Euan MacDonald,

Creator of Euan's Guide

Euan MacDonald

“There has been a lot of media coverage on the lack of disabled access at sports venues recently. Adding to the high-profile BBC league table, a report in the Guardian in April highlighted that only 15 per cent of Premier League clubs have sufficient access to meet FA guidelines. These stories are a good thing - keeping the issue of disabled access in the media spotlight is one way to make sure sports clubs and venues take notice. Another way is to let disabled people know which venues have got it right and to encourage visits to them - while identifying those venues which could be better and to work with them to improve.

I'm a disabled football supporter myself. In 2003, I noticed a loss of power in my thumb when trying to change gear on my bike. It seemed innocuous at the time but two months later I was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. I now use a wheelchair and ventilator but my condition has progressed slowly - so I'm one of the lucky ones!

Despite being in a wheelchair I still want to go out to bars, restaurants, hotels, cinemas, music festivals - and particularly to football grounds. There are thousands of people like me who want to do the same. Not knowing, however, whether a venue or facility can cater for my needs can put me off visiting. Finding out whether a venue will be suitable can be time consuming and exhausting. To tackle this, we've built up and launched a directory on disabled access that we're keen to share with others with accessibility needs. We've designed Euan’s Guide to be a friendly, honest and empowering alternative to hours of web searching and phone calls and, most importantly, remove the fear of the unknown when visiting a venue for the first time.

We're also taking direct action. We recently worked with Hibernian FC to help promote the ground’s disabled access by encouraging members of the local Disabled Supporters’ Association to submit reviews on our disabled access website. This helped to promote Hibernian FC as a truly inclusive club, and shows that disabled access is definitely high on the agenda of some football clubs.

I know some disabled fans remain wary about going to away matches, as they don’t know what they might encounter. By making quality information about venues easily available, football clubs can help change that.”

@EuansGuide

Mark Miles,

Head of Facility Operations ,

West Bromwich Albion

West Bromwich Albion

“The club sets out to make matchdays as enjoyable as possible for all supporters. The Hawthorns is the highest-ranked "old" stadium in the BBC league table – meaning that it has not been relocated and purpose-built. At present, we're at 89 per cent of the requirements of the Accessible Stadia Guide, which enables us to cater for season-ticket holders and also have bays on a game-by-game basis.

We also have flexible seating arrangements which enable us to accommodate more disabled supporters should the need arise. The club offers various options for ambulant disabled and provides headsets for visually-impaired supporters, which enables them to listen to live commentary. We employ two disability liaison officers who are on hand to assist both home and away fans. Helping supporters get to games is also of paramount importance and we make suitable arrangements for coaches transporting disabled fans to games to ease arrivals and departures.

We have an excellent relationship with the disabled branch of the official supporters’ club and host an annual open day for its members, when they are invited to the stadium to watch training and treated to full hospitality before meeting the coaching staff and players.

This year’s event was the 12th successive year we have staged the open day. As a club, we feel it is vitally important that we have open dialogue with the disabled branch. We meet regularly with its committee so that we can proactively address any issues.

@WBAFCofficial

Joyce Cook,

CEO, Level Playing Fields ,

MD at Centre for Access to Football in Europe

Joyce Cook

“The recent BBC report focused on wheelchair users – and it is easy to understand why. Out of all disabled sports fans, wheelchair users are perhaps the most visible within the stadium but also the ones needing the most assistance at venues – they require specialist access points, proper viewing spaces, decent sightlines and in many cases personalised assistance.

There are, however, many other supporters that require attention at sports venues – the blind and partially sighted fans, people with limited mobility and people with hearing impairments.

In terms of football's own standards, the Accessible Stadia Guide – drawn up by the Football Association (FA) and the government as part of a working group in 2003 – clearly outlines the minimum standards applicable to venues. What is troubling is that – despite the requirements in the document being significantly less than those of Sport England and international Paralympic standards – the BBC report showed that clubs aren't even close to meeting them.

The standards, for example, employ a rather strange sliding scale. For example, you can have a 40,00-seat stadium with a requirement of dedicating 0.34 per cent of capacity for wheelchair use. As a result, there is one 42,000-capacity Premier League stadium offering just eight dedicated wheelchair spaces. The same club has spent a fortune on improving corporate areas.

Another big issue is that disabled fans are very often grouped together – no matter who they support. For football fans, part of the fun is being with your own fans – in fact, any non-disabled fan sitting in the wrong end would be removed. Disabled fans, however, are often seated next to opposition fans and asked not to cheer any goals, to remove their club colours and to leave early "for their own safety".

There are challenges relating to general attitudes too. As an organisation, we constantly have to deal with complaints from disabled people – such as those with cerebral palsy or autism – who've wrongly been accused by stewards of being drunk.

From a ticketing point of view there's also room for improvement. Some clubs have drawn up indecipherable ticketing terms and conditions that at are off-putting at best and discriminatory at worst.

It is no coincidence that following the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, there was a huge upsurge in complaints from disabled fans. After visiting the Olympic Park and the facilities within it, fans realised what they could have at their "home stadiums", what is possible and what decent access actually looks like. For many, it was the moment they realised they're getting a raw deal.

What we would like to see is disabled fans and disability issues being seen as an important part of any stadium and football club's business plan.

@joycecookcafe

Disabled fans are often seated next to opposition fans, asked not to cheer any goals and told to remove their club colours

Swansea was one of only three Premier League clubs to meet the requirements for disability spaces set out in the Accessible Stadia Guide/ photo: Stephen Pond/EMPICS Sport