Craig Crowley

Craig Andrew Crowley MBE, FRSA (born in 1964) is a well-known figure in the Deaf community both in UK, Europe and abroad. He has worked for Deaf, Disability & Sport organisations for over 25 years. He is the current Chief Executive of Action Deafness.

He is a former Eighth President of International Committee of Sports for the Deaf - ICSD (Deaflympics) - from 2009 to 2013 ^[1] and is now co-founder and Associate of Efficere Sports International.

Crowley served as Trustee of Signature (Accredited Body for British Sign Language Levels) and as National Register of Communication Professionals working with Deaf/Deafblind People (NRCPD).

Crowley was also previously Deputy Director of Action on Hearing Loss’s Care & Support Services and even had a short stint as Executive Director of European Union of the Deaf (EUD) in 2005.

Early life

As a profoundly deaf child of hearing parents, he was brought up in Northumberland until he met Morag Rosie MBE (Director of Friends for Young Deaf - FYD). This was proved to be a lasting impression on an 18-year-old.

Crowley went on to co-found National Leadership Training Programme for both Deaf and Hearing young people in Sport in the 1980s and since then ‘You Can Do It – The FYD Story’ book written by Stuart R Harrison and Morag, words and influence have reverberated for Crowley for more than three decades.

From his time with FYD he went to Bulmershe College of Higher Education (now part of Reading University) and it was there he took on the arduous task of standing for the Presidency of the Students Union. He won the election by a landslide margin and he was UK’s first ever Deaf President of a Student Union in any higher educational establishment.

Crowley was founder of National Network of Deaf Students in 1987 and helped to organise first ever European Conference of Deaf Students at Reading University, July 1988. It was there he met Markku Jokinen, a former President of World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and himself an internationally renowned leader in his own right, and they both became great friends, often crossing paths at World, European and international events to this day.

Crowley represented and gained in Club and international honours at Football and was a Deaflympian silver medallist for GB Deaf Football Team at 1985 Los Angeles Deaflympics (formerly World Games for the Deaf).

He also obtained teaching & coaching qualifications in Tennis, Cricket, Football and Mountaineering. He briefly coached England Deaf Football during the late 1990s.

Involvement in Deaflympics

Following Rome 2001 Deaflympics and the UK Government's refusal to recognise Deaf Sport and Deaflympics had led number of Deaf organisations and National Deaf Sport Specific Organisations to appoint Crowley as Chair of Deaf Sports Strategy Group in 2002. A year later he and others decided to co-found UK Deaf Sport after it was made clear by UK Sport that a National Sport Federation must adopt to modern guidelines expected of them to run as a responsible and bona-fide organisation.

Under his dynamic leadership between 2003 and 2009 UK Deaf Sport (UKDS) gained prominence by achieving in ICSD & EDSO memberships; UK Deaf Sport was nominated as ‘New Innovative Charity’ in UK Charity Awards in 2006; he also oversaw two successful GB Deaflympic Teams in 2005 and 2009.

Crowley achieved the distinction of being the first UK citizen to be elected as President of the International Committee of Sport for the Deaf (ICSD) at the last summer ICSD Congress, Taipei in 2009.^[2]

Under his leadership ICSD had formulated 3 year Strategic Plan 2010-2013 for the first time in its history which was well received and commended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Crowley endured overwhelming challenges in inheriting the impact of the Slovakia 2011 Winter Deaflympics cancellation and Athens 2013 Summer Deaflympics which, in hindsight, Crowley believes ICSD had not received any official support or contractual guarantees from the respective Governments before inheriting the impact of dealing with the damage limitations of the above events.

Since ICSD Congress in Rome in September 2011 ICSD set out to repair the reputation and credibility of Deaf Sport all over the world. Crowley helped to encourage more open dialogue and diplomatic relations not only with the IOC but also with the International Sport Federations (IFs) as well as restoring important relations with President Sir Philip Craven MBE and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

With the support from ICSD Executive Board and team of staff and Technical Directors, Crowley managed to stage absolute minimum but successful Sofia Deaflympic Games in July 2013 thus salvaging the reputation of Deaflympics. He was particularly instrumental in ensuring 25 successive World Championship events were staged without cancellation since Slovakia 2011.

Crowley also advocated tirelessly for ICSD to be promoted externally in a positive picture and learn from the past, leverage it, and use it as a springboard to the future standing towards modernisation as level-playing International Sport Federation.

Crowley went on to produce 2013-2017 strategic plan which was approved unanimously by member countries at the Sofia ICSD Congress in July 2013. This assured affirmative plans were put in place for 2015 Russia Winter Deaflympics and Turkey 2017 Summer Deaflympics. It was at this same event that Crowley was replaced as President by Dr Valery Rekhledev of Russia.

Crowley led the way for the key MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) agreement between World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) and ICSD which was formally signed in July 2013.^[3]

Crowley has since focused on Efficere Sports International and remains passionate about the equality of opportunity and positive visibility for Deaf athletes. He is keen to promote Deaf Sport as they are not about Deaf athletes’ lives to triumph but to compete and be recognised by the world of Sport is by increasing more visibility.

Crowley divides his time as Chair of UK Council on Deafness advocating members’ issues concerned with deafness and hearing loss at All Party Parliamentary Group level as well as supporting UK Deaf Sport’s strategic and political aspirations as its Honorary President at national and international levels.^[4]

Awards

Crowley was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of The British Empire) in June 2006 for his services to Deaf Sport.^[5] He has been elected a Fellow of The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (FRSA) in November 2016.

References