South Shields VIFC – In The Beginning
Why would anyone want to set up a regional visually impaired football club? Choices are as follows: -
A For the love of the game of football.
B To create a little more equity in terms of sport and disability.
C Due to the individual being a little bit crazy.
D All of the above.
At the very beginning of the process of setting up South Shields VIFC back in 1993, I may have initially thought that the answer was ‘A’. However, down the years, my answer may have changed on a number of occasions until it settled at a point somewhere between ‘C’ and ‘D’. Yes, that’s right, at times I have felt that I must have been a little bit crazy to have undergone this process that has been both one of the most challenging and brilliant experiences of my life.
So why put yourself through such endeavour and toil and riding the emotional roller-coaster of setting up and creating the north-east's first and only football club for VI people? Well initially I’d have to say that the answer was ‘A’ and my love of the game of football. After registration as blind in 1991, I entered a world of visual impairment that I had little knowledge of and most of my perceptions were linked to negative preconceptions that informed me of the things that I couldn’t do. I certainly did not think that I could play football to any reasonable standard or gain any satisfaction from a sport that I had enjoyed since childhood. My negative stereotypical views began to slowly change over the next few years after attending an RNIB employment training centre in Scotland, being involved with support groups and attending the Royal National College for Visually Impaired People in Hereford. It was whilst attending the college in Hereford that I discovered that there was a national football league for partially sighted players. I also played for one of the college teams in venues such as London and Birmingham and thoroughly enjoyed the football and the banter with team mates. Sadly, there was a down side. Whilst greatly enjoying the experience of participating in the national league, it was hugely disappointing to discover that the furthest VI football club north was one from Leeds and therefore there was no representative side in the north-east. I knew that on my return home to Tyneside there would be no local facility to allow me to participate in the national league.
A year or so after leaving the Royal National College, a number of factors came together that provided me with the motivation to set up a VI football club for our region. My initial reason had been to create a facility for me to repeat the great experiences I’d had with the college team. My motivation was fuelled by the fact that I had a cousin, Paul Thompson, who shared the rare hereditary optic neuropathy that had impaired my vision and whom I believed could be one of the best VI players in the country. I believed that with Paul in the team there was a real chance of a north-east VI club achieving success on entering the national league. However, the national league was for 5-a-side teams and therefore I required, at the very least, another three VI players. To this end, I enlisted the help of the local Social Services in South Tyneside to find out how many visually impaired players there were in the area between the ages of 15 and 40. In no time at all a corresponding number of letters were sent out via social services promoting the benefits of the proposed venture. The combination of the contact letters and some networking by another cousin, Stan Burrell, resulted in the following eight players making up the first ever South Shields VIFC squad: -
Stan Burrell - Forward - South Shields
Lee Cawkwell - Defender - South Shields
Tony Clapp - Defender - Newcastle
Bob Davison - Defender - Hebburn
Mark Edwards - Goalkeeper - West Boldon
Simon Russell - Forward - South Shields
Michael Shaw - Defender - Jarrow
Paul Thompson - Forward - South Shields
So with an appropriate sized squad for a 5-a-side league we were almost there, or so I thought. Our first get together for training was at Bollingbroke Hall in June 1994 and soon after there were a number of articles in the local press including the Shields Gazette, Journal, Evening Chronicle and the Sunday Sun. One of the initial articles in the Sunday Sun had the lads flabbergasted with it consisting of a two page spread in the sports section with three photographs. We were particularly shocked at the fact that our club’s story had relegated an article about Bryan Robson, the Middlesbrough manager at the time, to a pitiful 3 inch wide column on our right flank.
