Football Victoria’s Wheelchair Football Volunteer Coordinator Daniel Levy admits that the onset of the pandemic was more than a challenge for all abilities football.
Across 2020 and 2021, the wheelchair competition barely played a handful of games. But that didn’t deter Levy or FV, who he says are now more supportive than ever.
Both wheelchair and powerchair football competitions have gotten underway after a very successful All Abilities April. The month saw come and try days held across the country as well as initiatives like Football West’s ‘Football for all’.
More than anything though, the return of wheelchair football in the state meant the most to the players.
“Everyone was frustrated for the past two years, because a lot of our players had other activities cancelled,” Levy told Soccerscene.
“They were just over the moon to be back and life getting back to normal. We had a good turnout and everyone was really rapt to be out.
“The first couple of weeks are always really tough because they’re not in the routine and some of them turned up late, but it’s all good.
“They have to rely on maxi taxis which often pick up more than one person at a time and drop people off on the way and things like that. Something always goes wrong at the last minute, but we’re pretty flexible.”
While the return is a major positive for the competition and inclusive football as a whole, the next stage for the organisers is to continue to grow the competition to a point where it can sustain itself better.
Victoria’s wheelchair football competition is run out of just one location in Keysborough currently, as there isn’t a high enough participation level to justify more.
“It’s a long haul for a lot of our players. One is in Chum Creek, near Healesville, we’ve got some that are out near the airport,” Levy explained.
“They have to come a long way, and that’s not cheap. If we were able to grow the competition, we could have a north and south competition so that people didn’t have so far to travel.”
Initiatives like All Abilities April will give wheelchair football and other inclusive competitions the chance to continue that growth.
“The All Abilities Month is an additional opportunity to get the word out there,” Levy continued.
“FV’s helping us with a marketing campaign, printing out posters that we can put up in leisure centres and things like that.
“It’s been a great initiative for us, and two of our players wrote their stories and that got published by FV as part of their social media campaign. We’re getting the word out there, but we certainly need to do more work to attract more players.”
For the players, who Levy says he’s ‘grown up with’ after being involved with wheelchair football for 17 years, the process provides them with more opportunities as well.
“To be honest for most of the players, it’s not that much about the competition, it’s mostly social,” he said.
“It’s being able to get out and be with people, spending time with them and having fun. Are all of our players diehard sportspeople? No they’re not.
“They want to get out and have some exercise, but most of their enjoyment comes from the social interaction.”
