Australia Paralympic Soccer Team
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The Australian men's Paralympic soccer team represents Australia in international 7-a-side competitions. Officially nicknamed the Pararoos, the team is currently controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia (FA), which are a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional
ASEAN Football Federation The ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) is an organisation within the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and is an international governing body of association football in Southeast Asia. It consists of the federations of Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, ...
(AFF). Since the teams foundation in 1998, they have represented Australia at the
Paralympics The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...
on one occasion in 2000 and participated in nine IFCPF/
CPISRA The Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association ( CPISRA) is an international sports and recreation association for cerebral palsy and related neurological conditions. CPISRA organise recreational opportunities, develop adaptiv ...
World Championships from 2001 to 2019. Australia achieved their highest result in their debut CPISRA campaign in 2001, beating the United States 1–0 to be positioned 5th out of the total 13 teams qualified.International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football. (2022). Retrieved from https://www.ifcpf.com/. The Pararoos are currently ranked 10th in the IFCPF rankings. The team consists of neurologically impaired athletes with ataxia, hypertonia or athetosis, playing a similar formatted game to Association Football, with smaller squads, fields and differing throw-in and offside rules.


History


Foundation (1998)

Following the introduction of 7-a-side football in the 1984 Summer Paralympic games, Australia lacked a governing body to oversee and funding to develop a Paralympic football team. In 1998 th
Cerebral Palsy Australian Sport & Recreation Federation (CPASRF)
and the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) collectively established a 7-aside football team in preparation for the countries home Sydney 2000 Paralympics.My Football. (2014). ''Paralympic History''. MyFootball. Retrieved from https://www.myfootball.com.au/news/paralympic-history. The team managed by Cornelius Van Eldik and coached by both Russell Marriott and David Cambpell lost all three games in the group stage of their debut Summer Paralympic campaign.Paralympic Australia. (2000). ''2000 Summer Paralympics Australian Team List - Paralympics''. Paralympic History. Retrieved from https://paralympichistory.org.au/article/2000-summer-paralympics-australian-team-list/ In 2001, the team participated in their first Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association (CPISRA) World Games, defeating both Belgium, Scotland and England to finish 2nd and 3rd in both group phases. The team went on to defeat the United States 1–0 to finish the tournament in 5th. In 2005, an agreement was made between CPASRF and APC, to pass the control of the team to Football Australia (FA) who were the governing body of both the Australian men's and Australian women's football teams at the time.


Paul Brown (2006 – 2013) era

In March 2006, Paul Brown and Kai Lammert were appointed as the head coach and assistant coach of the Paralympic team respectively.Australian Paralympic Committee. (2006). ''Australian Paralympic Committee Annual Report 2005/06'' (p. 21). Canberra. This appointment was in preparation for the 2007 CPISRA World Championships, which was the qualifying event for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic games. The team finished 11th in the CPISRA championship rankings and subsequently failed to qualify for the Paralympic games, after heavy defeats from both England and Brazil. Following the team's poor performance in the championships, Brown travelled across Australia to help strengthen state programs, and monitor progress of players. Additionally, Brown conducting three national camps across the 12 months period prior to the 2011 CPISRA World Championships, which was the qualification event to the 2012 London Paralympic games. Although defeating Spain 4–2, in the opening game of the 2011 CPISRA World Championships, the Pararoos lost to Brazil, Netherlands and England to finish in 11th place and subsequently did not qualify to the 2012 London Paralympic games. As part of the Australian Sport Commission's (ASC) introduction of the ''Winning Edge Policy'' on the 23 June 2014, the Pararoos' funding was cut by $175,000, with the commission deciding that funding should be prioritised to sports that have the greatest chance of success. Following this decision, head coach Paul Brown launched an online petition for the reinstation of the government funding, with over 82,000 individuals signing the change.org appeal. However, Matthew Favier the ASC Sport director at the time reiterated the commission's decision stating that the “ASC did not believe the team would qualify for Rio”. In January 2015, the governance of the sport was passed over from the
CPISRA The Cerebral Palsy International Sports and Recreation Association ( CPISRA) is an international sports and recreation association for cerebral palsy and related neurological conditions. CPISRA organise recreational opportunities, develop adaptiv ...
to the newly created
International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football O bafolopteco é maluco International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football (IFCPF) is the world governing body for cerebral palsy football. It was founded in January 2015, when the governance of the sport transferred from the Cerebral Palsy Int ...
(IFCPF) Paul Brown stepped down from his position as head coach in March 2015.


