Abuse, ticket problems, space: The many problems facing disabled fans at Premier League clubs

This text incorporates language and accounts of abuse directed at individuals with disabilities, which some will discover offensive.

Lindsay Knott was strolling down the steps into the concourse at half-time of a recreation a few years in the past.

She is classed as an ambulant disabled particular person in that she doesn’t depend on a wheelchair to get round, however is considerably impaired in a variety of how together with affected by ME, persistent ache and fatigue, in addition to extreme tinnitus — not the gentle ringing within the ears that somebody who has been to lots of concert events would possibly endure, however an aggressive, fixed noise.

As such, when she goes to soccer she wears ear defenders, the kind you would possibly see somebody sporting on a constructing website when utilizing an industrial energy drill.

As she reached the concourse, a person jumped out in entrance of her and caught his face proper into hers, clearly and aggressively mocking her, mouthing obscenities and customarily behaving in a threatening method.

“I’m not so dangerous now, however for the remainder of that season I used to be nervous about coming down the concourse at half-time,” she says. “They didn’t do this as a result of I used to be small, or every other purpose, it was as a result of I used to be sporting ear defenders as a result of I’ve a incapacity.”

Knott is the chair of the Nottingham Forest Disabled Supporters Affiliation and is open in regards to the truth her expertise isn’t as dangerous as others she works with. At an away recreation final season, a fan with cerebral palsy was referred to as “a retard” exterior the stadium. One other was referred to as a “mongol”, the latter’s misery compounded when the police knowledgeable them that this wasn’t an offensive time period.

Knott together with her buddy, Dom, at a Forest recreation (credit score: Lindsay Knott)

This, depressingly, appears to be a part of an rising development. Based on a survey launched earlier this 12 months by Stage Taking part in Area, the charity that acts as a campaigning and advocacy car for disabled sports activities followers within the UK, abuse and ‘the attitudes of others’ rose to turn out to be the second-most frequent barrier to attending stay sport for disabled individuals, behind bodily entry. The respondents to the survey who mentioned incapacity abuse has prevented them from attending sporting occasions has elevated steadily over the past 4 years, from 5.5 per cent in 2021, to six.5 per cent, 7 and now 8.5 per cent in 2025.

The survey additionally raised points that these of us who don’t must take care of a major incapacity have in all probability by no means thought-about. Nearly 1 / 4 of respondents reported that problem acquiring tickets, whether or not due to a restricted variety of disabled locations or issues with the rising digitisation of tickets, was a major barrier to attending. Public transport is one other big issue.

Whereas progress has undoubtedly been made and lots of golf equipment do glorious work in making their video games as welcoming as doable, attending stay soccer remains to be enormously troublesome for anybody with a incapacity.

“Soccer is a leveller,” says Knott. “By the point I’m in my seat, I’m not a disabled particular person; I’m one Forest fan surrounded by 30,000 different Forest followers.

“To a disabled particular person, it’s much more upsetting for those who can’t go and it has much more of a profit for those who can go. For some individuals with disabilities, it’s the one time they exit. It means so much, and that’s why it’s actually vital that we make it as accessible as doable.”

This piece shouldn’t be complete, as a result of completely different individuals encounter such a variety of points it’s not possible to cowl all of them. Nevertheless, it can spotlight a few of them, together with those who could by no means be thought-about by able-bodied supporters.

Tickets

The issues often begin nicely earlier than a disabled particular person will get anyplace close to the stadium.

Kevin Murray is a Chelsea fan of fifty years. He has severely restricted sight: not fairly totally blind, however can solely actually see in his peripheral imaginative and prescient. Till lately, going to video games was, if not straightforward, so simple as it might be for somebody along with his situation.

Murray’s principal subject now’s ticketing, particularly digital ticketing, which Premier League golf equipment voted to turn out to be obligatory throughout the board by the 2026-27 season, however is already in place with a number of golf equipment.

Beforehand, Murray had a season card for residence video games, and for away video games might get a printout of each his ticket and, for the video games he required one, an assistant to assist him. He now has to have the required QR code in his private ticketing account on his telephone, after which one other QR code for his assistant’s ticket, which must be in a separate account, but additionally on his telephone. In the event you assume it’s not an excessive amount of to ask for somebody to seek out and current a QR code from their telephone, keep in mind that his imaginative and prescient impairments imply it takes him about 40 minutes to jot down and ship a two- or three-line electronic mail.

