"That's the biggest thing, being visible" – England Deaf head coach Phil Powell reveals goals to grow the game with Welsh rivals

Yesterday at 06:55 AM

As the name suggests, deaf rugby is the collision sport which we all know and love, that has been made accessible for players with hearing impairments. The England Deaf rugby team is amongst the leading national set-ups in the world, with just Wales Deaf for company as their ‘Home Nation’ opponents from across the British Isles.

Naturally, the two countries have formed a fierce rivalry, with two annual Test matches hosted in both England and Wales now firmly encircled in the Deaf rugby annual calendar. An unforgettable social is said to have followed after a recent meeting in Cardiff, with the England and Wales Deaf players relishing the opportunity to represent their nation upon a grass roots back drop.

Bedford Blues’ Godlington Road was the most recent venue for this fixture, with both the England Deaf men’s and women’s teams triumphing over the Welsh counterparts back in April. The women kick started the action with an emphatic 55-17 England win, before the men racked up their own 50-17 victory over Wakes in Bedfordshire.

The England Deaf head coach is Phil Powell, and he hopes to see a further growth of the sport across the United Kingdom and Ireland, with raising awareness of the disability sport critical to the overall growth of deaf rugby.

“I’ll be honest, I think it’s slow, we could do more. I think from us as our own sport advisor, we’re putting a lot of energy, a lot of time into growing our community. That’s the biggest thing, being visible as well is the biggest thing.”

“I think we’ve gone from strength to strength. Unfortunately, I don’t think as a whole community around the whole of the UK, it’s not as strong. Obviously, there’s some challenges within the Welsh set up as well. Unfortunately, it’s only us two nations (England and Wales) that have the two specialist deaf teams.

“The awareness in the community is growing and the engagement and participation. I actually think we’re moving in a good direction. I think the awareness is so much higher than it was when I first started, which is the most important.”

England Deaf are eyeing up another fixture with Wales Deaf before the end of the year, with plans also in the works for an exciting fixture with the Jamaican national team. England Deaf had previously played the Caribbean Islanders ahead of their 2023 tour to Argentina, and Powell welcomes the idea for a rematch on home soil.

“We’re trying to get Jamaica again. We had Jamaica before we went to Argentina, but we had to protect some players for Argentina, because it was quite close. So, we’ve got Jamaica again, which will be a good test. That’s a really cool game. We will have Wales at the end of the season. We try and do two, one home and one away and that just depends on logistics.

Aside from the Test level England Deaf senior team, the England Deaf Community team takes up an important role, as it opens the door for more opportunities for players to participate within the sport.

“That’s always the interpreter. We’ll at least get one (match), but I think the big focus this year, having done a lot of traveling over the last two years, is trying to raise the community games. So for us, the Community Game is somewhere where somebody may have a hearing loss, but their hearing loss isn’t enough to play in a Test game.

“So actually it gives our wider squad a bit more of a fixture as well. So for us, that’s the most important thing. Can we give everyone that opportunity to run out? Maybe not in a Test game, but actually they’re still part of the community team.”

Powell was first introduced to the England Deaf rugby team, through a colleague he worked with at Northampton Saints, former England Deaf player Ben Lawrence. As part of the green, black and gold’s community outreach team, Powell progressed to earn his England call-up in 2021. The allure of being apart of a national team presented Powell with a golden opportunity to up-skill his coaching abilities, and the unique prospect of leading a group of hearing impaired players.

However, Powell does not have any hearing impairments, which in a turnabout way can make leading the England Deaf training sessions that little bit more difficult. Powell is currently doing his best at learning Makaton, a form of sign language that is used throughout the world, and by the Deaf Rugby match officials to convey their on-field instructions.

“I have to put my hands up and apologize. I can’t sign”. Powell said. “It’s one of those things which through the opportunities that we’ve had in Argentina and South Africa, it’s something which I’m trying to learn. Probably my personal confidence to do it is my biggest challenge. Ultimately, within a training session, we’ve only got two or three players that actually need full sign language. So we’re quite lucky that a few of the players can sign anyway, and we have an interpreter there as well that just makes me slow down.

“The hardest bit at the minute is probably when the actual games go on. I think the training tends to be okay, because a lot of the players still wear the hearing aids until we do contact, but the game goes on, which is the real struggle. Because as a coach, you want to pass on messages, opportunities, bits of detail.

