Touch Football is a sport played by a large deaf community across Australia. This is because it is an accessible and enjoyable sport, Touch Football suits deaf and hearing impaired people’s needs perfectly.

The Australian Touch Football community counts numerous deaf participants, playing, refereeing, coaching or administrating within the sport. Deaf teams and players participate in weekly competitions across the country, as well as in the Deaf Games, for national and international competitions[1].

The information below is for parents of deaf children considering participating in Touch Football.

Perfect Team Sport For Deaf Kids

Touch Football is an enjoyable game played by boys and girls of all ages. Feeling and instinct, attitude and body language are key attributes to play together, and that is why deaf people enjoy playing the sport.

Deaf kids easily join other children on the field and find in Touch Football an activity that reduces differences and provides occasions to enhance inclusion and success.

A Low Contact Sport

Touch Football is one of the lowest contact team sports in Australia, with very minimal risk of head contact. The level of contact is only around the ‘touch’[2]; and any head contact would only occur in the case of accidental falling over, or in rare cases a head clash between two players.

Touch Football is safe for everyone to play and presents a very low injury rate.

Communication On The Field

Parents have a right to determine whether their child should wear their hearing aids or cochlear implant devices during a game. Deaf Touch Football Australia recommends that players do not wear their devices during games so as to ensure that they do not get damaged by sweat or fall off.

Indeed, visual communication is the foremost way to interact with your team mates. As players get experience, game sense and instinct will become their main asset to understand and be understood by their team mates.

Communication With Coaches

As a parent it is advised that you indicate to the coach that you child is deaf before the game or session commences. You can advise on what is the best way for them to communicate with your child.

Coaches should be clear in their communications either by clear speaking with the deaf player in front of them within the group of players, or by using a note pad or small white board to explain things. You can explain and encourage the coach to make sure your child understands what is being communicated, but you should try not to have them stand out.

Communication with referees

In Touch Football, referees use clear signals at the same time they blow the whistle, which makes the game easy to understand for deaf or hearing loss people.

We advise that parents indicate to the referee that your child is deaf and (depending on level of hearing loss) may not hear the whistle during the game, so the referee can adjust their style and emphasise their use of visual communication.

There may be cases of frustration from children during a game when they do not hear a whistle or stop because they thought that the whistle went. From previous experiences, it has been proven that deaf players quickly learn how to read the game and if the above might happen at the beginning, it reduces while experience increases.

Communication Post-Game

If your child is experiencing confusion or has questions about aspects of the game, it is advised that you and your child approach the referee or coach post-game and request a one-on-one communication/explanation session.

This would allow an opportunity for the coach or referee to work with you and your child to explain any aspect of the game that is not clear or misunderstood.  It will help improve understanding and ensure a better environment for the next time your child participates in Touch Football.

You will find more information on Deaf Touch Football in the section ‘A Game for Everyone’ on our website - www.austouch.com.au.

You can also contact either:

Touch Football Australia on 02 6212 2800 or deaftouch@austouch.com.au

or

Deaf Sports Australia on 03 9473 1191 or dsa@deafsports.org.au

Generic information sheets about playing Touch Football are available in the ‘Play Now’ section on Touch Football Australia website - www.austouch.com.au.

Touch Football - A Game for Everyone!