“I can’t see the factor to navigate the place to do all of the downloads,” he says. “Once I use my telephone, I do know the place that is and that’s — I don’t mess about with it, as a result of after I do it messes every thing up.”

The implementation of the digital edict, and thus whether or not particular exceptions may be made for individuals like Murray, shouldn’t be from the Premier League however right down to particular person golf equipment. It’s comparatively early on this course of, so it can undoubtedly enhance. However even the place there are lodging the method may be laborious, to say the least.

Murray recounts a punishingly complicated means of making an attempt to rearrange a bodily ticket for Chelsea’s recreation towards Manchester Metropolis in January that took the perfect a part of week, concerned 5 telephone calls, many extra emails, a number of consultations with varied supervisors and on the finish of all of it, he was given the mistaken place to gather his tickets.

Making every thing digital could theoretically imply the ticketing course of is extra streamlined and environment friendly for some, however for Murray it has merely put one other barrier between him and with the ability to attend video games.

“I don’t know who’s implementing all this. It’d make issues simpler for them, nevertheless it’s making it a hell of much more troublesome for the likes of me. I’m going to cease going if I’ve to do that each recreation.”

House at stadiums

The FA lately introduced that the England males’s crew will play a pleasant towards Senegal this summer time on the Metropolis Floor in Nottingham. In concept a pleasant transfer, persevering with a semi-regular initiative to take the nationwide facet across the nation a little bit extra.

Nevertheless it additionally served to spotlight an ongoing downside: the Metropolis Floor is considered one of a number of Premier League grounds that don’t present the variety of really helpful wheelchair locations for sporting venues within the UK.

The Sports activities Grounds Security Authority (SGSA) has a tough system that they advise venues to abide by, which suggests quite a few wheelchair locations in relation to the capability of a stadium. Because it stands, in response to numbers printed by the golf equipment themselves, eight present Premier League golf equipment don’t conform to those numbers: Outdated Trafford, Molineux, Villa Park, the Metropolis Floor, Craven Cottage, Selhurst Park, Portman Street and Goodison Park.

Outdated Trafford and Molineux are solely shy of the instructed quantity by two: technically they don’t comply, however they’re simply pointers and never designed to be a tough and quick rule. Goodison Park will solely be a venue for one more few months and Everton’s new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock comfortably exceeds the instructed quantity for a stadium of its capability.

Of the others, Villa Park has 114 wheelchair locations towards a really helpful variety of 212, for the Metropolis Floor it’s 74 towards 180, Craven Cottage is 103 towards 165, Selhurst Park is 123 towards 168 and Portman Street is 113 towards 180.

On the face of issues it doesn’t sound nice — and certainly shouldn’t be nice — that almost half the golf equipment within the richest division in soccer can’t even get the proper variety of wheelchair spots of their grounds. Nevertheless it’s not fairly so simple as that.

For a begin, wheelchair entry shouldn’t be the one criterion by which we should always choose disabled entry. Most golf equipment now supply a variety of different amenities: audio descriptive commentary for blind or visually impaired is just about commonplace and freed from cost. When contacted by The Athletic, Crystal Palace identified that they’ve two sensory rooms at Selhurst Park and likewise present headsets to assist visually impaired supporters; Ipswich defined that little work had been completed to Portman Street till their current change of possession, and so they had undertaken “intensive work” in the summertime after promotion to the Premier League. Villa even have sensory rooms and are planning so as to add one other 16 wheelchair areas (which is able to nonetheless go away them nicely beneath the really helpful quantity) in the summertime, and say they’re “frequently modernising” their amenities.

The opposite factor is one thing the 5 grounds who don’t comply have in frequent: they’re all very outdated, most working with vital area restrictions. Solely considered one of them has a stand constructed because the first SGSA suggestions had been printed in 2003 — the Riverside Stand at Fulham — and the entire relaxation must work throughout the restrictions of the environment.

Forest and Crystal Palace are each at completely different phases in setting up new stands to interchange a few of the outdated, creaking ones and in each circumstances are consulting with their disabled followers to enhance entry.

“Our infrastructure does have limitations,” explains Ericka Williams, Nottingham Forest’s incapacity entry officer. She outlines the issues that the Metropolis Floor faces, significantly within the Peter Taylor Stand that dates from the Sixties, which limits the variety of wheelchair areas obtainable but additionally explains the methods wherein the membership makes an attempt to mitigate these issues.

