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Meanwhile, the former chairman of NADS, Phil Downs MBE, has launched a stinging attack on clubs lack of progress in providing modern facilities for disabled supporters. “The amount of money that the Premier league have got to give away to good causes at the moment is forty-three million pounds from the Sky/Setanta deal,” said Downs. “You would think it wouldn’t be beyond their capacity to analyse what needs doing and put in place a plan to carry out the improvements over a number of years.”
He is also critical about facilities at Doncaster Rovers’ new ground the Keepmoat Stadium. Currently, they play in the Coca Cola League One, but modern stadia have to be built to cater for the needs of disabled fans. Taken together the total capacity of the seven Premier League grounds in the North-West is two-hundred-and ninety-four-thousand people. Shamefully a mere one-thousand-and-thirty-six of that capacity have been allocated for wheelchair users. Of these a combined three-hundred-and-fifty-eight are at the relatively smaller grounds of Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers.
It isn’t, however, just older grounds where the numbers are inadequate. At Wigan Athletic’s JJB Stadium - opened with Chairman Dave Whelan’s financial support at the start of the 1999-2000 season - there are only fifty-six wheelchair spaces, far below the recommended one-hundred-and-sixty-five for a ground capable of accommodating twenty-five-thousand spectators. 
According to their spokesperson Jamie Polk these visits on match days and the reports that would follow would cost around £100,000 - equivalent to just ten days wages for Andy Johnson at Everton where there are just a hundred-and-fourteen pitch side wheelchair spaces in a ground which holds forty-thousand. Phil Downs - a Manchester United fan - is angry. “£100,000!” said Downs. “It speaks volumes that no-one will give NADS such a sum to carry out a national audit and which will help them get out into the wider world and explain what needs to be done to improve facilities at the grounds. It doesn’t only need that mind; it needs some form of co-ordinated effort involving all the football authorities showing they are genuine in their commitment to improve facilities. I was five years as chairman of NADS, during which time the Premier and the Football League’s weren’t particularly helpful. The issue of disabled fans has still to be considered with the seriousness it deserves at clubs. The big picture to me also includes the facilities around the grounds. I’d use the analogy of the Trafford shopping centre where you can get run over by wheelchairs because accessibility has been made a priority by the owners. If you provide the facilities they will get used. It’s now the twenty-first century and some clubs want to start acting like it is. And that includes clubs that have new stadiums who think that everything they’ve got is brilliant. In fact, whilst the facilities are better than in the grounds they’ve replaced the truth is they’re still not that good.”
 One of these is the Keepmoat Stadium. Doncaster Rovers are currently making a determined move to rise into the Coca-Cola Championship. The fifteen-thousand all-seater stadium is part of the Doncaster Sports Complex built by Mowlem as a community facility. It was part funded by public money and cost approximately £32 million to build. It is owned by Doncaster Municipal Borough Council who in October 2007 were forced to cover debts totalling around one million pounds. Although it has been open less than a year, only one stand contains provision at elevated levels for wheelchair users to watch a match. One of its users at the Rovers’ recent match against Carlisle, who did not want to be named, told me: “It was brilliant. Where we used to be at our old ground - Belle Vue - you could hardly see. That’s not the case here.” According to the Accessible Stadium Document which forms part of the building regulations that apply to new grounds, and which involve being visited by either the FLA or the local authority before construction, the split of spaces is supposed to be 75:25 elevated to pitch side.
FLA Inspector Ian Smith, who visited the Keepmoat during its construction, said that he was “not aware of any adverse comments from spectators in respect of facilities for disabled spectators.” Paul Cooper - Building Control Service Manager - spoke on behalf of Doncaster MBC. He pointed out that with “one-hundred-and-fifty-one disabled viewing spaces this was above the numbers recommended by the ASG at one-hundred-and-thirty. Of these eighty-one are at pitch side. The problem we faced with the North and South Stands is that there is no first floor concourse level, and consequently no access other than at ground level to these areas. If in the future an opportunity arose to provide elevated viewing areas following for example the creation of first floor concourse areas, then the Safety Advisory Group in consultation with all relevant parties would ensure the appropriate provision was made.” Downs and Polk both believe that the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) should be legally enforceable. This is not however the view of Feltham MP Alan Keen, chairman of the Commons All Party Football Group, who says they will work with NADS, “to raise their concerns and have them addressed by the football authorities, including the Premier and Football Leagues and the Football Association.” Recently, the FA established a Committee for Disability and Equality. Downs joined it. He says that he knows of no clubs where adjustments had been made to remove the obstacles to disabled people enjoying football matches despite the DDA of October 2004 making it clear they are expected to do so.” Empower-Sport Magazine reported on the failure of Madison Square Garden to comply with legislation to provide adequate access for disabled patrons. [2] It is disappointing to see that disability access remains a serious issue at sports venues across the Atlantic as well. “I am disappointed with the Labour government on these issues,” said Downs. “Gordon Brown is very keen on supporters’ trusts with input onto the boards of the clubs, and I think the combination of the two should be interested in this argument. Personally I think it’s a problem that society should be ashamed about in fact, which means it should be more than the football authorities to get these improvements made, because once they are done it’s there forever.” 1: See my article Disabling Discrimination in Football Stadia at http://empower-sport.com/index.php?categoryid=1&p2_articleid=65 which featured Downs’ work on this issue. 2: See John Little’s article Discrimination at Madison Square Garden at http://empower-sport.com/index.php?categoryid=1&p2_articleid=140 in the previous issue. |
According to recent figures from the National Association of Disabled Supporters (NADS) - the only national registered charity representing all disabled football fans - only two of the North-West regions seven Premier League Clubs currently provide the number of spaces for wheelchair supporters recommended under the 2003 Accessible Stadia Guide (ASG) issued by the Football Licensing Authority (FLA). Since Empower-Sport Magazine covered the shocking treatment of disabled fans last year 
Liverpool has a capacity of forty-four-thousand at their Anfield ground. A disgraceful eighty-nine places - all of which are located at the front of the stands where they are open to the elements and the view can be severely restricted by stewards and police patrolling round the ground - have been allocated for disabled fans.
NADS was established in 1998 and aims to ensure parity of supporters’ experiences for all fans. They also represent the views of disabled football supporters to football and governmental authorities and have released the figures as part of their ‘State of the Game’ report. Informative as it may be the organisation had been hoping to do much more and wanted to follow up on its initial visits made nearly ten years ago to all ninety-two league grounds throughout England and Wales and carry out an audit to find out what improvements have been and/or still need to be made.
Phil Downs has previously criticised the provision at Shrewsbury Town’s new ground that opened in July last year. Initially only twenty-five of the hundred wheelchair places were elevated. “75% of the places should be elevated,” said Downs. “Clearly at Doncaster it’s not. I did discuss the Doncaster issues with their supporters and NADS did write to the club asking them to re-consider the locations for disabled fans.” Downs speaks from experience. He became disabled in a gymnastics accident during training to become a police officer many years ago.
