2021 marked the next step in the development of blind football by Australian Blind Football with the launch of the National Blind Football Series at The Hangar in Melbourne.
“It was fantastic have the national squad back together after over 18 months and to see so many people come along to the launch and experience blind football, some for the first time” said Australian Blind Football National Manager Dave Connolly. “We want to provide the best platform for our blind footballers to achieve their goals, both individually and as a team, and we believe the National Blind Football Series will do that.”
The National Blind Football Series is all about providing blind footballers with the opportunity to play competitive matches more often. Due to COVID-19 restrictions in 2021 matchdays have been delayed and will take place at national camps in 2022. At the conclusion of the Series the inaugural National Blind Football Champions will be announced.
Throughout 2022 South Melbourne FC and Olympic FC will take part in the National Blind Football Series. Over the next three years Australian Blind Football aims to have teams representing other ABF4ALL partner clubs, which includes Adelaide Comets FC, Perth Soccer Club and a soon to be announced Sydney based club. These partnerships not only provide the opportunity for players to represent a local community football club in a national competition, players will also form community connections through these clubs back in their home states at local training sessions. The National Blind Football Series has been made possible through the generous support from the Professional Footballers Australia's Footballers Trust and Paralympics Australia.
At the launch event, guests including Matildas squad member Melina Ayres, Western United FC's Sebastian Pasquali and Hakeem Al-Araibi, were given the opportunity to give blind football a try, with instructions and demonstrations given by our national squad coaches and footballers. This was followed by an exhibition match between South Melbourne FC and Olympic FC.
Mar, 2021
ABF4ALL to re-ignite blind and partially sighted football across the country
Australian Blind Football was due to launch into the next stage of development of the sport in 2020, but then COVID-19 hit.
During this downtime of lengthy lockdowns in 2020 Dave Connolly, National Manager at Australian Blind Football, talked to a number of players across the country to find out what they wanted to get out of playing blind and partially sighted football. Whilst some aspired to playing internationally and representing their country, the overwhelming response was that they wanted to be part of community sport clubs, providing community connection and making friends.
Therefore, Dave set about developing a new program that would provide this connection and opportunities for all. The result is ABF4ALL, which follows Football Australia's direction of 'football for all'. ABF4ALL aims to increase grassroots participation in football by people who are blind or partially sighted, regardless of age, gender or ability.
To ensure a strong and sustainable program Dave connected with State Football Federations and researched community football clubs that would be a good 'fit' so that they could work together to develop and grow grassroots participation in football for people who are blind or partially sighted. 'I have been pleasantly surprised at the enthusiasm of the football community to be involved and take the ABF4ALL initiative on as part of what they do.'
Having being involved in football since a young age Dave believed that once the football community was aware of the sport, they would embrace it. 'I was fortunate to be able to attend the 2014 IBSA Blind Football World Championships and was blown away by the skills and professionalism of the sport. I also experienced how the sport was a worldwide community which was a refreshing change for football. Coaches from different countries would be talking to each other outside of games, learning from each other with the goal of making the sport the biggest format of para football. I knew that as soon as the football community were exposed to blind football and partially sighted futsal they would also be “hooked” and want to get involved,' said Dave.
The ABF4ALL program will 'Kick-off' in March and April 2021 and will be run in partnership with community football clubs. Partner clubs for 2021 include South Melbourne Football Club, Perth Soccer Club and Adelaide Comets Football Club, (Brisbane) Olympic Football Club and Blind and Vision Impaired Football NSW, a standalone organisation to develop opportunities within NSW.
Dave continued, 'I'm really excited about 2021 and the future of blind and partially sighted football in Australia. 2020 was a tough year for everyone and we wanted to utilise this “downtime” in a positive way so that we could re-ignite our sport and get more people who are blind or partially sighted playing football and connected with their communities. We believe the ABF4ALL program and the partnerships that have been developed has achieved this goal.'
To support this development work, Dave Connolly has been working with the national coaching team and Blind Sports Australia staff to develop a resource for coaches and volunteers. With programs setup across the country, and with potential border closures restricting movement interstate to visit in person, a resource is an important part of sharing knowledge of the sport and for coaches to feel supported in the program. The ABF4ALL Handbook has been created and this will provide invaluable guidance and resources for coaches and volunteers. In the coming months an online portal will be 'live' which will be an additional resource to support coaches, volunteers and national squad members. This portal will include demonstrations of activities that can be run at local sessions or at home with family and friends. The ABF4ALL Handbook will be released over the coming weeks at the ABF4ALL 'Kick-off' sessions.
The development work being undertaken by Australian Blind Football would not have been possible without the generous support from the AMP Foundation, where Dave is a #tomorrowmaker. Australian Blind Football is very grateful for the support of the foundation to assist with developing blind and partially sighted football opportunities across Australia.
Oct, 2020
World Blindness Awareness Month
The month of October marks an important awareness month, World Blindness Awareness Month. During the month of October 2020, Australian Blind Football will play their part in raising awareness and knowledge of blindness and vision loss in the community through a social media campaign.
