Anglers with Disabilities

The new National Championship will incorporate a new format, rules and qualification system in order to enhance the competition and feed directly into the selection process for the England International Team. The Championships will consist of 8 regionally selected squads and will be administered and organised centrally on the same basis as other National Championships.

The NFA have circulated the new rules and classification system to the English Federation of Disability Sports (EFDS) and the British Disabled Angling Association (BDAA) for comments and they will be posted on the website in the New Year.

The new championship will provide a competition that should attract the best anglers in the country so that the England team management will be able to select a team based on angling ability and will be supported by a coaching and development structure. Additionally the competition will adopt CIPS classification system so that we can be assured that all anglers fishing in the championships will be eligible to represent their country.

Paul Baggaley the Chief Executive of the NFA stated that, “The feedback we have had so far has been very positive and the new National Championships will help us to identify disabled anglers at the top of the sport. As we have stated before, we will not be entering a team in the World Championships for 2006, unless a sponsor can be found. We will however be investing money in the grassroots, in both coaching and development so that we can be assured that teams we send henceforth will stand the best possible chance of winning.”

On the subject of sponsorship Dick Clegg England Team Manager said that “If there is anyone out there that would like to be involved in supporting the England Team then we would like to here from them.”

North East Regional Officer for the Disabled and former Paralympics athlete Paul Cartwright said “The feedback I am getting is that this is the best idea to come out of the NFA for a long time. This is a great opportunity to bring disabled fishing up to the same level of professionalism, and to the same high status, that able-bodied angling enjoys.