European Deaf Football Championships 2024: Wales prepare to surprise in Turkey

Right next to the Geraint Thomas National Velodrome of Wales in Newport, two football pitches are being used on a Saturday afternoon in late autumn.

One hosts a closely contested cup tie between Liswerry FC and Clwb Cymric, a match that is noisy and boisterous on and off the pitch.

The other has a training session that seems incredibly quiet, but to those who can read sign language it is every bit as loud.

Wales Deaf Football are holding their first training camp since announcing their squad for the 2024 European Deaf Football Championships in Turkey.

The effort is clear to see as 2024 is going to be the biggest year in the history of deaf football in Wales.

'Futsal was as big as we could get'

An online meeting in February 2023 helped pave the way for the changing fortunes of deaf football in Wales.

Adey Blake, chairman of the Wales Deaf Football Association, said: "We started this journey from a Zoom session. Just four of us - me, Owain James [assistant coach], Stuart Denmead [manager] and Michael Thomas [kitman] - all deaf expect for me.

"When we proposed starting this 11-a-side team we were told that a futsal team was as big as we could get.

"Apparently there weren't enough deaf Welsh people who wanted to play for Wales.

"But for our first training camp we had over 25 people turn up.

"So, from being told that we couldn't raise more than six or seven players this was a big, big coup."

Manager Stuart Denmead and the players communicate using British Sign Language (BSL)

'I'm strict, I want it to be proper football'

In nine months they have gone from training on a parks pitch in Cardiff to being given access to the FAW's Dragon Park training centre.

In the months since, Wales have not been beaten.

First, they defeated a Scotland side that had been together for six years, winning 2-0.

"We had over 350 fans at the game, a record crowd for a home deaf international. It was unbelievable and to get the result was even better," said Blake.

Wales followed this with a 2-2 draw against England in Ebbw Vale and a 2-1 win over Republic of Ireland in Dublin.

Because England were preparing to play in the World Championships and Ireland have been competing at world level since the 1980s, Wales' results will have surprised many, but to those associated with the team it has not been a complete shock.

From the beginning the intention was to put together a Wales team that had some quality.

"I'm strict, I want it to be proper football," said manager Denmead, a former semi-professional player with extensive coaching experience in deaf football in England.

"We've got the right people in the backroom staff, and we've become a family, a very close family as a football team."

Assistant manager Harry Allen is a former Great Britain Deaf player and the brother of Swansea City's former Wales international Joe Allen.

"We've come quite a long way since we started," said Harry. "I've been impressed.

"The expectation is that players play week in, week out. Stuart has encouraged players to sign for clubs.

"We're really pleased with where the players are."

Wales will be competing at the 10th European Deaf Men Football Championships in Izmir, Turkey from 1-14 June 2024

Sam Evans, a player for Afan United in the South Wales Alliance League, said: "I've been with some of these players for around 10 years, so we've got a good understanding.

"Some new players have become involved, they're getting used to the whole set-up, but we're certainly getting there."

'The biggest fight of our lives'

Apart from a determination to build a competitive side on the pitch, there was a resolve for the personnel around the team to be predominantly deaf.

"Previously a lot of the feedback from the players and coaching staff was that communication was a struggle," said Blake.

"The players had to adapt to the hearing coaches and other people around, rather than vice versa.

"This is why Wales Deaf Football hadn't really progressed over the last 20 years.

"The deaf community does have that fear of trusting the hearing community because deaf people have always felt - and still do - the discrimination and the non-accessibility for the deaf community from the hearing community.

"Everywhere they go they feel dominated by hearing people, so this is an escape for the deaf community and it's a safe area.

"So, the more deaf people we have [coaching and support staff], that it's deaf led and deaf run, the more deaf people are going to embrace it."

If Wales improve in 2024 at a similar rate to the development since their inception, they could spring a huge surprise at the EuroDeaf tournament in June.

"I think we have the players to go far, but we are conscious that we've just started out," said Allen, while Evans added: "We're going to Turkey knowing we're the underdogs, but we'll certainly be giving it the biggest fight of our lives."

Blake puts the rapid development and its significance into perspective.

"To think where we came from, we often pinch ourselves to think that by next summer we will be travelling to a European Championship is unbelievable," he said.

"We won't simply be representing the FAW, we'll be representing deaf people in Wales."

Wales Deaf Football squad:

Brett Coleman (Bristol Deaf), James Crellin (Hull Deaf), Tom Denyer (St Albans Deaf), Mahamadou Drammeh (St Athan), Sam Evans (Afan Utd), Kyle Fraser (Radcliffe Deaf), Jack Griffiths (Bristol Deaf), Sean Hill (Afan Utd), Josh Hughes (Croesyceiliog Athletic), Johnathan Jayne (Afan Utd), Nicholas Lewis (Radcliffe Deaf), Adam Llewellyn (Afan Utd), Miles Lloyd (Radcliffe Deaf), Wez Pooley (Debenham), Mathew Powe (Afan Utd), Mitchell Price (Ebbw Vale), Dylan Roberts (Llanrug Utd), Ifan Roberts (Bristol Deaf), Tom Sheppard (Cilfynydd), Dillon Sizer (Johnston Town), James Taylor (Afan Utd), Wesley Thomas (Newhaven Deaf), Cory Thompson (Ebbw Vale), Craig Williams (Afan Utd), Josh Wood (St Athan)