Celebrating Braille and Visual Impairment’s new initiatives

Celebrating Braille and Visual Impairment’s new initiatives

Several celebration and initiatives regarding Blindness and Braille happened in the last few times, from NEC Nijmegen to EFDN, with the new Voy! League but not only.

NEC Nijmegen celebrated the reaching of the decade for the blind stands in a special way: during the match against Heracles Almelo the team wore shirts with the names of the players in Braille.

NEC wants and aim for all fans to enjoy football, and the blind stands has been making possible for ten years for visually impaired and blind football fans to experience the football spectacle in the Goffert Stadium.

Koninklijke Visio, an expertise center for visually impaired and blind people, is especially very passionate about this initiative. After the match, in addition, Visio Onderwijs Grave presented the shirts to auction to raise funds for sports and game materials for the students.

For this occasion the commentators from the blind stands, that for ten years have been providing supporters with special commentary, will cover the match not only for the blind and visually impaired in the stands, but also on the radio via radio partner RN7. Thanks to this, all supporters can experience what it is like to experience a match in this way.

“As a radio partner of NEC, we were immediately enthusiastic about this campaign, which is why we made our live radio report available for the match against Heracles Almelo. We think it is important that such social projects receive attention through the broadcaster and in this way everyone can enjoy football,”

Maurice de Mandt, programme leader of RN7

Also the Italian Serie B club Reggiana followed the NEC’s example and played the match against Ternana with special Braille shirts. This was their own way to celebrate the Italian National Braille Day that happens on the 21st of February, a day to celebrate the language that enables visually impaired people to read.

Voy! League coming up

In relation to the topic, a new project just kicked off this year, the Voy! League. It will be delievered by Aston Villa, Real Betis, St. Pauli, Bohemians, the Ukrainian FA and Youthorama. More information are coming soon!

In addition to that, at the 19th EFDN Conference, a blind football activity was run thanks to Real Betis, The spanish club is highly involved in initiative regarding inclusivity and equal chance, and the Voy! League and this activity are just an example.

Another initiative was carried out by Fundación Levante UD, that launched in December 2023 the fourth edition of shoes in collaboration with Timpers, a brand born after the Alicante blind football team shared the way they were able to “see” shoes through touch. The LUD IV, other than the signature braille logo, are made with 100 percent sustainable materials and colors that remember the club’s uniform.