Football is for All

The Football Association of Ireland might be struggling for positive headlines in recent years, but one undoubted success has been the Football for All programme which provides a footballing outlet for people with mental and physical disabilities. THOMAS CONWAY finds out more about in two of the clubs running the program, BALLYMACKEY FC and KILLAVILLA UNITED.

Sometime during the mid-1990s, somewhere among the ornate, neoclassical stone buildings of a modest-sized city in northern Argentina, an unnaturally small young boy was dribbling footballs in the exquisite style that could only belong to one individual: Lionel Messi.

His evolution as a footballer is perhaps the most documented story in modern sport - a tale of precocious early talent, seemingly insurmountable physical constraints, and dazzling success. Messi became one of the greatest because opportunity nurtured him. He blossomed in La Masia (the FC Barcelona academy) because those around him saw his potential, enabled him to overcome his own personal barriers, and encouraged his technical genius.

The participants in the FAI's Football For All initiative face challenges which inhibit them in many aspects of life. Their stories are not directly comparable to the Lionel Messi narrative, but a similar theme runs through each: using opportunity to nurture a person. In this case, the opportunity to play football.

For many years now, John Delaney has been steeped in the game. He is one of the many dedicated volunteers in a club built upon dedicated volunteerism. Ballymackey FC received the FAI Club of the Year award in 2018, the result of decades of grassroots commitment and understated work-ethic. They could have stopped in 2018, but as John explains, the club still had targets to achieve, barriers to break. One such was the introduction of a Football For All program, which touches the heart of the club’s ethos.

“I would have been aware of it for a little while - back at the time when we became Club of the Year, a good few of the clubs would have been running these programs,” he began.

“So going back that far, we said that’s something we should really be aspiring towards. At the time we didn’t have the building, we just had a portacabin, so the facilities weren’t there. But as soon as the building opened, this was definitely on the agenda. You know, we’ve always said that Ballymackey is a place where anyone can play football. But realistically, until we started this, that wasn’t the case.”

The construction of the clubhouse complex was indispensable to this project, with the Ballymackey now fully equipped to provide facilities such as disabled toilets and accessible dressing-rooms.

Encouraged by the North Tipperary District League, Ballymackey applied to the FAI last August, and the process picked up pace from there. Following the completion of a training course, John and other mentors got the ball rolling in late October, and as word spread, so too did the range of participants involved.

“Primarily, at the moment, most of our participants would have intellectual disabilities,” Delaney revealed.

“Lots of them would have Down’s Syndrome, some of them would be on the Autistic spectrum, but a lot of them would be very well able physically.

“But we also have people who use walking frames or have leg braces.

“I love it. It’s good for the soul, as they say, and it’s great fun as well. I’ve been involved in North Tipp squads down the years, but this is as rewarding as anything you’ll ever do, for sure.”

HAVING FUN

Roscrea man Brian Brooks shares the same sentiment expressed by John. In his own words, Brian is a firm believer that “the more people you can get in and around a soccer club, the better - the more reward you get out of it.”

The former Killavilla United player has forged an accomplished career as a coach, presiding over North Tipp Development Squads as well as his current role with the Treaty United Girls academy. His daughter Nicole is also a talented footballer, having signed for the Athlone Town Under-17s last spring, but this new initiative has added another dimension to Brian’s career in the game. It’s different - less serious, but equally gratifying.

Like Ballymackey, many of the participants in Killavilla’s Football For All program have intellectual disabilities. Brian, however, has found the perfect way to overcome some of the social anxieties the participants might face - laughter.

“I think, as a coach, with this program, you have to be able to make a fool of yourself,” Brooks said.

“It’s more about enjoyment and encouraging them to participate than it is about coaching as such. From what I’ve seen so far, I think the more fun you can make it for them, the more they seem to come out of themselves. So, for me, it’s definitely more about making a fool of yourself, laughing, doing silly things - because that encourages them to get involved.”

The Football For All programme encompasses a variety of disciplines, involving players with intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, visual impairments, hearing impairments, as well versions of football specifically designed for amputees, wheelchair participants, or those who use a walking frame to assist mobility.

Blind Football is perhaps the most well-recognised of these disciplines, having been inaugurated as a Paralympic sport in 2004, gradually increasing in profile over subsequent years. It is truly mesmerising to watch, with players in the B1 category relying entirely on hearing and instinct to guide their performance in a fifty-minute, five-a-side game.

achieving potential

Paddy O’Reilly was appointed as the FAI Football For All national coordinator last August, having worked extensively in disability services with Special Olympics Ireland. His five months in the role have seen him preside over the implementation of various FFA initiatives in clubs across the country, fuelled by the enthusiasm of local district leagues such as North Tipperary.

Paddy is effusive in his praise of the NTSFL (North Tipperary Schoolchildren’s Football League), complimenting the strategic approach adopted by Ursula Scully and her colleagues at board level, whose efforts have helped to raise the profile of the program and enable its rollout in clubs such as Ballymackey and Killavilla United. Organisation and logistics are essential components of the overall FFA strategy, but regardless of location or resources, the overarching theme remains the same, as Paddy explains.

“If we could bring the program back down to one theme, it would be about giving those young people with additional needs a place within the community - a place where they can absolutely excel and achieve their own potential. And having fun would be the underlying part of that,” O’Reilly said.

Participants in the Football For All initiative are broadly representative of disability statistics nationally, with the majority having either some form of intellectual disability or Autism Spectrum Disorder. Paddy, however, is keen to expand the program’s reach, citing the importance of providing access routes for those with physical disabilities and other challenges. He also draws attention to the fact that having a disability should not necessarily exclude a person from participation in mainstream sporting activity. If possible, accommodations can and should be made. ‘Participation’ is the key word - that is the essence of the Football For All program, but opportunities also exist for those who wish to strive higher and compete at a global level.

“We want to provide a pathway for them to stay involved in sport for as long as possible,” he said.

“Lifelong participation is what we want, but also in some cases to put them on pathway towards high-performance or international football in their own disciplines. At the moment we have nine international teams in Football For All, and we would see all our clubs as being part of that pathway to those international teams. There is huge work to be done. There have been a lot of positives over the past twenty years, but what we’re seeing now is new potential.”

On a broader societal level, people with disabilities continue to face significant barriers. In recent years, glass ceilings have been broken, obstacles overcome, but Paddy acknowledges that the Football For initiative remains a work in progress. Still, it’s hard not to detect a hint of positive anticipation in his tone as talks about the future. New era, new opportunities, new potential - for everybody.