“We now have a welfare crew that works each single matchday. We now have briefly moved the accessible entrance (to keep away from extreme congestion for supporters in wheelchairs). There are limitations, nevertheless we’re discovering cheap changes to alleviate these limitations throughout the floor.”

There’s nuance right here. Stage Taking part in Area level out that internet hosting an England recreation someplace apart from Wembley will assist wheelchair customers who then don’t must take care of travelling to London.

Besides, you might argue that selecting the Metropolis Floor doesn’t ship an incredible message. If the FA wished to showcase England within the Midlands, there are different choices. The King Energy Stadium in Leicester, for instance, has a better capability than the Metropolis Floor and comfortably complies with the really helpful wheelchair steerage.

After being contacted by The Athletic, the FA confirmed they’re conscious of the variety of wheelchair areas obtainable on the Metropolis Floor, however are methods to extend the variety of accessible seats for when tickets for the sport go on sale. They may even be offering British Signal Language interpretation within the floor for the sport. Moreover, they really feel that internet hosting video games at venues just like the Metropolis Floor might assist improve the extent of incapacity entry they might present sooner or later.

Transport

So that you’ve acquired your ticket. Now it’s a must to get to the stadium.

Dr Rita Egan is a Spurs fan and makes use of an electrical wheelchair. Barring a couple of irritations, watching soccer on the new, gleaming Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is a comparatively good expertise.

Being within the floor is one factor. Getting there’s something totally completely different.

“If a few of these individuals needed to spend simply at some point going to the Spurs with me, they’d be in disbelief,” she tells The Athletic.

Dr Egan lives close to Luton. For an non-disabled particular person utilizing public transport, on a great day you might in all probability get to Tottenham from Luton in simply over an hour. On a match day, give your self an hour and a half. For somebody in Dr Egan’s place, that type of journey time is a pipe dream.

Rita Egan at a Tottenham recreation (credit score: Rita Egan)

“For a 3pm kick-off, I’d in all probability go away my home at 10am,” says Dr Egan. “I’ve to permit for issues going mistaken.”

And boy can issues go mistaken. For a begin, Luton practice station shouldn’t be absolutely accessible. If the practice occurs to be on the proper platform that has entry from the road, nice. If not, unfortunate. So Dr Egan has to go to Luton Airport Parkway station, which is accessible. In concept. If the lifts are working. Which they typically aren’t.

Then if she will be able to get on to the platform, will there be a practice there? Perhaps. “Over Christmas there have been no trains in any respect, in order that they had been providing a bus substitute service, however largely they are typically coaches not buses and so they don’t take wheelchairs. It’s outrageous.”

Let’s say there’s a practice. Getting on to a few of them depends on a ramp being offered, and extra importantly depends on a member of employees being obtainable and prepared to set it up.

“Even for those who arrive on time for the practice, they’ll typically let you know that you simply haven’t arrived in sufficient time for the practice. The practice is sitting there, however the particular person accountable for getting the ramp out may not assume I’ve arrived on the acceptable time to get on the practice.

“I’ve been informed I must be there quarter-hour earlier than the practice leaves. I’ve actually been sat there with someone who might have put the ramp out for me and watched as that practice has gone.

“Then after all, for those who get upset… disabled travellers aren’t allowed to get upset. In the event you increase your voice and also you say, ‘This isn’t honest, I’m being discriminated towards’, they are saying, ‘Proper, that’s it, we don’t must care for you anymore since you’re being impolite’. I’ve been deserted on multiple event as a result of they don’t just like the tone of my voice.”

As soon as in London, Dr Egan will get a bus. Nicely, in concept. Buses ceaselessly solely have one area appropriate for wheelchairs, and pushchairs, which ceaselessly results in issues.

“I get lots of abuse on the bus,” says Dr Egan, who was lately left stranded as a result of there was already a wheelchair consumer on the bus she wished to board. “That’s the worst of it. On one event I referred to as the police as a result of I used to be being actually badly abused.”

It is a broader infrastructure subject fairly than one particularly for soccer. For somebody in a wheelchair, getting round utilizing public transport is often extremely troublesome. You can simply say that this isn’t the golf equipment’ downside, however it’s doable to supply some exterior assist. At Wembley, for instance, a specialist bus is laid on to take wheelchair customers from the tube station to the stadium. That type of factor may not be doable all over the place, nevertheless it might simply be extra widespread.