Kai Lammert (2015 – present) era

Former assistant manager Kai Lammert was named as the new head coach of the Pararoos in March 2015. During his first months within the job, Football Australia (FA) partnered with th
Australian Sports Foundation (ASF)
to develop a tax-deductible scheme to raise much needed funds to support the team, in preparation for future football tournaments.Leach, F. (2018). ''The Pararoos are the team that wouldn't quit''. The New Daily. Retrieved from https://thenewdaily.com.au/sport/football/2018/12/03/pararoos-football-world-cup/. With no funding being provided from ASC, the team was able to qualify and travel to Argentina for the inaugural 2017 IFCPF Championships, through crowd sourced funding. The Pararoos ending up finish 10th following a 2–1 defeat to host country Argentina. In 2018, the team came 2nd in the IFCPF Asia-Oceania Championship after a 7–0 defeat to Iran in the final, to qualify for the renamed IFCPF World Cup in Spain. The Pararoos went on to finish 10th in the IFCPF World Cup, after a 4–2 loss to Canada. As part of th
FIFA Forward 2.0
initiative in 2019, the FA received funding to help Australia's preparations for future international competitions. While also allowing the team to play their first official match in Australia since the
2000 Paralympic games The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was last time that the Summer Paralympics which were organized by two different ...
. The game took place on the 30 November 2019, at Cromer Park Sydney, against world number 12, Canada.FIFA. (2020). ''Australian football proudly celebrates inclusivity, equality and diversity with the Pararoos''. Fifa.com. Retrieved 14 April 2022, from https://www.fifa.com/football-development/fifa-forward/news/australian-football-proudly-celebrates-inclusivity-equality-and-diversity-with-t. The Pararoos won the game 5–0, with almost 1200 fans in attendance, being a record for 7-a-side football outside of the Paralympic Games. The game also broke the record for the highest merchandise spend per fan of any Australian national game over the 2019 calendar year. As part of the FIFA initiative 100% of the revenue made on the day was reinstalled into supporting the team. The game also celebrated the 100th match for Pararoos captain David Barber, who holds the record for the most appearances for the Australian Paralympic team.


Team Image


Colours

The Australian Paralympic soccer team uniform is traditionally the exact same as the Australian men's football team. This features a yellow jersey accompanied by yellow shorts and green socks. While alternatively for the away kit, the shirt and shorts are turquoise, and the socks are yellow. The Australian kits have been supplied by Nike, since 2004.


Sponsorship


Nickname

The Australian Paralympic teams nickname, the “Pararoos” is used to informally refer to the team, in the media and in conversation. Similar to other Australian national representative sporting team nicknames, the term is a portmanteau word combining ''Paralympic'' and ''Kangaroo.''


Recent results and fixtures


2019


2022

''International competitions were cancelled throughout 2020 and 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.''


Players

''Caps and goals correct as of 17 May 2022.'' Pararoos Squad. (2022). Retrieved 17 May 2022, from https://www.pararoos.com.au/squad


Club Officials


Current technical staff

''Updated as of 22 May 2022''.


Managers


Competitive results

''Updated as of 22 May 2022''.


Paralympic Games


CPISRA World Championships


IFCPF CP Football World Championships


IFCPF Men's World Cup


IFCPF Ranking

''Updated as of 22 May 2022.'' Best Ranking   Worst Ranking   Best Mover   Worst Mover  


ParaMatildas

ParaMatildas is the Australian national football team for women with cerebral palsy, acquired brain injury and symptoms of
stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
. They won silver at the 2022
International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football O bafolopteco é maluco International Federation of Cerebral Palsy Football (IFCPF) is the world governing body for cerebral palsy football. It was founded in January 2015, when the governance of the sport transferred from the Cerebral Palsy Int ...
Women's World Cup, with USA winning in extra time.


References


External links


FFA Pararoos website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Australia National Paralympic soccer Team Paralympic Australia at the Paralympics National cerebral palsy football teams Football 7-a-side teams at the 2000 Summer Paralympics