The combination of the training sessions, publicity in the local media and the impending first season resulted in everyone being on a high and none more than myself with my vision seemingly becoming a reality. However, a number of factors not least the calculations forecasting the cost of the first season, brought me down to earth with a bump. With the benefit of hindsight I can now see how I had got carried away on the tide of euphoria and optimism and took my eye off the ball in terms of aspects of funding and organisation. A few fund-raisers had taken place during the summer of 94 including a sponsored joke night and carvery night that had went reasonably well. However, after discussing potential costs with Simon Russell, our newly appointed treasurer, I realised that only approximately half of the cost of the first season had been raised with just a little over a month to go before the start of our first season. A feeling of dread and panic overcame me with me thinking that I had created a dream for myself and the other seven lads that would not come to fruition. I had basically been full of it in terms of my promises and was going to let them all down. Or was I? I had come this far and couldn’t let a little thing like money get in the way of what we wanted to achieve. So for two very long consecutive days I sat at my computer desk researching sources of potential funding an writing a dozen or so begging letters. After that all I could do was post the letters and wait. On this occasion, the hard work and the waiting paid off. Over the next couple of months the cheques arrived through the letterbox at a rate of knots. It was unbelievable and the problem was well and truly resolved with the funding position going from one of dread an worry with only half a season’s funding in the kitty, up to a position of complete relief with the club suddenly having enough to last two seasons. That was one little problem out of the way and now we were ready to play football.
The first season took us on an almost magical adventure that I will never forget. Over that first season we played in venues such as London, Manchester, Hereford, Coventry and Dublin. The football was great and the nights out were interesting to say the least. It was a story that you couldn’t have scripted with a group of VI Tyneside lads from various backgrounds travelling around the country, playing football and experiencing the night life of various cities. It was like a series of Auf Weidersein Pet with football and disability added in equal measures to increase the fun. Amazingly, in terms of footballing success, the story couldn’t have been scripted any better with the chance of promotion coming down to our very last game of the season against our nearest rivals White Rose of Leeds. White Rose could draw and gain promotion but we had to win and win is what we certainly did. A resounding 4-0 win provided our club with success in its inaugural season that couldn’t have been scripted any better if you tried.
Following the success of our first season, our first presentation night was held down at the coast in the function room of the Sundial in South Shields in April 1994. Nigh on 200 people attended the presentation with a guest appearance by the mayor of South Tyneside who was coincidentally registered blind. A great night was had by all with the lads receiving their individual trophies and Paul Thompson receiving the top scorer trophy and the players’ player of the year and Mark Edwards receiving the coach’s award of player of the year.
A surprise was also in store for me that night. After my cousin, Stan Burrell (Club Chairman), had presented awards to the coach and drivers, he called my name. At first I did not move with my mind and body temporarily frozen by the confusion of Stan calling me up. After eventually getting up out of the chair, I discovered that I had been called up for my work in getting the club off the ground. Stan handed me a bag, that I was later to find to be a fantastic reward from the lads of a signed Newcastle United shirt, and then handed me the mike. Initially, the words did not flow with my mind still seemingly in the shock like state resultant from my name being called to go on to the stage. I began babbling something to the effect of thanking the lads as without them I could not play football by myself. Then all of a sudden it hit me. Standing there with almost 200 pairs of eyes staring at me it all fell into place in terms of what the adventure had been about. Of course it had been about football, but it was also about something more that transcended sport. It had been about a group of lads with both geography and visual impairment in common coming together and growing because of the shared experience and mutual support. We had travelled the length and breadth of the country together on a magical roller coaster and had all grown as a result of it. These thoughts combined in my mind’s eye and then everything became very clear. I’m still not entirely sure where the words came from but I made the following observation to the massed group of supporters: -
‘It wasn’t just about football. There are still a lot of barriers out there for disabled people in our society and things certainly aren’t easy. If by the setting up of this club then just one of the lads has benefited in terms of increased self-confidence and greater self-esteem, then for me it was all worthwhile’.
It may not have been Churchill, JFK or Mandela but I think I had said roughly what I wanted to say and what I felt in my heart. I began this article by asking the question why start a regional VI football club and provided the following four options: -
A For the love of the game of football.
B To create a little more equity in terms of sport and disability.
C Due to the individual being a little bit crazy.
D All of the above.
I had went on a journey where I had been at every option of A, B, C and D. Indeed, I feel that it was all of the above but I had eventually learned that it was that and more. It was about football, the love of the game and a little bit more equity but it was also a whole lot more in that it was a shared experience of growth and self-discovery. It was an adventure that I believe that both I and the other seven lads will never forget. My children aside, South Shields VIFC has provided me with some of the most rewarding experiences of my life. For anyone considering undertaking any such similar venture I would recommend that they go for it. The amount of planning and organisation may at times drive you a little bit crazy but it would all be worth it in the end as the rewards are immeasurable.
Lee Cawkwell
South Shields V.I.F.C – A Club Reunited
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