“It’s a fun, more unique situation. So, we are a bit more fortunate that we can run messages on with water and things like that. But to represent England, they (the players) have to have a certain decibel of hearing loss and some of them are only (able to hear) in one ear. So it’s knowing those players individually, and how I get their attention quicker?”

Whilst Powell gets to grips with learning sign language, the England Deaf head coach has used other unique methods to get his coaching tactics across to his players. Powell quipped that his methods were the building blocks which inspired Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus’ ‘traffic lights’, which went viral throughout the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

“So like there was certain players, more in South Africa that I would probably communicate with more, and then they would relay the messages. Out in Argentina the year before (2023) we actually, I reckon Rassie stole it from us, but we used a cone system. We didn’t have the high budget for LED lights that he was holding up. We just had cones. We just put cones out that the players can at least see.

“So each cone represented a style of play, or had a meaning to it. That works really well for sevens. It’s probably something I’ll probably need to bring back in for the fifteens game.”

Whilst physical conditioning is of the upmost importance in professional rugby, deaf rugby puts a greater significance upon ensuring the players avoid mental fatigue. The deaf players have to couple the on-field physical exertions of rugby with the mental strain of lip reading, with the likes of hearing loss trailblazer Jodie Ounsley amongst the stars campaigning for increased awareness on this issue.

“With messages, in games it is really hard.” Powell continued. “Because two of our players that do sign (rely on sign language), they are actually in the front row. So from a refereeing perspective, they learn the basic (Makaton for) ‘crouch, bind and set’.

“But actually, our players need that opportunity just to also digest. The biggest one is they actually have is fatigue from whether they’re lip reading, whether they’re having to just concentrate twice as much because of the hearing loss. So a lot of them suffer a lot more with mental fatigue, and I know Jodie’s spoken about it as well.

“Because of the hearing loss, it’s far more stimulating, then it’s harder to concentrate. So I think that’s something just to be mindful of, not over doing the information.”

Powell turned his attention to discuss the role models that inspire the England Deaf players, with the likes of former Exeter Chiefs star turned Gladiator Jodie Ounsley, proving that a hearing deficiency is no longer a limitation upon a sporting life. It is also well documented that 2003 Rugby World Cup winning back Ben Coen is clinically deaf, having won the Web Ellis trophy with a total hearing loss of one third (33%).

Also, former Bath and Worcester Warriors flanker Mat Gilbert has reached the professional game whilst having a hearing impairment. Gilbert has previously spoken out about his hearing loss, having also played for the England Deaf team throughout his career.

“I will be honest, I think Jodie Ounsley has helped us massively, having played for England Deaf as well.” Powell said. “She’s been a fantastic role model, not just England Deaf Rugby, but actually just deaf athletes. I think it’s fantastic.”

Scanning across his current England deaf squads, Powell expressed how despite having talented players in the men’s set-up, it is actually his top stars of the women’s teams that are in further contention for a break through into the professional game. The England Deaf head coach expressed how his leading women’s stars are not far off a space in the PWR, which is an exciting opportunity for further progression.

“From the women’s side, I would say we’ve got, definitely quite a few that are in the Championship level, so one below the PWR. From the women’s side, I think they’re probably closer to the elite level than the men’s. Nat Dart, who I mentioned earlier, he plays in National League 2 (West – Redruth RFC), so he plays at a fairly high standard.

There is no denying that the England Deaf players are all rugby fans in their own right, and they were blown away to receive messages of support from the England men’s and women’s senior players. The likes of England captain Jamie George and former back row Jack Willis wished the England Deaf team well for a recent tour of South Africa, as did the likes of Red Roses hooker Lark Atkin-Davies, and the second most-capped England player of all time, Rocky Clark.

“I just think those things are unbelievable. I think it’s touching, and it just shows we’re not just a side part, we’re really included. To get the England captain (Jamie George) to make a statement and put one of the most capped players in rugby union with Rocky Clark, that for me, is fantastic. For the players, it means a lot. From a community perspective, I think it’s also a massive thing. But, I think that it is very important for the wider community, absolutely.”

This is the first part of our two-part series with England Deaf head coach Phil Powell. The second article will focus on the England Deaf team’s recent tour of South Africa. Powell discussed the on-field highlights and off-field memories from the tour, and the stand out players from the 7s, 10s and 15s men’s and women’s teams.

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