Paralympic History

In 1998 the Cerebral Palsy Australian Sport & Recreation Federation (CPASRF) and Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) decided to form a Cerebral Palsy Football team to compete at the Sydney 2000 Paralympics, where they finished 7th in their first major tournament.

In 2005 a historic agreement was made with the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) to take control of the National Team with aims to qualify for the 2008 Paralympic in Beijing.

In 2006 Paul Brown was appointed as Head Coach of the team.

On the 12 May the teams will get together for the first time since July 2005 at Narrabeen for a camp. They will be busy preparing for the 2006 FESPIC Games, where it is expected that Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Iran, Australia and China. Iran (World Ranking - 3) and Australia (World Ranking - 10) are the two highest ranked teams for this tournament.

The plan for the next 12 - 18 months consists of training camps, FESPIC Games in Kuala Lumpa, Malaysia and the World Cup (venue to be announced).

The FFA also plans to assist in the development of Cerebral Palsy Football within each state. NSW, QLD and Victoria currently have State Teams. If you are interested in finding out more information on the game within your state please contact the FFA or the APC.

Cerebral Palsy Football is played on a field similar size to a hockey field (75 m x 55 m) and it is 7 a side game. Every player has a classification and these classifications are restricted to one C5/C6 on the field at any time and a maximum of 2 x C8-s on the field. The remaining classifications can consist of additional C5 or C6-s plus C7-s.

Cerebral Palsy Football is played under FIFA rules with a couple of minor changes, which include no offside and the players are permitted to roll the ball instead of throwing the ball in.

Australian Cerebral Palsy Football Team

The Australian CP Football Squad consists of the following players

Name (Class) - State - Debut Year

David Barber (C8) - QLD - 1999 Beau Menzies (C7) - QLD - 1999 Jeremy Thorpe (C7) - QLD - 1999 Miguel Marcelino (C6) - WA - 1999 Ben Roche (C7) - VIC - 2003 Jason Driscoll (C7) - ACT - 1999 Chris Pyne (C7) - NSW - 1999 Brett Sharrock (C7) - NSW - 2005 Brett Fairhall (C7) - NSW - 2003 Brett Cross (C6) - NSW - 2005 Jamie Laybutt (C7) - NSW - 2005 Pat Grant (C7) - NSW - 1999 Sam Larkings (C7) - NSW - 2003 Marik Gleizer (C7) - NSW - 2003 Chris Restall (C8) - NSW Kevin Munday (C6) - NSW

Tournament Played in to date:

1999 Southern Cross Games Gold Medal Winners 2000 Friendly Tournament in Ukraine Finished 4th 2000 Sydney Paralympics Finished 8th 2001 World Cerebral Palsy Games - Nottingham England Finished 5th 2002 Friendly Tournament in Russia Finished 5th 2003 World Cup - Cerebral Palsy - Argentina Finished 9th 2005 World Cerebral Palsy Games - Connecticut USA Finished 10th