The EE Disability FA Cup takes place across 28th & 29th June at St. George’s Park. Ahead of the tournament, we spoke to Alicia Grimmond, a fully-sighted goalkeeper who will feature for partially sighted team Merseyside Blind V.I FC. She also plays for the England Blind team. Alicia discussed her story, sharing her challenges, ambitions and journey!

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SAB: Why do you think the EE Disability FA Cup is so important?

Alicia: It’s a good showcase of disability, and football in particular, and it gives the exposure to  help get more people with the disabilities into the game and show them that there are opportunities in the game. But it also allows people who maybe don’t have a disability to see the sport.

It’s enjoyable to watch – some variations of the game are very different, so it’s enjoyable to see how things work.

SAB: How excited are you to take part in the FA Cup this year?

Alicia: Very excited. It will be a really good experience. It’s very nice to play in the final and I’m grateful for the opportunity and happy that we’ve managed to get.

SAB:  How’s team morale? Is everyone excited about the prospect of playing at St George’s Park?

Alicia: It’s a really nice venue to play at – it’s the training ground of England. Everyone’s excited – we previously won the league and the Cup. So now going into this competition, hopefully we’ll be able to win 3 competitions!

SAB: What is your favourite footballing memory?

Alicia: Having the opportunity to represent England. I’ve had the opportunity to represent England in blind football and also in futsal – mainstream futsal. Both of those opportunities – to be able to represent your country – it’s just an incredible experience.

SAB: How did you get into football and then also, blind football?

Alicia: From aged seven, I grew up playing grassroots football and then I was at Charlton in an Regional Talent Centre. Alongside that I was also training futsal, which a lot of people don’t get the experience of.

And then I moved away to university and I was still playing mainstream futsal back home. I played for a London-based team and then from there I stayed playing 11- a-side up. And then I had the opportunity to get involved with blind football and play for England!

I managed to get selected for the First England women’s futsal mainstream squad and then I had the opportunity to go and play for a blind football team. From there that I got asked to join the Merseyside team.

SAB: How long have you been involved in partially sighted football?

Alicia: I’ve been playing futsal a long time and there’s only a few rule differences. So you can’t come out of your area (the ‘D’). And the ball has to bounce before the halfway line. So in terms of playing futsal and partially sighted futsal, there’s not a huge variation between them. But I’ve only really been involved this season for the blind football.

SAB: What impact do you think the EE Disability FA Cup will have on people’s lives?

Alicia: For the players it’s a proud moment to get to play at the home of English Football and it’s the final, so it’s a really good opportunity, but I think people will start to be recognised more and provide the role models for other disabled people coming through. And hopefully other people who are watching the game will be inspired and then hopefully they’ll become more involved in football.

SAB: What are some ways you think disability football could be made more popular?

Alicia: I feel like it’s not very visible. So with the Disability Cup being on TNT, I think it allows people to see it, and it might even be a case of people don’t necessarily know about it, but they might just turn their TV on and they can flip through the channels and then they might see it, and then that might be how they become inspired.

SAB: What message would you like to share with young players, especially those with visual impairments who might be considering trying blind or partially sighted football?

Alicia: I just say give it a go. There’s opportunities out there which people don’t necessarily know about, but the opportunities are there. So just have a go. If you don’t try something, you’re never going to know if you enjoy it or not. You might actually find something you love and it will allow you to meet more people with visual impairments.

There’s a sense of community that comes from that, I guess, is great. It can be very isolating, especially if you don’t have support groups or maybe a lot of people near to you in a similar situation, so having that team morale is fantastic in the sport itself, never mind for people who are either partially sighted or blind.

SAB: Can you describe a key moment in a match where your role as a sighted goalkeeper made a significant impact on the game’s outcome?

Alicia: With blind football, communication is important – that’s a massive part of the game. With partially sighted I still try and use as much communication to help the players – it gives them a better chance of knowing where people are and they might not necessarily pick up that someone’s made a run, especially because futsal is a much faster game. 

The communication element is massively important and that can be the difference in games, because if you can prevent and stop an opportunity from coming, you can prevent those shots then that’s one less chance of them scoring.