Triumphant Wales Deaf Rugby leading the way for Disability Sport

The men’s side successfully defended their title won five years ago in Sydney, Australia, to claim their third World title in as many attempts beating Australia 20-5 in the final of the eight-team tournament.

The World Cup was the third for Deaf Rugby with Wales men successful in all three. The first edition was a four-team 15-a-side tournament held in New Zealand in 2002, which also featured a sevens competition that was won by Japan, whilst the second played in 2018, was a purely Sevens competition.

This year saw the landmark moment of the first edition of the Women’s format. Wales’ women made it a double triumph by coming out on top 32-0 against England in the final. A victory that was all the more impressive by not conceding a point in the tournament.

The results on the pitch only tell half the story of the journey of many of the players who self-funded their travel, accommodation and participation to South America out of the love of playing rugby and determination to raise the profile of deaf sport.

The men’s side’s dedication is summed up on the pitch by their inspirational co-captain 38-year-old Jon Cudd, a veteran of the side since 2006. A selfless role model and team player, Cudd’s 17-year association with the national side is full of joy, pride and sacrifice for the good of others within the sport.

“What I want most importantly is to inspire the next generation and to have this constant conveyer belt of talent coming through so we can continue to be at the top of World Rugby”, said Cudd.

“Just before we went out [to Argentina], my club, Morriston, who I haven’t played for so much in recent years because of the kids and work, just the odd game tweeted that there was a boy in the under-12’s that is there that has two hearing aids.

“His mother had put a social media post saying good luck to the Wales team, one day my boy hopes to play for you. To have someone like that saying he is desperate to play for Wales is music to my ears.”

This sums up the man well respected in the Welsh game and always thinking of others first. Cudd has complete loss of hearing in one ear after suffering meningitis and mumps as a youngster. 

Every member of the competing teams have their own story, Cudd’s is just one, with many players within the travelling party having cochlear implanted hearing aids. Overcoming adversity is something many of Wales’ most successful disability team have dealt with over the years.

“The thing with the phrase deaf is that it can be quite misleading because ultimately it is a deaf and hard-of-hearing sport. Obviously, hard of hearing is more difficult to explain. We as an organisation encourage anyone of any level of hearing, as long as they qualify to participate”, explained Cudd

“The eligibility level is set at 40 decibels and that has been increased from the last World Cup we played in Sydney where the requirement then was 25. Having come away from that tournament a lot of the countries felt that it should be increased as many had players who were profoundly deaf.

“One of our players Will Thomas is profoundly deaf and he’s been a stalwart of the team for many years. We want to encourage as many of those players as possible to participate as well as those who have moderate hearing loss.

“I had been aware of Deaf Rugby for quite a few years before I joined. When I was 18, I remember my mother showing me an article in the Llanelli Star. They were about to go to New Zealand for the first World Cup in 2002 and they were looking for eligible players.

“I had always known I had hearing loss, but it was nothing I thought a huge amount about. My mother showed me the article and said why don’t you have a look at this, but I thought I was playing at a decent county level and didn’t need it. 

“I think that was a huge regret looking back, I could have had that opportunity and I didn’t. I went to university and came back and there was a guy called Richard Hardy who played Centre for the Whites. He was involved with the Wales Deaf at that point and said to my mother why doesn’t he get involved.

“At that time, the sport was nowhere near on the scale that it is now. The huge allure at that point was you could play international rugby, wear the three feathers on your chest and sing the national anthem. You could play against England; it was a huge thing. There was also a bit of a carrot that we might host the World Cup at some point. 

“Years have gone by, and I have played with some brilliant players. One of my best mates Adam Brake was playing for Usk in Division Five. By the time he finished, he was playing at Premiership level for Pontypool and Llanelli.

“I’ve seen guys develop like Gareth John at Pontypridd. Brilliant players have played for us, we played England every year, which was a great experience, but we never had that World Cup. A lot of them around my age said we can’t hold out and quit around the same time. 

“I kind of hung on because there wasn’t anyone else and I thought I better stick around. I wanted to see this team carry on and within a year we ended up going to Australia and things just exploded from there when we had huge coverage.

“We knew there was another World Cup on the horizon. Obviously, COVID delayed things but for me the minute the final whistle blew in Australia, and we had just beaten England, it was such a close game I thought this is an amazing feeling. I wanted it again. I was quite old at the time at 33, I thought if I try and keep myself in good nick, hopefully, I might make another one.

“Thankfully after COVID it did go ahead and all those years of sacrificing not going out on night’s out, training every day, doing little bits and pieces like doing Yoga to help my back through were worth it. 

“I did everything I could to make this last World Cup because I wanted one last go at it. Thankfully it went well, it doesn’t always work out in sport, but it has for me. It has been a bit of a fairytale; I don’t think it will sink in for a number of weeks and months. It has been so worthwhile.

