Ixworth footballer Harry MacDonald has been making an impact on the international scene with England
‘I felt like they didn’t want to talk about it, even though I had the ability, I was overlooked...’
Ixworth-based Harry MacDonald can forever say he is an England international in the sport he loves. A statement less than 0.01 per cent of the population can boast.
If you crop that already minute figure down to England internationals who have won a silver medal on the world stage, you will still see Harry’s name.
Harry and his England team-mates were agonisingly close to winning the IBSA Partially Sighted Futsal World Championships last month, losing 6-2 to favourites Ukraine in the final.
Despite the obvious heartbreak of falling at the final hurdle, Harry is thankful he is able to embrace the sport he was shunned away from throughout his time at school, and provide opportunities to kids in similar predicaments to realise their dreams.
Nystagmus is an eye condition which is medically diagnosed as: involuntary (or some cases, voluntary) eye movement acquired in infancy or later in life, that may result in reduced or limited vision. Due to the involuntary movement of the eye, it has been called ‘dancing eyes’.
Harry has struggled with Nystagmus since birth, which he says has caused him numerous problems throughout his life.
“It lowers my vision a lot and at night time I particularly struggle,” he said.” It’s already closed a lot of doors as there are certain career paths I can’t do.
“At school it was especially hard when people were learning to drive as I couldn’t.”
Whilst at school, he believes teachers shied away from his disability and felt particularly left out in sports.
“I felt like they didn’t want to talk about it, even though I had the ability, I was overlooked,” he said. “It’s a touchy subject and I don’t think my school wanted to address it head on.”
Harry possessed the natural talent with the ball at his feet, but felt he could not find a club which would accommodate Nystagmus.
Fortunately, a single call was about to change his life forever.
“I was looking for a local club when Abigail Saxton, who is a coach from D4S, called and invited me down to play for them and I really enjoyed it. rom there, I went to an England Talent Trial day.”
D4S (Disability for Sport) are a pan disability sports organisation based in Colchester which caters to people with all kinds of disabilities, ranging from visual impairments to Tourettes.
“ I was successful and got invited to a six-week trial where I trained once a week with the final one being in Cambridge,” he explained.
After weeks of impressing people at the programme, Harry admittedly thought he blew his chances of joining the England team at the final stage.
“I was terrible! I thought that was it. But the coaches said to me that I shouldn’t compare my performances to other people as I was one of the only ones there with a visual impairment,” he said.
“When I found out I was successful, I had such a confidence boost.”
After years of being shunned, the 20-year-old was now at the pinnacle of sport, as he was invited to train with the England Senior Visually Impaired squad in preparation for the upcoming European Championships.
Not only did he train with the squad, he was on a plane to Georgia ready to face the best Europe had to offer.
In just his second game, he managed to bag a hat-trick in a 28-0 win over the hosts in Tblisi and walk away with the match ball.
“It was brilliant and such a good experience in a tournament we came third in overall,” he said.
Harry finds that being in a team with people with a similar disability has helped him massively, and states it is better than being in a regular team.
“In a more mainstream team, if you do something wrong like misplace a pass everyone frowns and gets on your back,” he explained.
“But when you’re with people who know what it’s like to be you, you find that you stick together more.”
That camaraderie guided England through to the final of the IBSA Partially Sighted Football World Championship.
Harry recounts the agony of missing out on a world title as they fell victim to a 6-2 loss against Ukraine.
“We felt like it was our time,” he said. “They were the tournament favourites as they win the majority of trophies and we hoped that their luck would run out. But they were incredible and unfortunately it wasn’t to be.”
Away from England duties, Harry and his partner Millie have set up a company called ‘Anyone Can’ which is a pan disability organisation which provides sporting activities which are adapted to help those with disabilities.
The inspiration behind it, Harry says, is from the lack of opportunities he had whilst growing up.
“I didn’t think there was enough representation for disabled sports,” he said. “We’ve done a few events and we’ve had a really positive response from the parents and kids.
“It’s open to everybody whether abled or disabled, to give people a taste on what it’s like to have a disability.”
Harry also recently came back from the University of Lincoln where he studied Health and Exercise Science, as well as playing on the Futsal team.
He explained the relief of having a sense of belonging and people accepting him for who he is.
“Uni is less judgmental than school so people realised I was good enough and looked past my disability,” he said. “I wasn’t judged and was able to focus on playing, which was great.”
And what does the future hold for Harry? Well, it’s simple.
“I want to be the captain of England”.
With his determination to succeed, you would be foolish to bet against it.
