Chicken Chat: Meet Deaf footballer Daniel Hogan

Posted on October 23, 2015 by



The Chicken has left his laptop on and given you the opportunity for sneaky peek into his messages.

Top of the inbox is Deaf Footballer Daniel Hogan. Hogan is one of the most decorated athletes in deaf football. He’s amassed a collection of honours including 11 domestic honours as well as winning the FA Futsal Cup which included hearing teams and a silver medallist at the European Deaf Championships

The Chicken got chatting to him about deaf football and you can have sneaky peek at what they said.

The Chicken: You’re well known as being one of Britain’s best deaf footballers. What’s it been like to represent your country?

Daniel Hogan: It’s been great playing with all the other brilliant deaf players. I played for Great Britain as well as England, it’s the highest level you can go in deaf football. I’ve always liked to go up against the best deaf players in Europe and the world.

Screen Shot 2015-10-22 at 15.24.00The Chicken: I know this one will be tricky to answer – but if you had the choice, imagine you had once more game to play, would it be for GB or England? … or Fulham?

Daniel Hogan: Oh my god! You have certainly put me on the spot!

I have had great experiences with both GB and England, both good and bad. I guess it would be dependent on who each team was playing against as I would want to be against the better team or a team I have yet to play against!

Haha! I honestly couldn’t choose, can I say both?!

The Chicken: Course you can, you complete softy! You’ve played against a lot of opposition but which country would you say had given you the hardest game. Who were the tough guys of world deaf football?

Daniel Hogan: Hang on! Thinking about it now, I would probably choose England to play my last game with, simply because of the money issues.
There was never any pressure or stress to raise money so I could concentrate solely on training and playing to the best of my ability.

The Chicken: We’ll come back to the money in a bit! So who are the toughest opposition?

Daniel Hogan: My toughest opposition I would probably have to say France, who beat us 2-1 in the 2007 European Championship Final in Portugal.

That was a tough game played on a pretty hot day, I remember being closely marked!

Daniel Hogan FulhamThe Chicken: So you like to play for England and you hate the French? Who would have thought it. Just kidding, I know you didn’t say that. Who is the best player you’ve played alongside and why?

Daniel Hogan: Haha! I have played with many great players, the best player that I have played alongside is…

The Chicken: Yes…

Daniel Hogan: So many to choose from playing with Doncaster, Fulham, England and GB.

The Chicken: It’s a tough one but I’m going to have to press you. Don’t be a Chicken. That’s my job.

Daniel Hogan: Haha!

I have to go for John Atkinson for this one who’s actually a brilliant goalkeeper as well as a outfield player. We have always linked up so well in both football and Futsal.

The Chicken: I knew you would mention a goalkeeper! No one is as good as you on the pitch, eh Daniel!

Daniel Hogan: We have played together for years so we know each other’s game so well.

The Chicken: What’s been the best moment for you so far then as a footballer?

Daniel Hogan: My best ever moment would have to be beating St Johns 5-0 in the British Deaf Football Cup Final in Cardiff in my comeback season after a serious knee injury. I played as a centre back and I’m normally a forward. My aim that that season was to play more games than I missed, so ending the season that way was a bonus!

The Chicken: Is there a bit of rivalry between Fulham and St Johns? Bit of needle, you know, nothing serious but..

Daniel Hogan: I like playing against St Johns who have always had a strong team. They have been my rivals for many years with both Doncaster and Fulham. It’s a healthy rivalry which all good teams have with each other.

I choose that as a best memory because I wasn’t sure I would be able to be involved in games or finals like that after my serious injury.

The Chicken: Injury isn’t nice. Was it a dark place?

Daniel Hogan: No, it wasn’t nice at all. It happened less than a month before the European Deaf Championships in Denmark. I was devastated.
It took me about 18 months to make a full recovery.

There were moments where I thought I wouldn’t be able to play at such a high level in deaf football again. I always tried to keep positive and do all the rehab work to give myself every chance to be able to play again. Thankfully the hard work paid off when I was able to play for Fulham again.

The Chicken: Congratulations on getting through it. What’s the state of British Deaf Football at the moment?

Daniel Hogan: Football wise, the number of strong teams is lower than before. In all honesty it’s usually Fulham, Doncaster and St Johns that are favourites for the English Deaf Football Cup.

In the British Deaf Football Cup, you could only probably add Glasgow and Belfast to that list of favourites to lift the trophy.

Daniel Hogan: The stronger players in the weaker sides tend to go to the bigger clubs, making the weaker sides even weaker. That is not so great for the weaker clubs trying to improve each season.

Futsal wise, we are improving I think. Because Futsal is played with 5 players, there are a lot more stronger teams, making a lot more competition which is great to see.

A Futsal squad for a tournament is usually 12 players so players have more chance of playing and improving compared to football.

The Chicken: Would you like to see an England Deaf Team play 11-a-side because they only play Futsal at present? You referred to it earlier on when you said with England you had no funding worries but GB is often player funded.

Daniel Hogan: I would love to see a England and GB team both not having any funding worries!

It’s been something GB players have reluctantly accepted and just got on with it. The quicker we were able to raise the money, the less worries we would have. With England, that was never the case.

The Chicken: So what’s next for you?

Daniel Hogan: I actually retired from football last year due to my knee getting bad. It would take me longer to recover from games and I would have a stiff knee for a few days at least. I went for an MRI near the end of last season and was told I had more cartilage damage which explained why it took me longer to recover from games.

Daniel Hogan: Was told that if I was to manage to continue, I would need a knee replacement operation in a number of year. It was all dependant on how much I played.

As it was getting worse, I made the hasty but hard decision to retire to protect my knee.

The Chicken: Sensible Daniel, sensible. Is coaching on the agenda?

Daniel Hogan: Towards the end of last season I played a few games to help Fulham out and my knee wasn’t too bad. So I’ve decided to come back and just play a bit for Fulham!

The lure of playing again was just too strong! I just have to manage myself better this time around.

But once I can’t play anymore, I would like to spend more time coaching and maybe even be the manager or coach for Fulham and maybe England and GB one day!

The Chicken: I hope you do too. Good luck this season and I hope you manage to avoid the operating table! Thanks for the chat.

Interview by Andy Palmer.

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Posted in: Andy Palmer, Chicken Chat