by Stuart Mitchell

A survey conducted by the Level Playing Field charity shows that disabled football fans have a significantly worse experience when supporting their teams in Europe.

The charity seeks to improve the experience of disabled fans attending live sport and works with supporters, clubs and governing bodies to campaign for improvements.

A total of 79% of respondents commented they have been required to sit with home fans as an away supporter, a result that the LPF organisation addresses as ‘worrying’.

A spokesman said: “It represents a significant safety concern. The risks should not be ignored when it comes to positioning disabled supporters, particularly since over a quarter of disabled fans have identified the attitudes of others’ as a barrier to attending.”

Of the 232 survey submissions, 53% of the participants rated the accessibility conditions with results below ‘adequate’.

The results show a significantly worse option than the average rating of adequate from the comparable question in the most recent Annual Fan Survey conducted in 2023 that related to stadiums in England and Wales.

Fans have also had their say on UEFA (The Union of European Football Associations) communication, with 29% of supporters describing it as ‘non-existent’.

Loyal Kilmarnock FC supporter, Laurie Finlayson, agrees that communication for disabled fans, is still a big problem in Scotland.

He said: “A lot of the time disabled fans don’t know if they can access the grounds, they need to phone in advance and things like that which provides a bit of a challenge. Other people can just go up to a stadium, but you can’t do that as a disabled fan. You phone up in advance, and hope that there is a space.”

Laurie, 19, suggests there is a straight-forward solution on what can improve the process.

“More of a synergy between the disabled supporters associations and the clubs, a lot of the time they are run more like separate entities, and that is something that would make a difference, it may be a subtle difference, but it’s one that would have a sizeable impact.”

Tony Taylor, Chair of Level Playing Field commented: “We are very aware of the improvements which still need to be made on these shores and continue to campaign strong for those.”

“A key issue that was repeatedly raised was away wheelchair users being seated with home fans. This was repeatedly cited in the written comments as having a detrimental impact on those supports and signifies a widespread and monumental failure of duty to those fans.”

“It is clear that disabled fans currently lack confidence around European competitions.”

And Killie follower, Finlayson, explains the impact these process can have on the decision to attend a match and added: “It does sometimes make you rethink because you say to yourself, can I really be bothered waiting for someone to answer and tell you whether there are any tickets left.”