Sean Noone: The path to securing the first televised Deaf football match!

Watch the first Deaf football match broadcast on mainstream TV: Farsley Celtic Deaf FC Vs. St. John’s Deaf FC!
Kick off at 2:40pm – live on BT Sports on Sunday 12th June 2022

If you aren’t a subscriber, it’s also available at facebook.com/btsport but without subtitles.

Let me introduce myself, I am Sean (Sign name – Afternoon).

I am Head of Competitions for England Deaf Football (11-a-side). I am the one who is in charge of the league and cup games throughout the season.

The role covers a number of areas which include: liaising with the Football Association (FA), communicating with club secretaries, making sure every match goes ahead, making sure everyone follows and the rules, dealing with issues from clubs’ matches, updating the results, following up on referees, transferring players from club to club, registering new players, updating the system on the FA’s website, funding opportunities, arranging workshops for clubs, and sadly, the biggest challenge is dealing with amount of criticism from the players, fans and some of clubs… and much more!

That may sound like an easy job but it certainly isn’t! Sometimes I have to stay awake until midnight or 1am, early morning or over the weekend to do all the EDF work, even though I have a full time job myself and referee during the weekdays, evenings or the weekend (Yes, I am a qualified FA Referee).

But I’m not complaining because I want Deaf football to move to the next level and be recognised by society.

Most people think the Head of Competitions just set a date of the game, book a pitch and that’s it. They did not realise there is lots and lots of work to do behind the scenes. Especially when this role is a completely voluntary role. As with all EDF officials, they all are also volunteers as well.

Anyway, on the weekend of Saturday 17th June and Sunday 18th June 2021. I stayed home due to self-isolation. I was really gutted as I was meant to be at St. George’s Park that weekend after being invited by the FA after they recognised my hard work in Deaf football. I watched the FA Disability Cup on the BT Sports channel. That was an excellent way to show their abilities and how talented those sportspersons are.

Quite a lot of people texted/FaceTimed me with things like, “Imagine EDF’s final at St. George’s Park and being on TV?” as a joke.

I laughed and thought “Yeah, that would be awesome to have Deaf football live on the TV, but that would not be straightforward, obviously!”.

A few days later, that started to bother me and I started to talk to my friends. Some of them said to go ahead and do it. Some of them also said not to do it as they were worried about my wellbeing, as they have seen how worn out I am after working for countless hours and hours on England Deaf Football, even though no one knows what I am doing behind the scenes.

That got me into a dilemma and I finally decided to send an email to the FA to see if it was possible to have Deaf football for part of that weekend in 2022.

At first they said they loved the idea but it’d be difficult due to resources, timing, etc. I responded with all the evidence for why we should show Deaf football on the TV.

After countless emails, virtual meetings, providing evidence… they finally agreed to having Deaf football as part of that weekend… What?! They actually said that?! Yes, they did!

I felt over the moon because they agreed to having Deaf football on the TV to raise awareness of Deaf football. That was a dream for me after all the hard work with them.

I started planning around a year ago, before the season 2021/2022 started, but we were not allowed to announce anything due to the agreement between the FA, Media company and BT Sports.

It was a challenge to keep this quiet for months and months. I decided to choose a League pathway pathway to the final at St. George’s Park, instead of using EDF Challenge & Plate Cup.

• The reason I chose the league is because:-
• We could only feature one match, at the cups we have two matches (EDF Challenge & Plate Cups). I can’t choose one and leave the other one out of it.
• League is more exciting as all clubs fight throughout the season to secure the first or second place where they face each other at play off to secure the final to become EDF League Champion.
  League final is just one match.
• I feel the league makes more sense for the final at the St. George’s Park.

When the news finally broke in the Deaf community. I received lots of texts from people asking me how I did it?! That is like a dream for Deaf footballers and clubs to play on pitch at the St. George’s Park, not just that but being broadcasted live on television on a high profile channel (BT Sports).

It won’t just be a one-off but it’s been agreed that it will happen for the next 3 years, which is a positive for Deaf football!

When we agree to secure the televised final, that did not mean my job was done.

I attended a lot of meetings such as steering meetings with the FA, meeting the media team, one-on-one meetings with the other media team, meetings with clubs, and many more.

My emails have been busier every day since this started. I have approximately 20 different people to communicate with, and sometimes I lose track of who I am speaking to but manage to get back on track at the end. That has been a challenge, indeed!

The FA has been excellent with us, they met my needs such as booking a registered BSL interpreter (RSLIs), happy to meet those suitable for me and many more. They are very supportive and have worked brilliantly with us as a team.

Thankfully, some wonderful EDF officials have been involved as well to support me, such as:-

• Jennifer Lynch – she delivered Deaf awareness training to the FA, BT Sports, FA’s Volunteers, where they all will make sure the fans and clubs have an excellent day at St. George’s Park for the EDF League final.
• Matthew Durant – He is the guy behind the website and social media. He updates the latest news on EDF website and social media, to allow fans to ask questions or buy tickets or know what is ongoing throughout the season and on the day as well
• Zeon Campbell-Nottage – He is EDF’s official photographer on the day, he is going to capture lots of great actions for players to remember their special day.
• Phil Gardner helped to secure Deaf match officials for this day, which means everyone will watch a match with full Deaf people on the pitch. That will shown what we all made of. We will have a Deaf referee who will be in charge of the game with two assistant referees and the fourth official who is also Deaf, FA qualified referees and they all are sign language users.
• Not just that but all EDF officials have done a lot more than that behind the scenes as well, such as focusing on their own area such as development, account, youth and futsals.

On 19th March 2022, we hosted the League semi final at Sheffield, we witnessed St. John’s Deaf FC win against Washington Deaf FC by 5-1 (After Extra Time/AET) and in the afternoon game, Farsley Celtic Deaf FC has fought back to beat Barnet Deaf FC by 3-2.

Which means St. John’s Deaf FC will face Farsley Celtic Deaf FC at St. George’s Park to crown the EDF League champions for 2021/2022.

On that day, we will make history by first ever Deaf football match live on mainstream channel, BT Sports! Of course, I am privileged to see that happen after all the hard work we did!

Now, we are approaching the league final. My main aim is to raise the profile of Deaf football to the mainstream as I believe there are lots of remarkable players who deserve to get recognised for their hard work as players for their clubs, as well as the clubs themselves.

I am extremely tired of seeing Deaf football either being unheard or not seen in the mainstream. Every time I speak to people about Deaf football, people often think there are low abilities in Deaf football. We know there is a high level and players have the same abilities as others, but the recognition is a problem…

I know that my job does not end here.

TV details:
Farsley Celtic Deaf FC Vs. St. John’s Deaf FC
Kick off at 2:40pm – live on BT Sports on Sunday 12th June 2022

Tickets to see the game live are sold out.

If you aren’t a subscriber, it’s also available at facebook.com/btsport but without subtitles.

EDF Website: https://englanddeaffootball.co.uk

Contact details:
Sean Noone – Head of Competitions – headofcompetitions@englanddeaffootball.co.uk