The Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) was recently contacted by a disabled supporter from Stoke City who felt he was being excluded from following his team due to the lack of available wheelchair bays for visiting supporters at the King Power Stadium.
Ted Morris, a Liverpool Disabled Supporters’ Association member contacted LCFC’s Supporter Liaison Officer and Access Manager Jim Donnelly, who immediately offered Ted the opportunity to visit the stadium to review the process and the facilities. Ted also met with representatives of the LCFC Disabled Supporters’ Association.
The provision of disabled facilities at football grounds is based on the Accessible Stadia Guidelines (ASG), which were introduced in 2015 and for all clubs to be fully compliant by 2017. The resulting report determined that LCFC is one of only a handful of clubs that meet the requirements… and goes above and beyond.
The only item that needed addressing was finding a suitable location for an additional nine wheelchair bays for away fans. After inspecting the visitors sector with Jim and Anna, a practicable, workable, and affordable solution to this problem has been worked out.
(c) Ted Morris
Ted said in his feedback report,
“After meeting Jim and Anna yesterday, I have no doubt whatsoever that this is down to the passion, compassion, empathy, and commitment they both have for the disabled supporters at the King Power and for visiting disabled supporters, their commitment and dedication was heart-warming to witness. It gives me hope that change is possible at all clubs…This puts them in the top five in the country, which is a remarkable achievement.”
Ted could not have been more complimentary about his time at the club or its response to the issue. Foxes Trust is pleased that our club has been recognised as listening to disabled fans and going further than the minimum requirements, but is also still looking to continually improve facilities for both home and away disabled fans.
The full report can be read here. If any disabled fans have any further comments, please contact Foxes Trust at [email protected].
The LCFC Disabled Supporters’ Association can be joined at https://lcfcdsa.com.