Rochdale Goalball Club – A Brief History

Goalball was originally devised in the 1940’s as a rehabilitation exercise for blinded US servicemen. It has since been developed as a sport in its own right and is now recognised by the IOC and included in the Paralympic Games. It was first introduced to Rochdale in late 1995 when a small group of visually impaired youngsters attended a British Blind Sport Have-a-Go Day at which the sport was being demonstrated. The young people duly ‘had-a-go’ and discovered that they really enjoyed playing it.

Over the next couple of years, other visually impaired young people in Rochdale schools were encouraged to try goalball. Interest grew, ability levels increased and teams started to enter competitions. Their first real taste of success came in March 1998 when a Rochdale team qualified for the National Schools' final.

Since those early days, Rochdale has become well known in goalball circles. The original group of players have long since left school but are still training and competing at senior level, two of them having gone on to represent Great Britain in international competition. To continue to encourage and support these players Rochdale Goalball Club was formed in 2002, funding sought through the National Lottery Awards-for-All Scheme and a ‘home’ found at Siddal Moor Sports College in Heywood.

Rochdale Goalball Club has an in-house policy, in that only Rochdale club members represent the club, unlike some other goalball clubs who seem to rely on ‘borrowing’ players to make up teams. This policy has bred consistency and a real team spirit amongst the Rochdale players as they know each other well and are very supportive and encouraging of each other. Older players help with coaching and pass on tips to the youngsters, and as the ‘club’ develops it is hoped to help some of these to become qualified coaches and officials in their own right.

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