“No-one in the team is a professional rugby player. We have a couple of guys who have played semi-pro. Sean Miles played for Llandovery for ten years, but he finished a couple of years ago.”

It has not been a smooth ride to Cordoba though for the Welsh sides. Issues with accommodation and a lack of funding from the WRU were additional stresses to Wales’ athletes already juggling their everyday family life and work commitments. For Cudd, representing his country at a major tournament makes it all worthwhile.

“I think the main sacrifice as players for us is that a lot of us have got to work. I am a Solicitor, which is a pretty tough job in itself. I also have three young kids as well and have had to resort to training in my lunch hours and doing things as and when I can around family life”, continued Cudd.

“It does put a massive strain on you. I’m not the only one, the other boys have had that. We have players who live in England. There are guys coming from Portsmouth, Marlborough and Ipswich. We have been asking them for the last six months to train on a weekend, sometimes on a Friday and a Sunday, so they have had to stay in accommodation. 

“One guy, Johnny is from North Wales but is living in York. He has had to pay for accommodation every weekend. We have asked a massive amount both emotionally and financially from our players and everyone has bought into it. 

“What is unique about us, and our team, is we are just so passionate about Wales. Welsh people are unique in the fact that they will do anything they can to represent their country. Not many of the other countries could say that they have put in the same effort that we did, and I think you could see that in both the finals of the men and the women. We knew we were the best team and all the time we put in showed that.

“It was a perfect result. The women won all their games, conceding very few points and absolutely hammered England in the final. For ourselves then we also won all ours, beating everyone we could have.

“We had been training hard for six months in advance of the tournament, putting things in place, not always fully understanding what the coaches were saying.

“You could see that in the finals, we were such a close-knit unit. At the final whistle everyone just came together, and it was such an amazing experience.”  

 Funding continues to be an issue in deaf sport for the players despite their growing success on the pitch. A lack of support prompted coaching, fitness and players, who are all volunteers, to set up a GoFundMe page. 

The page in the short term will help stem some of the costs incurred in Argentina. Cudd, however, believes it is vital more support from governing bodies is provided for the longevity of the game. 

“I have been involved in the Wales set-up since 2006/07, so I have been involved a long time and over that time they [WRU] have offered us very little, some, but not much”, said Cudd.

“They are under no obligation to, this team is set up by Deaf Community and they have to help us, but I think over the years we have worn those three feathers on our chest and worn the WRU logo.

“It comes with frustration. I can’t say that the WRU hasn’t given us anything. On some occasions, they have helped us. 

“We have now won three World Cups and represented them and over the years I think they could have helped us more. They have given us kit on occasions, but it would have helped us if they had given us more assistance before, we went out to the tournament. 

“I do appreciate though with that said it is a tough time for the WRU with the issues of contract negotiations and there is not an endless pot, but I think I’m being as fair as I can be by saying they could have helped more in the past. 

“We are not looking at this as a short-term thing. It is the longevity that is key to this team. I want it to be going a long time after I have finished, for that to happen we need to have assistance.

“I think you have to look at the tournament to see there is an improvement. This is the first time you have had a women’s competition, that in itself is ground breaking. The standard of the players in the women’s team, particularly for ourselves I noticed was outstanding. Looking at the teams, there have been some really good rugby been played and some excellent players on show.

“For the men you have eight teams there, there could have potentially been more. We know New Zealand have had a team for years and years. The deaf rugby there is really strong, they have three provinces. 

“I think the issues they have are more with funding than anything else. I would love to be able to play them at some point. South Africa are relatively in their infancy, but still they were pretty strong in this tournament. We know there are a couple of teams in Africa. Ghana and Kenya wanted to come but again had similar problems.

“The biggest frustration I have I suppose, given I have been involved with this team for so many years is I would love to see some of the other home nations start emerging. It has been us and England for so long. My first ever cap was against Scotland back in 2007 in Glasgow. Sadly, their team folded not long after that.

“The talk is potentially the next World Cup will be in England or Wales, or a combination of both. I think for me that will be too late, I am 38 now so am not going to make that. 

“The main allure of the World Cup is that you get to travel across the other side of the World and do something that you would never do for your club. Having the tournament at home you would lose that element, but for me personally, it is an opportunity to use that to say ok we have four or three years to focus on growing the game in Europe.

“In the Sevens game, it is far more achievable than in the XV’s. You really only need to get 10/12 players together. I would think the likes of France and Ireland would be able to do that and I would be confident teams like Scotland, Italy and maybe even Spain would have a big enough player pool to get some teams together. 

“If it is a home World Cup let’s hope, it’s an opportunity for World Deaf Rugby to grow the game as much as possible.”

If you would like to donate towards the Welsh Deaf Rugby team’s GoFundMe page, click on the link below.

Fundraiser by Gareth Evans : Wales Deaf Rugby Union – World Deaf 7s 2023 (gofundme.com)