Notable days in October are World Sight Day on 8th October and White Cane Safety Day on 15th October.
Alongside raising awareness of blindness and vision loss in the community, Australian Blind Football will be promoting local opportunities from across the country for people who are blind or partially sighted of all ages, gender and abilities to play football.
Blind and partially sighted football is growing across the globe and Australian Blind Football players, coaches and volunteers want to shine the light on those with irreversible blindness or vision loss and show how people who are blind or partially sighted can continue to lead a full life and enjoy the physical and social benefits of participating in sport.
Come Play!
Nov, 2018
Australian Blind Football – 2018 International Tours report
In September 2018, our national blind football and vision impaired futsal teams went overseas for their first international tours. Below is a report on the international tours of both teams:
Blind Football
Our national blind football team travelled to Kochi, India from 17 to 22 September. This tour was supported by the India Blind Football Federation. The team took part in a two match international friendly series and joint training sessions with the players and staff.
The first game took place on Wednesday 19 September and even though India won 2-0, the team performed superbly, holding the India team at bay in the second half and even had a couple of chances of their own. With this being the first ever game for most of the players, it was a great effort.
“It was an amazing experience. The first Australian Blind Football (B1) team competing at an international level has been a few years in the making and it was an emotional time for everyone after the match,” said Australian Blind Football Coordinator (and goal guide for the games) Dave Connolly.
The second game took place on Friday 21 September and following a week of training and games the team put in another great effort, with the India team showing their skills and coming away with a 5-0 win. The team were just a finger-tip away from scoring their first ever goal with captain for the tournament, Brendan Spencer, being denied by a marvellous save from the Indian keeper midway through the first half with Australia only down 2-0. India's superior game experience meant they were able to put away chances with Australian keeper Nathan Meneses producing a number of fantastic saves. Nathan was named player of the match, awarded for his outstanding performance in goals.
“We learnt so much during this trip, from preparation to recovery, working on game plans and adjusting to new conditions – it was extremely humid in Kochi! As we became more accustomed to the conditions and worked hard during the training sessions, we improved as the week went on. I personally learnt a lot from this trip and it has given me motivation to train hard to prepare for the next challenge of our first ranking tournament in 2019 at the Asian Championships,” said Brendan.
We must thank the India Blind Football Federation and all of its volunteers and partners for running a fantastic series.
The team that competed in this first international series was Nathan Meneses (Goalkeeper), Brendan Spencer (Captain), Nathan Letts, Andrew Close, Shae Skinner, Igor Negrao (Coach), Dave Connolly (Goal guide) and Simon Kaplun (Team Manager and Physio).
Vision Impaired Futsal
Our national vision impaired futsal team travelled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 23 to 28 September to take part in a three-match series with the Malaysian vision impaired futsal team.
The team had three games scheduled against Malaysia, all of which turned out to be vastly different. Game one saw Australia participate in their first international game and it became a fact-finding mission about the opposition and themselves. Malaysia won 7-5.
In our second game the team began with a different structure to accommodate skills in different positions and levels of sight. The team started confidently, but conceded two early goals before creating some opportunities through some solid defensive work from Steffan Nero and Scott Dann turning defence into attack and not only drawing level before half-time but going into the break up 4-2. Unfortunately with the humidity and heat the team was beginning to struggle and consequently allowed the Malaysian’s their opportunity to bring the game back to 4-4 all. The team found their poise and vigour again to take the lead in the last couple of minutes, taking out an historic win 6-5.
The team was ready to put everything on the line for the final and deciding game. Once again the team started slowly, conceding two easy goals, and another just before half-time, making the task of a comeback near impossible. The second half saw the team create numerous chances with little luck, whilst our defence became extremely hard to penetrate with Simon Briffa defying all his ailments from the two previous games to be able to throw his body at everything directed at goal. With no team being able to score another goal in the second half the game finished with Malaysia winning 3-0.
“It was an honour to captain this team in our inaugural international competition,” said Captain Nick Haydardedeoglu.
“It was a great experience for the team, taking part in their first international tour. The team performed well, learnt a lot and we are looking forward to developing this group further and competing in more international games in the future,” said Coach Michael Roski.
Our goal scorers for the tournament were Oscar Stubbs (5), Ethan (2), Steve Obeid (2), Sean Brown (1) and Nick Haydardedeoglu (1).
The day after the final match saw a joint training session with the Malaysian team and coaching staff, this was a great way to wrap up a wonderful trip. Making connections off the field is as important as the results on the field. We thank Malaysian Blind Football and all their volunteers for organising the event.
The team that competed in this first international series was Simon Briffa (Goalkeeper), Nick Haydardedeoglu (Captain), Steve Obeid (Vice-Captain), Steffan Nero, Sean Brown, Johnny Boland, Scott Dann, Ned Brewer-Maiga, Ethan Scaturchio, Oscar Stubbs, Dion Kalogiros, Michael Roski, Stephanie Taylor and Igor Negrao (Coaches), Vince Scaturchio (Team Manager).
