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	TX: 11.04.08 - Disabled Access PRESENTER: MANI DJAZMI

	Downloaded from www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE 麻豆约拍 CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. DJAZMI I've come to Portman Road, the home of Ipswich Town Football Club. Portman Road has a capacity of around 30,000 and within that 107 spaces are set aside for wheelchair users and there are over 300 spaces reserved for fans of all disabilities. But Joyce Cook, who's chair of the National Association of Disabled Supporters or NADS, says that while clubs like Ipswich are providing excellent facilities for their fans other clubs still have a long way to go to catch up. COOK If you look at Wembley Stadium, that stands as the gold standard, certainly in this country and if you look at other stadiums that are newly built by and large they will be there or almost there. But once you get beyond that any stadium that was built before 2004 you will find that there are things that need to be done to make matters better, so you need to look at things like sight lines - you need to be able to see the game, you need to be able to hear the game or have it described to you if you're visually-impaired or blind and so on and so on. So it's not just about getting through the front door it's about when you get into that stadium enjoying the same experience as everybody else and having the same opportunities to have that experience. DJAZMI I've come down to the front of the stand behind one of the goals to talk to Kevin O'Connell, who's one of Ipswich's wheelchair supporters. Just explain the view we have here because we're right at the front but we're quite low down aren't we. O'CONNELL We're right on the edge of 18 yard box, between the corner flag and the goal, and quite frankly it's a privileged position to be sitting here and having such a clear view. DJAZMI One thing which has always struck me about clubs who place their disabled supporters right at the front behind the goal is that quite often the least mobile fans are in the line of fire aren't you really. O'CONNELL You can be but to be honest I'm about 18 feet from the goal so most of the balls that tend to go off target tend to go over the goal rather than at my level. DJAZMI You've never had a time where you've had to duck or someone's had to at the last minute put their hand in front of your face? O'CONNELL I've had to do it once yeah and it hit my son, so it missed me. COMMENTARY OF MATCH DJAZMI Ipswich Town is a member of Soccer Sight, a project led by the Royal National Institute of Blind People which provides audio described commentary for visually-impaired fans. In theory the difference between audio described and the bog standard radio commentary is that the format isn't distracted by things like scores from other matches or what the commentators had for their lunch. It doesn't cost clubs anything to install because it's funded by charities so because of the limited budget only 18 clubs have so far either signed up or shown interest in doing so. Fran Lin is one of Ipswich's visually-impaired fans. She stopped going to football when her sight began to deteriorate but Soccer Sight has convinced her to continue. LIN I didn't think there was much point if you can't see what's going on it's pointless, you don't know which way the ball is, where - who's shooting at goal, you just haven't got a clue. It's just a life line. They're shouting for a penalty but I don't think it's been given. So the referee's getting booed now. They can be very biased - these referees. ACTUALITY Hello Fran. Have you got my tickets please? Bev's got them, they're in an envelope. DJAZMI Although there's no uniform policy clubs usually allow a disabled fan to a carer with them for free. The criteria for eligibility is usually that the disabled fan receives either the mid or higher rate of Disability Living Allowance. But according to Joyce Cook, the chair of the National Association of Disabled Supporters, just getting a ticket is hard enough. COOK Speak to any football fan and they'll tell you - well I struggle to get tickets as well, what's the difference? Well there's a huge difference. If you look at some of the football clubs at the top of the Premier League, for example if we can look at Chelsea Football Club, now if you look at the wheelchair section in particular they have closed the membership because it is so heavily oversubscribed and you're talking about an over-subscription of six to eight times. Now that is not a parity and that happens at all of those top clubs where they fill up the stadium week in, week out. DJAZMI So what's the solution? COOK If it means that some seats have to be converted, that are currently non-disabled seats, to make that parity then that is the right thing to do. You know we're living in a fair and equal society and this isn't just about football, this is across the board. You know football can set a really good example here, it's the national game, everybody loves it, people tend to watch what football does and respect it and that's been proved with the anti-racism campaigns and so on. So I think football can really lead the way on this one. DJAZMI The trouble is there isn't one body which can be charged with the responsibility of putting pressure on clubs to improve their facilities. I've come to Number 25 Soho Square, the home of the Football Association. It's been the custodian of the English game for nearly 150 years but not even the FA has the power to help disabled fans on its own. That's because the four divisions of professional English football are split into two leagues - the Premier League which has the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea and the Football League, which has everyone else, including the likes of Ipswich and Charlton. FAULKNER I'm Lucy Faulkner, I'm the equality manage at the Football Association. The Football Association is the governing body for football but it's not actually responsible for the work of the clubs. So, for instance, the Premier League clubs and the Football League clubs are all individual private companies, each one of them is responsible for their disabled fans access. On top of that we've got agencies like the Football Licensing Authority who are responsible for checking the stadia in the country. We've got local authorities who'd be looking at licensing issues too. So there's a whole plethora of organisations, all of whom have some involvement in making sure that disabled access is right. DJAZMI So with this number of organisations and bodies I mean how's anything going to ever get done? FAULKNER Well I think one of the main reasons that things actually move is pressure from the fans. If you're not happy with something that's in one of the stadia that you go to then you should talk to the club and tell them. COOK The reality is that football clubs are either struggling in the pyramid to survive or they're at the top end with huge shareholder pressure in terms of profits. So what we're asking them to do is as we know at some point going to cost money, not an easy thing to do and we appreciate that and it may come to, like in the States, where 1% of all stadia have to have disabled seating for example, that it does become law. After the dreadful disaster of Hillsborough stadia were converted into in the main seating stadia and that was done through legislation, through the backing of government and so on. Now that took in the main 12 years to achieve. So anything is achievable. Back to the Transcripts homepage Back to the You and Yours homepage The 麻豆约拍 is not responsible for external websites

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