SC Schiltigheim is more than a women’s Blind Football team, it is the French heartbeat of this unique sport. In the short docu ‘Blind Goals,’ Mathieu Richer Mamousse portrays this football microcosm, highlighting its evocative and precious significance, and relating it to the contemporary evolution of the female sports system.

Mathieu’s testimony introduces this significant production, and allows us to understand the lives, sacrifices and feats of these female athletes, focusing on the verbal and visual details that manage to turn football into the purest form of communication – a universal language that still too often goes unheard, or untold. 

What are the origins of ‘Blind Goals’ and how did you get in touch with SC Schiltigheim?

“I’ve been shooting a few sports stories. I focus on this topic mostly because of what surrounds it – the people, the individual and collective journeys…. The interesting stories are mostly connected to women athletes. In a lot of sports, they’re under-represented or under-financed. They usually have zero money, and put their own investment in their passion. The ‘Blind Goals’ project was born when I randomly found out about Blind Football. I already knew about it, but when I recently saw a video on YouTube I was like “wow, this is crazy”. Then, I found out about this club near Strasbourg, SC Schiltigheim. They’ve a well known men section, but on their website I also found out about the women’s team. The girls that play for SC Schilitigheim come from all over France. Just 2 or 3 players actually are from the region. Some of them come from far, far away just for practicing. They manage to practice a couple times per month. This is the only women Blind Football team in France. I reached out to them and they were having a special meeting-tournament, the IBSA Blind Football Grand Prix. They were going to play against Germany and Austria. In these countries there are many Blind Football teams for women, they’re spread in different cities. And they’ve a real selecting process for the National teams. In France is different – SC Schiltigheim basically is the French National Team.”

Are you a football fan? What was it like to portray the relationship between these girls and the Beatiful Game? And what has fascinated you the most?

“I’ve been a football fan since I was a kid. I was born in Paris and I followed the ‘poor’ PSG with Bernard Lama and Pauleta. Then, I grew up and moved near to Marseille, a different kind of football hotspot. Given my ‘traditional’ football background, the first approach to SC Schiltigheim was surreal, dystopian. In Blind Football everything changes, it’s all about the sounds, and you can constantly find out so many small details. It was just me and my DOP, a friend of mine. It was the first time that we were portraying or shooting people who couldn’t see us. We had to learn a new communication code. When you’re in a locker room, people usually know when the cameras are out. And they change their attitude. There’s a little bit of play, tension, perhaps cockiness…. We are all aware of our image. This was very different with SC Schiltigheim , it was something pure and very moving. We got pure feelings from the girls. They didn’t think about their image, they were just experiencing the moment, as usual. I was blown away when I saw them putting the patches on their eyes for the first time. They have to do this in order to reach the same level of blindness, otherwise some of them could see shapes or shadows on the pitch. It was a really powerful moment. It wasn’t sad. People were having fun, it was just wonderful. I was also inspired after the kick-off. They were hitting each other a lot. They were really bumping into each other. You need to understand that Blind Football is super competitive, but not aggressive. And I tried to show these peculiar feature in some scenes and details, focusing, for example, in their bruises”

The captain and leader of SC Schiltigheim is the voice of this documentary. Can you describe her to us? And can you share some of her thoughts?

“She’s an amazing woman. She’s blind from birth, and comes from a gypsy family in the east of France. She got her way out from there, because she wanted to leave her community and do something different. Now, she’s the leader of a blind choir. She plays a crucial role in many associations and promote women’s rights not just in sport. She’s a very active woman and has a lot to say. She shared with me that playing and listening to football means true freedom. Once she is on the pitch with her teammates, she feels free. She doesn’t have to think about canes or traffic. She doesn’t have to ask people for help. On the pitch she just has to follow the sounds, run, bump into opponents, jump and kick. That’s why for these girls football is a form of freedom.”

During the Paralympic Games, women’s Blind Football was not represented. Why do so many women’s sports still struggle to take root in contemporary society? Will this situation evolve in the future?

“I think it’s unfair and I don’t understand why. Obviously there’s an economic reason, but in Europe we live in rich countries…. We should invest more money in women sports. I think that contemporary society doesn’t completely understand that there are still a lot of problems in this field. I mean, the French Football Federation is one of the biggest moneymakers in France…. And these girls don’t need much. In Blind Football you don’t have to invest a lot in order to build a proper pitch. I honestly don’t know why they keep being ignored. Now, on SC Schilitigheim there are a lot of people in their late 20s. They share a different kind of mindset and the next generations will hopefully manage to take some steps forwards and bring more attention to Blind Football. I think the Paris Paralympics were great. For the first time, the Paralympic Games where shown on French national TV 24/7. I was in Paris, and attended many events. It was nice. Again, sport is an industry, but I think that all the countries should broadcast and showcase these athletes more. I love the Olympics, I watched most of it too, but the Paralympics is something else. These human beings do crazy things in terms of performance, and they also have meaningful personal stories. I think the global mindset is changing step by step. And it will keep changing.”