Following the completion of discussions with our insurers, it is with pleasure that we are now able to offer our disability clubs the same level of cover and increased support available to mainstream clubs via affiliation with Middlesex FA.
The purpose of affiliation with Middlesex FA is not only to offer insurance cover to you and your team but also aid us with the monitoring and evaluating of the standards within your footballing activities to help you achieve the highest possible standards.
The added benefits in addition to increased support include the possibility of applying for the FA’s kitemark bearer for clubs, the Charter Standard Scheme. We also offer assistance with sourcing funding for your club and can advise you how to complete applications such as the Football Foundation Small Grants Scheme and Junior Kit Scheme.
Furthermore, it will be a pre-requisite that disability football clubs, like their mainstream counterparts, need to affiliate in order to be eligible to participate in the various competitions run throughout the County, such as the MCFA PAN Disability League, Colleges Leagues and the PMA League. This is to help us ensure that we have a recognised structure that runs throughout all our football within the County in line with the Football Associations player pathway.
If your club is interested in finding out more about how Middlesex FA can support you, please feel free to contact Jon Whittingham on 020 8515 6904 or e-mail jon.whittingham@middlesexfa.com
Sign up as a Deaf Friendly Football Club
The National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) is offering clubs the opportunity be recognised as Deaf Friendly.
Disability football encompasses a vast sphere, with the game being adapted accordingly to the specific impairments of the players. Unlike with other impairments, deaf players, and deaf football, do not require any adaptations from the mainstream game to be able to play.
The NDCS ‘Deaf Friendly FC’ project is designed to remove the barriers to participation in football that many deaf children and young deaf people face. This is achieved by either deaf specific football groups or through the ‘Deaf Friendly FC’ project.
‘Deaf Friendly FC’ project is a scheme whereby football clubs can sign up to the Deaf Friendly Football Club Pledge, agreeing to include and support children within their existing setup. The NDCS will help those clubs who sign up through a variety of methods such as assorted resources, promotion through the media and enrolment onto courses to aid coach development.
There are two courses are available for interested clubs and coaches to attend to help furthering their knowledge of deaf football – the Coaching Deaf Footballers course and the Basic Sign Language (BSL) for Football course.
The Coaching Deaf Footballers course is designed to give coaches a basic awareness of deafness and also communication tips and advice. It is an FA recognised course.
The BSL for Football course is a one day BSL course designed with football coaches in mind and is based upon the longer, more in-depth BSL Level 1 courses run.
Although it may appear daunting it is easier than you may think to incorporate deaf players within your current club environment; you may already have a player within your club. With the support of the NDCS and Middlesex FA, we can help you ensure that you have the necessary resources available to ensure those players within your club can continue to play and develop.
If you would like more information then in the first instance, please take a look at the attached documents from the NDCS. If these prompt any further questions or you are interested in joining the scheme, then please contact either Jon Whittingham, FDO for People with Disabilities via jon.whittingham@middlesexfa.com or Rob Danson, NDCS FDO, via robert.danson@ndcs.rog.uk