Sage honoured to lead England Deaf
ENGLAND Deaf scrum-half Graham Sage will be a proud man when he leads out his country in Sunday’s (January 26) international against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park.
Sage will be winning only his second cap for England Deaf, having made his debut in the win over Wales at Fylde two years ago, but he has been given the honour of leading out his country.
“I led the side in our warm up match against Northampton University but this is the first time that I have captained the side in an international so it’s a great honour,” said the Cleve player.
“I wasn’t expecting to be made captain so it will be a very special day for me and, as you can imagine, I am a very proud person at the moment knowing that I am going to be leading out my country.”
Sage, a trainee primary school teacher, did not know that he was eligible to play for England Deaf until he had a hearing test two years ago.
“I played sevens for the West Country Barbarians and one of my friends there played for Wales Deaf. I told him I was having a few problems and that I was going for a hearing test,” Sage said.
“He told me to let him know the results and when I got them I had a hearing loss of around 80 decibels in my right ear and 50 decibels in the left one.
“He put me in touch with the England Deaf Rugby Union, I was invited to a training session and it has gone from there.”
Players are eligible to play for England Deaf if they have a combined average hearing loss of 25dB or more in both ears This roughly translates to a minimum hearing loss in both ears or a moderate hearing loss in one ear or normal hearing in the other. Not all of the players wear hearing aids or only communicate by sign language, and this has never stopped all the players communicating and play rugby as a squad.
EDRU can offer Deaf Awareness advice to clubs and schools Integrate Deaf and Hard of Hearing players to clubs and liaise with club members to ensure that players are managed correctly.
“As captain I will use hand signals for our moves but we have signers who are allowed to come on if required,” Sage said.
Sage hopes that Sunday’s international will help to raise the profile of deaf rugby in England that the success of Bath flanker Mat Gilbert, a former England Deaf international, and Ben Cohen, a Rugby World Cup winner with England in 2003 , will also raise awareness.
“Mat is definitely one of the guys that the young players in the squad look up to. He has shown them that it is possible to make a career as a professional rugby player if you have a hearing impiarment,” Sage said.
“Ben Cohen has also helped to raise awareness and the profile of deaf rugby so there are many opportunities for players to play rugby at a high level if they are good enough.
“Showpiece fixtures like the Wales match also help and we would like to be able to get a Deaf World Cup going again so the support of people like Mat and Ben will help in that.”
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