England Deaf squad look to expand

The first men's national Deaf teams appeared in New Zealand and Australia in the early 1990s, spreading to Wales (who are the current World Champions - a title they won in New Zealand in 2001) and later England. Wales and England play an annual series, which has gradually be gaining more attention, and after the growing success of this venture an England women's development squad was formed in 2011.

We spoke to Debbie Challoner, one of the founder members of the squad, about the background to the team.

"The England Deaf Rugby Union (EDRU)?˜ and its men??s team was started in 2003, and with the number of women participating in Rugby Union growing at a good pace, a women??s development team was started during the 2011/2012 season. The EDRU also provides support to clubs in the form of deaf awareness courses as?˜players will play most of their rugby in hearing clubs.

"To become eligible to play for a deaf squad?˜you have to?˜have a combined average hearing loss of 25db or more in both ears. This roughly translates to a minimum hearing loss in both ears or moderate hearing loss in one ear but can hear normally in the other. .

"The women??s squad is at present in its early days in development. The formation of the team was enabled by the support of the OA Saints club (in St Albans, Herts)?˜who allowed us to have joint sessions with their women??s squad during the 2011/2012 season. Their grounds and location were just right for us as majority of the players at the time were from the East and the South of the country.

"Once we started to meet up with each other we have all formed a real bond, feeling like we have known each other for years even after meeting for the first time. As co-founder and co-ordinator of the team I feel a good sense of being a part of something close to all our hearts.

"The only difference for a hard of hearing or Deaf player is that communication within a game will be slightly different during both the training sessions and games. Not all players wear hearing aids, some lip read and some use British Sign Language (BSL). ?˜This has never stopped players communicating and playing as a squad, and we have communicators and interpreters at each training session and all games.

"In April 2012 in Cambridgeshire saw us move forward with a demo Sevens game?˜against the?˜St Neots Women??s team as a curtain raiser before the men??s Deaf squad's charity game versus St Neots. This was a fabulous start for us as we won the game 27-15, having only had a couple of training sessions. Each player on that day felt immense pride about being part of history in the making.

"May 2012 saw?˜four of the ladies joining the men to form a mixed touch team at the Bournemouth 7s. We got to the quarter finals of the tournament.

"At the beginning of the 2012/2013 season, we were invited to join in a tournament at Woodbridge Amazons RFC, Suffolk, and five of our 5 of the ladies joined in with another team, which was very successful.

"Last season, was a bit quiet for both the men??s and women??s game, but this season has seen much more?˜publicity?˜for the England Deaf Rugby Union with the use of Facebook and the Twitter account Deaf Rugby with over 1.5k followers.

"On 10 May this year we took the opportunity of the England Deaf v Wales deaf international at a Northampton Saints ground to advertise our intentions and make people aware that there is also a women??s squad. Currently we have at least 15 players who are really keen to keep up the momentum of building the team. We are establishing a regular training ground for next season and hoping to enters some touch or 7s tournaments during this summer.

"To our knowledge we are the first international deaf women??s team and we are keen to establish international fixtures.?˜ A challenge to Wales Deaf Rugby Union to produce a deaf women??s 7??s team to play us before the next international has been served.?˜ We also would like to invite other nations to start up a ladies squad. While 7??s and 10??s will be our preferred opposition as we develop the squad, we shall be looking to play 12??s and full 15??s in due course.

"And of course, as EDRU is a non-profit charity, to enable the ladies squad to develop we are looking for sponsors.

"We are also working on initiatives supported by the RFU that we hope can be announced in the near future.

"Finally, for players belonging to the EDRU it is far more that simply being part of a team with hearing impairment in common.?˜ It is not simply the desire to represent your country.?˜ It is about a community spirit between rugby and building a bridge between the deaf and hard of hearing world.

"Anyone interested can either join EDRU or if you want more information please email either Director of Rugby or myself, "