England Amputee National Team head coach Scott Rogers says it is just the beginning for the squad after winning their first major trophy since 1989.
The Three Lions ended a 34-year wait for the England Amputee Football Association to add silverware to their cabinet when they were crowned EAFF Nations League Division A champions.
It was the first time that England had been in the tournament's top division as Rogers' side featured six Everton players in Krakow, Poland. The Blues amputee team were crowned FA Disability Cup winners this season.
Everton forward and England skipper David Tweed was named player of the tournament in Poland with the Three Lions as Rhys Ramsden, Martin Heald, Jamie Oakey, Liam Burbridge and Sean Jackson complete the Toffees contingent in the amputee squad. Mark Dolan, head coach of the Everton amputee squad, is among Rogers' coaching staff.
Spain, Turkey and hosts, Poland, made up the head-to-head competition with England. The first two encounters saw a 1-0 and 2-1 win over Turkey and the Poles.
“It’s just incredible. It was my first major tournament, it was a bit of a strange tournament because all four nations had new head coaches so it was difficult to plan for because we wasn’t sure what we were going to get," Rogers told the ECHO.
"All four nations have developed since January and it was an amazing experience to coach at that level against some incredible teams, it was a really proud moment for me.
“It’s absolutely huge. We say to the boys all the time that we’re trying to get the point where we fall in love with our process rather than chasing results and that being everything," the 45-year-old continued. "We just want to continue to develop, it was beyond our wildest dreams to go there and beat them three teams.
"All we expected from it was another kind of progression, a step forward in the right direction. You see the trophy and the pictures of us lifting trophy which is great but which isn’t seen in that is the 18 months of graft to get to that - to say I’m proud is probably an understatement."
The players, who are volunteers for their involvement in the national team, come from an array of backgrounds in terms of their disabilities, some were born with deficiencies in their limbs while others have lost limbs in accidents or through amputation after illness.
Amid the difficulties that the England players have felt during their lives, it was a proud moment for Rogers as he stepped back during the trophy presentation seeing the jubilation on their faces.
He added: “It’s massive, when they lifted the trophy I just stepped back and looked.
"The boys have experienced a number of challenges in their lives but it was nice to sit back, watch them and go ‘you know what, these are the type of feelings they thought they’d never feel’ so that was a real proud moment as well."
The amputee team is made of up volunteers, players included. Despite the infrastructure in place with analysts, doctors and physiotherapists providing support, funding is vital to keeping the programme alive and thriving with a junior programme also in place.
However, the goodwill of sponsors and donations is paramount to ensuring that amputee football is given the funds needed. Currently, there are just four teams in the English league; Chelsea, Arsenal, Portsmouth and Everton.
The ambition is to see more teams added to the competition which will raise the profile, bring more players into the system which will benefit the national set-up as a result.
What happens next for amputee football is still up for debate but positive foundations are already put in place.
The win in Poland sees them move into Pot 1 in the draw for the European Championships in France, next summer. But the mission and journey is just beginning, Rogers insists.
“It’s the first steps and there’s a lot more to go on. We need to kick on from this now, what it has done is give the lads confidence and massive belief that we can go into the European Championships next year in June and give a good account about ourselves," he said.
“Next is to continue what we’re doing in terms of the England programme itself. We’ve got two other arms to the charity which is the league, we want it to develop and our England Junior Programme which is vital for us.
"I think about six or seven of the national team have come through the junior setup so it’s continuing to push that, push to get as much sponsorship as we possibly can to enable us to do the work that’s required to raise the profile. [There's] Lots of work to do but winning something like this gives us the platform to do that.
“It’s just a huge achievement. It’s understated at the moment, we’ve almost come home on a massive high and there isn’t much attention around what we’ve done or achieved. The boys need the recognition because it is a real achievement."
To donate to the England Amputee Football Association, visit www.theeafa.org/donate.
