A football team dubbed the All Stars has proved that you don’t have to keep your eyes on the prize to win it.
The team, including Andy Rothery, head of UK at Deloitte Real Estate, and EG editor Damian Wild saw off competition from Network Rail in a nail-biting final in a blindfolded five-a-side football competition held in Regent’s Park on 4 April.
The winners had the help of a certain David Clarke – Team GB Paralympian and England’s blind football top goal scorer – but their efforts were sterling nonetheless.
The tournament also featured teams from Grosvenor, Kames Capital, Axa, Land Securities, St James and National Grid, with two players from each team blindfolded and the only ones allowed to score.
Clarke said: “It’s been an amazing day, especially to see other people react to being blindfolded and seeing them communicate in a way they’re really not comfortable with. We’ve seen some real stars.”
The tournament was organised by Rothery to raise money for Bushfire UK, a charity for children in Uganda orphaned by Aids.
Before the games commenced, Tony Larkin, coach of the Team GB blind football team, put competitors through their paces with drills to demonstrate the importance of communication and spatial awareness. Even running on the spot blindfolded proved difficult.
As the day progressed and initial fears of running blindfolded melted away, the players gained confidence – and stopped crash into fences, at least.
Rothery described the blindfolded experience as “terrifying”.
“Watching Dave run at full pelt with a ball at his feet and seeing him smack a goal in is astonishing. Playing football with a blindfold on is one of the scariest things I’ve done.”
The climax of the day came with not one, but three, dramatic shoot-out rounds in the final, where officials resorted to making goalkeepers defend on their knees in order to elicit a winner.
For more about the charity, see bushfirefamily.org.uk
rebecca.kent@estatesgazette.com
