Paralympics Fans Learn When To Stay Silent Or 'GET LOUD' For Blind Football
Huff PostTeam Morocco faces off against Team Japan during the blind football men's preliminary round Group B match. Jeferson “Jefinho” Goncalves, Brazil’s star blind football player, said through a translator that he and his teammates felt the crowd is also into the game and reacting to every moment, and that they felt the energy on the court. “It’s kind of funny because I think people in the stands are afraid, they don’t know when to cheer, but I know the game,” said Eliana Mason, a Paralympic goalball player who frequently supports her fiance, fellow Paralympian and goalball player Calahan Young, at his matches. Jefinho expressed that it can be difficult to go get the ball if the crowd fails to “shhh” at the right time, but he also said he is optimistic that these problems will start to go away as blind football grows in popularity. “It’s different how they act and how they respect the players,” Brazilian fan Joaquim Mendes, 15, said of fans in the Eiffel Tower Stadium.
History of this topic
‘I can feel the electricity’: How blind football became the Paralympics’ unmissable show
The Independent
Blind soccer explained: What are the rules and why are some players allowed to see?
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