It’s great news that the Premier League had accessibility on the agenda at their shareholders meeting last week and good news that media is spreading the message for access to be improved at Premier League grounds. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34249011

Visits Unlimited is passionate about delivering quality training to staff and stewards at sports grounds. Through our networks we have heard countless stories of poor experiences of disabled people and their families whilst watching matches. We know the difference that good quality customer service training makes to confidence building and disability etiquette.  Stadia managers and Safety Officers also appreciate the knowledge gained from such training.

“Through working in partnership with Visits Unlimited the Safety Stewards at the Shay Stadium have recently received excellent training on how to improve spectator experience on match days. The training sessions focused on the positive adjustments we can make to a spectator’s visit which promote an enjoyable experience and leave a lasting impression.”  Mike Murray, Sport and Active Leisure Manager.

So, we are delighted to see that “ Disability access was discussed at the Premier League shareholders meeting last week with several new proposals agreed.”

The new report – completed jointly by the Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Culture, Media and Sport – recommends:

• Planning attendance: Clubs should provide attendance for all groups of disabled people. They should provide information such as stadium distance from local parking and gradient of pavements.
• Buying a ticket: Clubs should allow disabled spectators to buy tickets online. They should provide wheelchair seating that allows disabled spectators to sit with family and friends.
• Travelling to and from the venue: Clubs should provide up to date transport information.
• Overall experience: Match day and club stewards should be given disability awareness training, while abusive behaviour towards disabled spectators should not be tolerated.
• Aids and adaptations: Clubs should increase the number of wheelchair user places for stadiums with more than 10,000 seats.”

We know too that CAFÉ (Centre for Access to Football in Europe) have worked closely with UEFA for a number of years and produced this excellent report that talks about the importance of training for staff and stewards.

http://www.cafefootball.eu/~cafefoot/sites/default/files/contentfiles/pdfs/UEFAandCAFEGoodPracticeGuide-accessible%281%29.pdf