ACCESS AREAS ARE SO VITAL!
A FAN’S VIEW AS A WHEELCHAIR USER
BEING a 24-year-old man with cerebral palsy and a wheelchair user, I had more reason than most to be upset when Oldham Athletic were relegated to the National League a year ago.
I imagined that every away day would mean watching the game from a worm’s-eye view, unable to see anything but the touchline mud.
I also imagined being in a mixed-fan zone, with the wheelchair users of Halifax or Gateshead. This is halfand-half scarf magnanimity territory – a place in which I, an Oldham fanatic, am an alien.
Worse still, I thought I’d be in with the main body of home fans. It’s a good job we’re so rubbish away from home – four wins all season – so I haven’t really been in a position to wind anyone up by doing something incendiary like celebrating a goal. Chance would be a fine thing.
But that also means that I have to wear it when opposition fans celebrate. I’ve done a lot of that this season. If you are among the main body of Oldham fans, you probably get about a second before the
Oldham Athletic fan AARON DISKIN shares his views on stadium access for wheelchair users
roar hits you to process the fact that the ball is once again lodged in your net.
You get to take a deep breath so that you have the lungful of air you need for the mournful sigh you’re about to let out. You don’t get a second if you’re among the other team’s fans. It’s immediate and it’s right in your face.
Raucous
My experience this season hasn’t exactly been everything that I dreaded when we were relegated, and everyone knows why facilities in the National League are not where they are in the Football League. The law on wheelchair access is based on proportionality so if your club is super-wealthy your facilities should be better than if your club’s resources are more modest.
To illustrate that, the best ground that I’ve ever visited was Fulham’s Craven Cottage in 2019, then as now a Premier League ground. That opinion is obviously tainted by the fact that Oldham beat Fulham 2-1 against silly odds.
was in among the Oldham fans, high enough to see the whole game and low enough to smell the grass. Someone even came along and took our food and drink orders. It brings a tear to my eye whenever I think of being part of that away end.
Oldham fans are louder and more raucous than we have any reason to be, and 4,000 of us going bananas was…it’s why you go to football. It’s the high that almost excuses the lows.
Similarly, my best experience as a wheelchair user this season was away at Wrexham, the National League moneybags, the club everyone hates but would love to be. Hollywood dosh has bought a lot more than Paul Mullin’s goals.
The provision for me at the Racecourse is on a par with what you get at Craven Cottage. It’s that good. Your vantage point is spot on, and you don’t have to run the gauntlet of the queue for the last pie. Unlike my experience of Craven Cottage (did I mention Oldham won 2-1?), my opinion of The Racecourse is not compromised by a positive result. We got hammered 5-1 and Mullin’s hat-trick miraculously did not include a penalty.
Nevertheless, all clubs at National League level and beyond can learn from Wrexham. The provision at The Racecourse did not simply materialise because they have fat stacks of cash. It is also the result of awareness, engageI ment and commitment, all of which cost nothing.
Kerry Evans, Wrexham’s disability liaison officer and a fellow wheelchair user, told me that she has a monthly meeting with the owners. Imagine that.
Engagement
A monthly meeting in which Hollywood royalty and/or their people discuss the arrangements made for wheelchair users and those with other disabilities – a tiny minority of fans who need a vast amount more attention than everyone else. That’s why Wrexham’s facilities are the gold standard.
In that respect, Oldham are making good progress. When Frank Rothwell took over as owner last August, he made it plain from day one that his door was open to the fans.
Because of Frank’s openness, I founded OADID – Oldham Athletic Disability Inclusion & Diversity – as a focal point for club engagement. We don’t want anyone left out of the conversation, so a supporters’ organisation is the best way to collate our voices and feed them into the club.
Frank is a supremely positive person: he hears you out and then reflexively says yes…with the caveat that he’s not sure at that moment how he’ll go about whatever it is.
I’ll tell you all about the worst ground I’ve ever visited now Rochdale are officially relegated.
See you soon guys...