England Deaf Women’s Futsal Team forced to raise £15,000 after FA pulls funding

England’s Deaf Women Futsal Team is appealing for donations to cover the cost of taking part in the European Deaf Futsal Championships in October, after the Football Association (FA) pulled funding from the group.

The decision, which England Deaf Futsal claim came “without warning”, is despite the team finishing fourth in the European Championships in December 2018 with injuries and “missing key players”.

In a fundraiser launched on the crowdfunding site GoFundMe, Lucindha Lawson of England Deaf Women’s Futsal Team writes: “The move by the FA had completely devastated us for we would now be forced to self-fund should we enter prestigious futsal events in the near future.”

Both the men and women’s teams are due to represent England in Montesilvano, Italy between from 13-23 October.

The men’s team face Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria and Switzerland in Group D – starting with a match against Bulgaria on 14 October.

Meanwhile, the women’s team have been grouped with the Netherlands and Poland in the first stage, with their first match being against the Dutch team on 15 October.

Ms Lawson goes on to add: “We would need to ‘self-fund’ ourselves to enable England to take their rightful place in this prestigious European Championships. In this respect, we would need funding support on an enormous scale to cover the costs for the mini-tournaments and the elite competition.”

At the time of writing, a GoFundMe for the women’s team currently stands at £170 out of a £15,000 target, while a general page for England Deaf Futsal – with a goal of £50,000 – has received £1,165 in donations.

When approached for a comment on their reason to withdraw funding, an FA spokesperson told The Limping Chicken: “Following consultation with UK Deaf Sports and GB Deaf Football, The FA’s Disability Football Committee made the decision to refocus its funding to help develop the national 11-a-side format.

“This follows an increased commitment to deaf football to formalise the 11-a-side competition pathway, ensuring there are three major competitions – a World Cup, European Championships and the Deaflympics – in every four-year cycle.”

Photo: England Deaf Futsal.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.