Amenities at grounds

“Offering amenities for disabled followers isn’t a luxurious,” says Stage Taking part in Area chief government Owain Davies. “It’s a human proper.”

However whereas LPF’s survey outlines the work that also must be completed, loads of progress has undoubtedly been made lately, as Davies explains.

“The most important game-changer we noticed was the Premier League pledge,” he says, of the promise made by golf equipment to adjust to a set of minimal requirements by August 2017. For probably the most half, golf equipment had been nearly as good as their phrase; a couple of didn’t meet it, however some went above and past the fundamentals.

“I feel it form of actually introduced it entrance and centre that these are the minimal set of requirements we count on at venues. The legacy of that’s that we’ve seen extra wheelchair consumer areas put in place, and a better stage of consciousness inside staffing as nicely.”

That latter level is essential, and it will seem that employees assist can nonetheless be patchy. “Stewards will impression on individuals,” says Knott. “We now have each constructive and destructive experiences, when it comes to what they are saying to individuals: typically they’ll ask individuals to show they’ve a non-visible incapacity. However after they’re nice, they’re completely nice.”

And it’s clear golf equipment are making extra of an effort to accommodate a broader vary of disabilities, as Williams explains in regards to the amenities obtainable at Forest.

Forest’s Disabled Supporters Affiliation on the Metropolis Floor (credit score: Nottingham Forest DSA)

“For our neurodiverse supporters, we’ve ear defenders. For individuals with sight issues, in the event that they want an audio descriptive receiver we might present these to their seats after they get within the grounds. We now have weighted blankets for many who battle with the temperature. We even have a multi-faith and reflection room — if any supporter wants downtime, our safeguarding crew can deliver them to that room simply to have a little bit little bit of quiet time, then they’ll return to their seats.”

Navigation

Congratulations, you’ve reached the stadium. Now it’s a must to get in, and navigate your approach round it.

At older stadiums, that may be a major problem. Ben Smith is a Bournemouth fan who makes use of a guide wheelchair. He was able-bodied till his 30s, when he developed a situation referred to as Friedreich’s ataxia, which assaults the nervous system. Residence video games, when he is aware of the territory and a few of the stewards, are often manageable. However away video games are tougher.

He cites Selhurst Park as a floor at which he’s had issues. Getting there on public transport is a matter: whereas it’s served by three practice stations, they’re all at the very least a 10-minute stroll away, and it’s on a hill. The streets can be fairly uneven. Then inside the bottom, the wheelchair locations within the away part are in the back of the outdated Arthur Wait Stand, which means the view is fairly horrible.

However whereas the idea may be that newer grounds are mechanically higher, that isn’t essentially the case.

“There are different newer grounds which have restricted views (for the wheelchair locations) too,” says Smith. “The Emirates is one. And you understand what, I can’t be bothered. Why ought to I’ve such a nasty view?”

Smith additionally cites Brentford’s Gtech Stadium as a venue that has lots to suggest it inside from an entry standpoint, however getting in is usually a problem. Lifts are offered to enter, however firstly many individuals who don’t want these lifts queue as much as get in so it may take a very long time. These lifts additionally ceaselessly break down, leaving anybody who can’t use stairs in a pickle.

“There’s no ramp, which is what they need to have completed. It’s only some steps for able-bodied supporters, so why not simply construct a ramp? Inside it’s sensible, the place the concourse is, bathrooms, all of that. However the journey exterior, I don’t assume I’d return once more as a result of it was actually troublesome.”

What now?

The frequent theme from all of the disabled individuals The Athletic spoke to for this text is that they simply need issues to be a little bit bit simpler. The world shouldn’t be arrange for disabled individuals: for those who can’t stroll, otherwise you’re partially sighted, or have a variety of circumstances that impair your means to navigate the world as others would possibly have the ability to, then life turns into instantly tougher.

There is no such thing as a easy change that may be flicked, not one single factor that may be rapidly modified to make issues instantly higher. It’s extra about individuals, about those that don’t have disabilities considering extra, about having the proper angle.

It’s about golf equipment being proactive, consulting with their disabled supporters associations to stop issues from occurring, not simply fixing them after they’ve occurred. It’s about communication, which may be variable: some are glorious, some not a lot.

It’s not about treating individuals as in the event that they’re completely different. It’s about serving to individuals to allow them to be the identical.

(High images: Getty Photographs; design: Dan Goldfarb)