Paralympics fans learn when to be silent and when to make noise at sports for the visually-impaired

PARIS (AP) — A soft voice from the loudspeaker reminds the restless crowd: “Shhh. Shhh.”

The whistle blows.

Suddenly, spectators fall silent and even the slightest noise echoes through the Eiffel Tower Stadium. Fans pack the stadium, but at times, it is hard to tell. This type of ambiance is unthinkable in most sports venues, but especially in a sport like soccer, whose fans are perhaps best known for rowdiness.

But this isn’t ordinary soccer. This is blind football, one of two silent sports at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games.

Blind football and goalball are for athletes with visual impairments. When sensory input is reduced in one area, other senses pick up the slack; without sight, sound takes center stage.

The ball in both sports contains a rattle or bell alerting players to its approximate location. Players yell out to each other as they navigate the field and fans are required to contain their excitement until the ball is out of play. Both sports cultivate an environment unlike any other. Without constant chatter and chanting, fans’ energy manifests as a steady focus on the field of play.

Jeferson “Jefinho” Goncalves, Brazil’s star blind football player, said through a translator that he and his teammates felt the crowd is also into the game and reacting to every moment, and that they felt the energy on the court.

French fan Jade Sidot, 18, said blind football demands a different degree of attention.

“My dad and I go to some football games,” said Sidot, referring to her experiences at able-bodied games. “(Blind football) is very different, but at the same time I am more focused.”

Fans not used to these sports may feel awkward navigating the new rules. To ease the tension, a goalball commentator lets fans know they are allowed to speak: “Noise.” A bit apprehensive at first, the crowd slowly increases their volume to cheer.

During halftime and between important plays, a runner takes the blind football field with a large sign that explicitly reads “GET LOUD!!!!” Usually, cues like this build momentum among spectators who are already cheering. Here, they’re truly instructions.

Even with the official go-ahead, some new fans let their patriotism override decorum while others sit confused.

“It’s kind of funny because I think people in the stands are afraid, they don’t know when to cheer, but I know the game,” said Eliana Mason, a Paralympic goalball player who frequently supports her fiance, fellow Paralympian and goalball player Calahan Young, at his matches. “It’s silent, I’ll be like, ‘Let’s go!’ People look at me and I’m like, it’s fine, I know when I can cheer and not cheer.”

In those moments when cheering is allowed, it is thunderous. Spectators from the Netherlands agreed that when it happens, the applause is much louder than in non-silent sports.

“I have the idea that you are with them in the game when they score,” said Dutch fan Jamie Koudijs, 23, who never attended a silent sporting event before today. “We all go crazy, like, you did it! Because they can’t see what they are doing.”

That back-and-forth dynamic can also distract competitors. Jefinho expressed that it can be difficult to go get the ball if the crowd fails to “shhh” at the right time, but he also said he is optimistic that these problems will start to go away as blind football grows in popularity.

Jefinho said that as more and more people are getting used to blind soccer, the crowd will be getting used to the noise rules and learning the environment.

One element that fans come back to, again and again, is that they feel their silence equates to respect—not only to the players, but to the sports themselves.

“It’s different how they act and how they respect the players,” Brazilian fan Joaquim Mendes, 15, said of fans in the Eiffel Tower Stadium. He attended a blind football game between Brazil and Turkey, which Brazil won 3-0.

“I think the energy is the same,” added Sidot, who attended the same game. “Even though we have to stay silent, I can feel that people are still really excited to be here.”

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Julianna Russ and Gabriella Etienne are students in the undergraduate certificate program in the Carmical Sports Media Institute at the University of Georgia.