Juliet England: First football Zoom-in launched for Deaf people

“People had got tired of doom,” says the head of Cambridgeshire Deaf Association (and former Limping Chicken writer) Andrew Palmer.

We’re ‘meeting’ to discuss what Palmer’s organisation, Cambridge Deaf Association has recently launched, a project the group believes is unique – a football ‘phone’-in – or should that be Zoom in? – for deaf fans.

“We wanted to create different, interactive content that people could watch on Facebook or YouTube,” Palmer adds.

To that end, the association has invested substantial time and energy in creating a professional-looking studio at their premises close to Cambridge city centre. The set-up incorporates multiple cameras, equipment to switch shot angles, autocue, proper lights and the facility to include callers who are in touch live via Zoom.

“We wanted it to look as professional as possible, and actually we’ve been investing in our video capability for some years, but this just felt like a natural progression.”

On a recent Saturday, the first live phone-in was staged for deaf people from the association’s catchment area and beyond.

“I may be wrong, but I don’t recall any other live programmes which encourage people to call in using British Sign Language, so it could well be a first. We found a way to incorporate Zoom so people at home can just click a link and then go straight to the presenters, who will have a discussion with them live on air.”

The programme is broadcast via the CDA’s social media channels – Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, kicking on a Saturday evening for 45 minutes or so. Clearly, it’s the best evening of the week for chatting about the Beautiful Game, but you can also tune in and watch the recording at a later time if you prefer. Proceedings start from 6pm (subject to change).

Hosts for the first programme were Memnos Costi and Joe Dixon. Costi is a Greek-Cypriot Londoner who has appeared in Casualty and See Hear and played football for Cyprus in the European Deaf Championships. His co-presenter is a footballer for both the England deaf side and Farsley Celtic, a West Yorkshire-based semi-professional side.

Palmer explained that, over the weeks and months ahead, the line-up of presenting pundits will be switched around regularly.

And, clearly, the project aims to give deaf fans the chance to access to the same sort of programme that hearing people who tune into BBC 5 Live or local radio take for granted.

Funding for the idea came from Cambridgeshire Community Foundation, and some 600 football fans tuned in for the pilot, with around five callers making contact to contribute to the discussion, which mainly focused on analysis of that day’s Premier League fixtures.

“It won’t all be about football, although we’re doing the game on Saturdays from now on. But we fully intend to have phone-ins on other topics during the week as we move on with the project.”

All callers and both presenters use BSL, but CDA says it also wants to have contributors who can’t sign in the studio, alongside an interpreter. Equally, while the pilot broadcast wasn’t captioned, again CDA says this is something it is working on. Indeed, it would like to hear from anyone who can help with this.

“We would love to have someone who could voiceover the sign language; we have the tech for the captions to be automatically sent to Facebook and YouTube.”

Palmer admits that more callers for the group’s first show would have been nice, but adds:

“It was the first one, so early days and I’m just glad we did have some callers. I was so busy making sure everything went smoothly I didn’t follow the actual discussion that closely!  Inevitably, there were a few technical glitches, but it was fine for around 90% of the time. We’ve also had some great feedback since.

“Just like any talk station, we’re planning on discussing anything a channel for hearing people would – whatever is happening on the day and whatever topics are hot. Potentially, for example, we could talk about what it’s like trying to hear people behind face masks. We’d love people to get involved in discussions and debates and share their views, something hearing people can do on the radio every day.

“First, though, I’m looking forward to chatting about and remembering Maradona. I’m sure many fans will want to share their memories of and thoughts on one of the sport’s greats.”

CDA already has hundreds of BSL videos in its library and will build on this content with podcasts and talks from Cambridge academics and a weekly ‘what’s on’ show previewing events as well as reporting on local and national news.

For more information, and to watch (or take part in) phone-ins, follow CDA on social media – or visit the website.