England’s visually impaired rugby team aim to defend their unbeaten record in Saturday’s international tournament against Japan and Ireland.
Visually impaired rugby is a seven-a-side touch version of the sport developed by The Change Foundation which uses an audible ball, uncontested scrums and lineouts and commentary from the referee to aid play.
England are playing in the Alex Bassan Cup on home turf in Sutton and hope to carry on successes at the 2019 Japan and 2023 France tournaments.
Scrum-half Aaron Fowler, 33, a physiotherapist and freelance sports journalist, said: “We had a chance to play rugby for our country which isn’t something a lot of us thought we’d ever do.
“Everyone’s been pleasantly surprised by the standards.
“We play friendlies against fully-sighted teams and give them a good game – sometimes we beat them as well.”
Fowler has retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative disorder which causes tunnel vision and night blindness, and started on the team after someone dropped out just before the 2019 tour.
The Change Foundation is an organisation which emerged in the wake of the Brixton Riots of 1981, and uses sport to help vulnerable and under-represented young people to create social change.
Since starting visually impaired rugby in 2015, they have expanded to support hundreds of players across England, Wales, Ireland, Japan, France, Argentina, New Zealand and Italy.
The sport is open to people who are sight-classified as B1, no vision, to B4, someone who can see at six metres what a fully sighted person would see at 24 metres.
The strategy has been to grow the sport by matching major international tournaments with a visually impaired counterpart.
This year, Change has set up a second club in Stockport to help grow the sport in the north and with a Cardiff Blues visually impaired team established as well, they hope to develop a domestic league over the next year.
England head coach Dan Lineker, 31, said: “The biggest highlight for me has been witnessing how close-knit the team has become, organising meet-ups and trips that further strengthen their bond.”
As a lot is achieved through voluntary work, building links with visually impaired organisations and charities takes huge effort, time and significant expense which has been an ongoing challenge for Linekar and the team.
A grant from the Wasps Legends foundation was essential in creating and sustaining the sport but with their sights set on ever greater development they are constantly looking for new avenues of investment.
Throughout lockdown, when demonstration games in Italy and South Africa were cancelled, the team took part in challenges such as a virtual bike ride from Twickenham to Tbilisi and back to raise funds and keep morale high.
Fowler added they are also hoping to build closer links with the RFU, local clubs and big sponsors so everyone can be involved in the expansion of the league across the country and the world.
He added: “It’s brilliant that it keeps growing and always in the right direction.”
The Alex Bassan Cup will be held on 23 November at Sutton and Epsom Rugby Club with an all-day bar and first kick-off at 11am.
Featured image courtesy of Aaron Fowler on behalf of The Change Foundation
