Wheelchair ‘banned’ from football pitch

A WHEELCHAIR user who dreams of becoming a professional football coach was forced to crawl across a pitch during a training session – after his wheelchair was banned from the field.

Connor Fergusson, 24, who suffers from chronic fatigue and pain condition ME, was left humiliated when he was told he could not take his wheelchair on to an artificial grass 3G pitch in case it damaged the surface.

The incident happened while Mr Fergusson was coaching Dumfries side Heston Athletic’s under-15s at Dumfries High School.

Mr Fergusson, who turned to coaching after having to give up playing, said: “I was told I would need to coach from behind a fence that is about 5ft high, so I would not be able to see over it.”

Mr Fergusson was reduced to crawling across the pitch and kneeling on a cushion at the sidelines for the session.

Greystone Rovers, who manage the pitches out of hours, have denied Mr Fergusson was given the instruction and claimed he crawled through personal choice.

Mr Fergusson was also banned from a second pitch – Mid-Annandale AFC’s King Edward Park in Lockerbie – earlier this month.

He was left “in bits” when he was told to get off the pitch at the end of the match while heading back to his car.

Mid-Annandale AFC said: “This pitch is state-of-the-art and we don’t recommend wheelchairs because they can damage the fibres and put indentations under the sand.”