FIL KAMPS

FOOTBALL

Fil's love for football developed at an early age, he started playing in his back garden as a toddler and continued when he attended Brunswick House Primary School. Fil used to look forward to break and lunch time at school, as he and his classmates were able to play football on the playground and on the fields. It wasn't until he was in Year 5 that he got the opportunity to don the white and blue of Brunswick, competing in several tournaments and matches.

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At the age of 9, Fil joined Larkfield Boys FC, and would stay for two seasons before the team folded after the 2004/05 season. Fil then moved to another local club: Barming Youth FC where he spent three years developing as a player before making the decision to join Aylesford FC in 2008. During his time at Aylesford, Fil was selected to play for the Kent FA in their Regional Centre of Excellence.

It was with Kent that Fil's career took off, travelling the country competing against other counties and honing his craft. Fil was greatly influenced by the coaches at Kent and has often publicly shared how he attributes much of his positive attitude to the lessons he learnt whilst playing under Matt Wood. 

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Fil signed with Maidstone United in 2010 and played for two seasons before signing with Charlton Athletic in the summer of 2012. In his only season with the Addicks, Fil led them to the English Deaf Football League title and the British Deaf Plate scoring 8 goals from left-back (full stats). On the back of a strong season, Fil earned a move to one of Britain's strongest deaf teams: Fulham, signing with them in July of 2013. 

During his first season at Fulham, Fil impressed as a versatile defender playing across the back four. Fulham made it to the British Deaf Cup final where they ultimately lost 2-1 to Belfast. Having missed out on domestic silverware, Fulham travelled to Belgrade, Serbia hungry to win the  European Deaf Champions League (DCL). Despite being Fulham's maiden appearance in the tournament, Fil and the team excelled reaching the semi-finals where they lost to the eventual winners, POK Athens. During the 2013/14 season Fil was called up by then Great Britain manager, Phillip Gardner, to the training squad for the European Championships being held in Hannover, Germany in the summer of 2015. Fil had another season (2014/15) of continued growth and won the British Deaf Plate for the second time as Fulham beat Bristol on penalties in Edinburgh.They went on to reach the quarter finals of DCL (Antalya, Turkey) where they lost on penalties to Globen Sport Aarhus. Despite this, after 18 months of training with the GB squad, Fil was not selected for the final squad to compete at the European Championships.

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2015/16 was Fil's breakout year, establishing himself as one of the best defenders in the country in a historical season that saw Fulham win the British Deaf Football Cup and English Deaf Football Cup double for the first time. He was also awarded Player of the Year for Fulham and was named as Man of the Match (MVP) in the final of the British Deaf Football Cup (accolades). Fulham also went on to reach Fulham's historic season was capped by winning the Deaf Sports Personality of the Year (DSPY) Team of the Year award in 2016. Fil's dominant performances did not go unnoticed and he was selected for the Great Britain World Cup squad in 2016. From 2013-2016 Fil also represented Middlesex University, captaining the team in his second and third years at the establishment.​

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Fil played an integral part in Great Britain's World Cup run in Italy, 2016, starting in every game until their loss to Argentina in the quarter-finals. This was the tournament Fil earned his first cap for GB under manager Peter Wood, and the moment a childhood dream came true. Whilst at the World Cup, Fil committed to the King Tornado (USA) for the 2016/17 season where he would complete his masters degree whilst continuing his footballing career.   

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Fil returned home to England after resigning with Fulham in April 2017, and helped lead an injury-depleted squad to the semi-finals of the Champions League (Larissa, Greece), scoring in both the quarter-final and semi-finals. After DCL, Fil was reunited with teammates at GB, after being selected for the Deaflympics squad in Samsun, Turkey in June & July 2017. Fil played in every game at the Deaflympics as again GB reached the quarter-finals before falling to Italy on penalties. 

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Fil signed for Doncaster in August 2017, and had a tremendously successful season with the club. He led them to the British Deaf Football Cup title, the English Deaf Football Cup final and English Deaf Football League semi-final. The club also competed in DCL (Milan, Italy) for the first time and reached the final, where they lost narrowly to POK Athens. This would be Fil's last ever competitive match as he announced his retirement from football due to injury, aged 24.

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