'Now we have a chance to become the best in the world'

It is a few days before the start of the Blind European Football Championships in Hereford, and England forward Owen Bainbridge raps the table to emphasise a point.

“My aim, by a week on Saturday, is to have a gold medal,” said the 25-year-old from Darlington.

“We have to think like that, but there is a lot of work to be done. There are six games between now and winning the final.

“The fitness is there, the strength is there, and there is a lot of work being done on team cohesion.

“There is no reason why we can’t but it is just about doing it.”

Bainbridge is part of an England squad who know that a gold or silver medal at the Euros will secure a place at the 2016 Paralympic Games.

A summer trip to Rio de Janeiro under the Great Britain flag ought to be enough motivation for any player but the set-piece specialist, who has 35 caps, has a personal score to settle.

“I missed out on the World Cup in 2010, but I had only recently come into the squad and only had three caps, so it wasn’t a big shock,” he said.

England's Owen Bainbridge

“But then in the lead-up to London 2012 I did the cartilage in my knee, and that put me out of selection. That was hard to take.”

“So I’ve already missed one Paralympics, and it would break my heart to miss another one.

“So let’s get this job done first, and then we think about the Paralympics.”

Bainbridge likes to talk about doing a job, and he means it quite literally.

Since 2013 Football Association funding has allowed the England squad to train as professionals, and the impact on the players has been significant.

“People take it more seriously when you say ‘I have a football contract’ to ‘I play football’,” said Bainbridge.

“We are full-time athletes. Over the last couple of years we have had more international fixtures than ever, the domestic league is getting better and stronger, so I think this is the best I have seen it.  

He added: “The FA has put money into the sport, and it has given us that opportunity to push on and try and be the best team in the world.

England head coach Jon Pugh at a training camp earlier this year

“We don’t have to work because we play football, we train, we work hard, and hopefully if everything comes off right, we get the results that we want.

“I know what I want my mate to do, and he knows too. It just flows a bit more smoothly.”

Blind football is a 5-a-side game, played on outdoor 3G pitches, with sighted goalkeepers and a ball containing ballbearings that make its movements audible.

England are a fit, fast and skilful side, and at the centre of their improvement is Jon Pugh, a former goalkeeper who took over as head coach in 2014 after working with the team for years.

“We are all very fond of him. And it’s a trust thing as well – the team is the way it is because we trust each other,” said Bainbridge

“We have lost games together, and now we have won a lot of games together.”

Bainbridge was born with congenital glaucoma and lost what little vision he had at six.

“It’s not something that we discuss. Everyone is blind here, and that’s the way it’s taken. There’s no hang-ups about it … no-one’s bothered.”

He began playing blind football “by chance”.

“I was at New College Worcester and started training with some of the lads from Worcester University, playing in their league.

“Then I got a place at the Royal National College for the Blind [in Hereford] and joined their academy.

“It did a lot for me. It was that constant football, high-quality coaching, and Pughy was here too. [Assistant coach] Adam Bendall was also here, so I was getting coached by the best all the time, twice a week, while also continuing my studies.”

Bainbridge studied and qualified in sports massage but is dedicated to playing for England.

“I won my first cap at 19 but the patriotism is still there – I get the same feeling of pulling on an England shirt now as I did then.”

England Blind in training

He feels blind football is starting to be taken more seriously

“People are starting to recognise the game a bit more. We are selling out every single home game here in Hereford,” he said.

“It is not just something people go to watch because they care.

“They go to see it because you want to see something that people work very hard at, and give their lives to, to try and become as elite and professional as they possibly can.

“They can expect us to give everything, and hopefully see the results that we want everyone to see.”

And then Bainbridge raps the table one more time.

“I feel very positive, and I don’t like it because I never want to be complacent.

“But if we give everything we have got, and do what we have been told, then we have a chance.”