BENGALURU: A football game without claps and cheering? Sounds strange? Not to this group of visually-challenged players, who participated in Blind Football, a fast-paced five-a-side game, which is played using a football with bells. Played on a smaller ground of 40x20 sq. m, there is more dribbling and short passing than that in the mainstream sport. Crowds remain silent to ensure players can hear the ball and fellow teammates.
This was the scene at Bull Ring Football and Sports Arena, Yeshwantpur where 17 teams came together for the Indian blind football tournament organised by the Indian Blind Football Federation on Monday. The finals, played between Shillong and Tura, saw Shillong emerge victorious.
Sunil J Mathew, managing trustee/sporting director member of the IBSA Blind Football Committee, said, “They are treated on par with regular sportspersons. This is to prove that they too can play football.”
The players are trained at the academy in Kochi through physical touch. “It is difficult to coach women, owing to cultural restrictions. We are now looking for a female coach, have trained a couple and held a match today,” he says.
While the goal of such tournaments is to get the visually-challenged to enjoy the sport, it’s also done in the hope of grabbing the attention of corporates who could be potential employers. This is one of the reasons the organisers hold tournaments outside Kerala as well.
Currently running with private funds, the challenge is to get resources and volunteers. “We can’t expect the government to do everything. They give us a stamp to conduct these tourneys but only if we do better can we expect more from them,” says Mathew, whose goal is to earn a World Cup spot by 2022 or 2026.
Sticky wicket
Quite often, 23-year-old Nido Dominic’s family doesn’t know when he’s out for a game of football. This, only because they worry that the visually-impaired youngster might hurt himself. “If I tell them I am playing, they wish me luck so I can play with a clear head. After the game, however, they give me a piece of their mind,” he says.
Dominic first touched a football in February 2017, a day that is clearly etched in his memory. “I remember playing barefoot and how painful it was. But it never stopped me. Now, my goal is to represent India in football. People say it is a dangerous sport, especially when you are blind but if you follow the rules, I don’t think it is,” he says.
Unbridled passion
National player Kilingson Marak from the Meghalaya team started playing for India in 2016, and scored one point in the game against Japan in 2017. He couldn’t continue his studies due to financial constraints and went completely blind in 2012 after a bout of sickness, but still plays with the same passion.