“Making Paris 2024 would have been a dream”

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In everyday life, the two hearing aids by Joffrey Tavares erase the 80% hearing loss which he has suffered from since birth. But on the ground, this management graduate learned to do without. At 29, he plays football with the deaf, at CSSM Paris, the club for deaf-mutes in the capital, which he chairs. But also among the able-bodied, in Maisons-Alfort. Since May, he has even been vice-champion Deaflympics with the Blues, the equivalent of the Olympic Games for the hearing impaired. For franceinfo: sport, he looks back on his journey.

franceinfo: sport: How come you play for both deaf and hearing people?

Joffrey Tavares: I started football at the age of six thanks to my father who transmitted his passion to me. Only, as there are no young categories among the deaf, for lack of licensees, I first played in hearing clubs. For 13 years now, I have also been playing with the hearing impaired, at the CSSM Paris. So that makes me two licenses: a Handisport and one at the FFF. But a good part of the deaf players are in this case.

We imagine that your handicap still has an impact on the game. How would you describe deaf football?

It is clear, the game is slower. Hearing people notify each other of movements on the pitch, while deaf people need one or two more seconds to take in the information. In general, the level of a good deaf team corresponds to that of a National 3 club (fifth division, Ed). In February, the deaf France team had played against the young people of PSG: we had only lost by one goal.

Isn’t it too hard to juggle between the two categories?

As we have two clubs, this involves linking the matches, on Saturday with the deaf and then on Sunday with the able-bodied. Since this year, I have been playing for Maisons-Alfort because I am a young dad and I needed flexible hours to look after the little one. Apart from logistics, there is also the question of adapting hearing coaches to our disability. Since I started football, I had coaches who made allowances. But also others who told me that it was going to be complicated to make me play because I am a defender and inevitably, it creates imbalances when I am told to go up and I do not line up on an offside because I can’t hear.

Precisely, how to communicate with the deaf?

Already to be able to practice, you need a loss of at least 55% of hearing. I’m at 80% but some have hearing impairments of 100%, or even more than 100%, so for the sake of fairness, we remove all hearing aids when we play.

To understand each other, we still have the sign language that everyone knows. This does not prevent us from shouting on the ground but it is because we are used to it with the able-bodied.

Joffrey Tavares

at franceinfo: sport

Otherwise, it is known, when you lose one of the five senses, the others are more developed. For us, it’s the visual that compensates. We look and anticipate much more.

Last May, you took part in the Deaflympics, the equivalent of the Olympic Games for people with deafness. Moreover, the French team achieved an excellent result in Brazil with a silver medal. Tell us.

First of all, I would like to specify that it was not Brazil as one can imagine! No beach, no sun: we were in the mountains, the cold and the rain (laughs.) It was three intense weeks! It must be said that we exploded the initial objective which was to get out of the pools, which France had not done for a long time. In the end, we lost the gold medal on the lowest score 1-0 against Ukraine, which was still in its fourth final in a row. Too bad, it was already a bonus for us! We have unforgettable memories to tell for later. But above all thanks to this, everyone who has been part of the team must be recognized as a top athlete in October.

Given the performance of this team, do you regret not being invited to the Paralympic Games?

To compete, we would have to have our own category. The disabilities are too different, it would be too unequal compared to other athletes who are missing a limb, for example. Ideally, I think we should do a first fortnight with the Olympics, a second with the Paralympics and a third for our Deaflympics. This would allow us to take advantage of the infrastructure and media visibility. Today, we are on different dates and places. Paris 2024 would have been a dream, but good for us, it will be Tokyo 2025. It’s a shame.

Do you feel a lack of recognition for your daily discipline?

I have been fighting against this since I took over the presidency of the CSSM. Moreover, in two years, I managed to get a little money from the town hall of Paris. It’s not much compared to our projected budget, but before, we had no subsidies: we lived on membership fees and donations. It is no coincidence that the other deaf sports nibble football graduates. Often communities do not guarantee a training ground for deaf teams or they give one on Sundays while deaf matches are always played on Saturdays…

At CSSM Paris, we are about ten internationals, we are coming out of a deaf Champions League final in Greece, but we have to limit ourselves to an hour, an hour and a half of training on Monday evening depending on the guardian mood.

Joffrey Tavares

at franceinfo: sport

I have always been told that women’s football and Handisport have priority, but even the Sports and Gymnastics Federation of Labor has more reserved land than us. We’re not going to train on tarmac either…


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