Cécirugby: in Toulouse, the oval ball is also for the visually impaired
In ovaly, even visually impaired people can play rugby! One year before the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, a new sporting practice was introduced this Thursday in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne): cécirugby, which allows people with visual impairments to touch the ball. oval.
This world first was introduced by the Haute-Garonne departmental council, the Occitanie Rugby League, the Departmental Rugby 31 Committee, the French Rugby Federation (FFR) and the Midi-Pyrénées Institute for Blind Youth, who were working on this project for three years.
No ground game, a sound ball (a captain too)
“Sport must be a vector of integration, social ties and inclusion, which is why we wanted to give the possibility to visually impaired people to practice this new sport, with a special ball and adapted rules, underlines Line Malric, vice-president in charge of sport and health of the department. The able-bodied can also practice it, wearing a mask. The cécirugby will be tested this year and, next year, in different clubs, in order to perpetuate it the following years. »
On the ground, the players do not play on the ground, the passes are made from hand to hand thanks to a ball emitting a sound, in order to locate themselves in space. The captain of each team, who does not wear a mask, guides his players by voice.
“The referee can adjust, using software on his phone, the intensity of the sound of the ball and we realize that with the noise around the field, it will be necessary to go more in the treble, notes Philippe Laurent, technical adviser at the FFR. For visually impaired people, it is a sign of consideration to be able to play this collective combat sport and, for the able-bodied, it changes their view of disability. »