Lame excuses becoming invalid.

[forlanssister 3,050]

The issue of facilities or rather the lack of them for wheelchair using football fans made one of its periodical forays onto the national news the other week thanks to two unrelated incidents both north and south of the border.

 

Firstly the absolutely scandalous treatment of Scottish wheelchair fans in front of the South Stand at Hampden when Scotland played Germany. Make absolutely no mistake the SFA were fully aware of just how poor an experience it is for a wheelchair user sitting in the front of the South Stand is under normal circumstances, things like the restricted view, the total lack of protection from the elements and the incessant large drips of water from the roof (which ends directly above the wheelchair spaces) if there’s been so much as a passing shower. The simple fact is the Hampden suits grabbed the filthy lucre from German TV and the wheelchair fans became nothing more than a minor irritant to be batted away with nothing but a mealy mouthed apology and a refund.

 

A spokesperson for the SFA said: “The Scottish FA apologises unreservedly to those supporters accommodated in the South Stand accessible areas whose view was seriously restricted by the double television production.

“We will offer a full refund to those supporters affected and will review matters ahead of the European Qualifier against Poland next month.”

 

How about putting every single penny of the German TV money towards improving the current pathetic wheelchair facilities at Hampden? No I don’t think so either, after all this is the SFA and if it’s not in their own personal interest then it simply doesn’t matter.

 

Given the money spent on constructing Hampden the wheelchair facilities should have been first class but it’s clear they were little more than at best an afterthought. To get to the wheelchair section at the front of the South Stand you have to enter via the vehicle ramp at the side of the stand, the one you see the buses entering on the TV. Try constructing a wheelchair ramp of the same extremely steep gradient as that ramp and you’d have the Health & Safety and the Council Planning Department knocking on your door threatening to knock it down and take you to court.

 

Once you’ve negotiated the ramp you then have to negotiate the horse shit which is simply left where it falls in the underground section of Hampden. Then you roll through the puddles (there’s always puddles even if it hasn’t rained for days!) to your unsheltered space with its restricted worms eye view.

 

Now it’s not all 100% bad at Hampden there are a couple of areas providing excellent facilities. In the corner of the West and South Stands there are a handful of spaces that provide great sheltered spaces and an unobstructed view of the entire pitch (a slight overhang restricts sight of high balls) though the access route to these spaces is rather convoluted the spaces are nonetheless most welcome (I assume the same is replicated in the corner of the South and East Stands but I’ve never been there to see for myself).

 

Since the Commonwealth Games there are now some spaces (approx 7 in the Rangers end and again I assume the same at the other end ) in the rear of the North Stand, these are among as good of facilities as I have came across offering clear unobstructed lines of sight even when those seated in front of the wheelchair area stand up exactly the type facility that the forthcoming UEFA regulations want to see provided. However these spaces come at a cost both to install and with the ongoing reduction in revenue from the seats that are lost in the retrospective installation of wheelchair facilities, I estimate the loss of 10 to 12 seats for each wheelchair space provided. Given the cost involved in adapting Hampden for the Commonwealth Games then reinstating it afterwards questions have to asked of the SFA, Glasgow Council and probably the Scottish Government too as to why not one single penny was spend improving the wheelchair facilities in the South Stand.

 

With the level access from street level the South Stand at Hampden could and should have provided one of the finest wheelchair facilities in the UK in not in the whole of Europe but Queens Park, the SFA and whoever else was responsible for it simply didn’t give it a second thought.

 

Now to south of the border where all Premier League clubs have decided to bring their grounds up to the required standard by 2017. This is a significant and very welcome development though not one that has come around through altruistic reasons but rather cold economic ones with pressure being brought to bear upon the sponsors of the richest league in the world.

 

Old Trafford is often held up as an example of good wheelchair facilities and having sampled them that’s true up to a point. The spaces whilst behind the goal and to the side offer clear unobstructed lines of sight in three elevated tiers, access to a lounge with food and drink being a rare and welcome surprise. However where the facilities fall short as is often the case is that they barely have a third of the recommended spaces. My personal favourite ground in UK is Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium which virtually already complies with UEFA’s wish list (though it too falls a few spaces short) of having wheelchair viewing areas spaced all through the ground at all levels and not lumped together pitch side. In the grand scheme of things in relation to their turnover the Premier League clubs will be paying virtually peanuts to collectively bring their grounds up to standard. It’s only taken 20 years after the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act for us to have reached this point; I’m at a loss as to whether this is cause to laugh or to cry.

[forlanssister 3,050]

Finally matters much closer to the heart regarding Rangers and where they’re at and where they need to be in regards to wheelchair facilities. To be blunt in regards to wheelchair facilities Rangers are as a former CEO admitted “not in a good place”. I have a degree of sympathy in this matter for the current Boardroom incumbents as it is they who are now responsible for bringing Ibrox up to standard to meet the forthcoming regulations due to the total neglect under previous regimes.

 

There are currently iirc 65 spaces in the front of the West Enclosure and in the East Enclosure (a legacy of the Commonwealth Games) a further 35 spaces. Like the South Stand at Hampden these are pitch side restricted view and fail to comply with the standards of the upcoming UEFA requirements. The Govan West Corner which normally houses the away fans has 7 wheelchair spaces (these were retrospectively installed to accommodate away fans not installed when the corner was constructed) which provide an excellent elevated viewpoint (when the stewards apply common sense). Also the Broomloan Stand contains 4 spaces (these were installed to save the inevitable public embarrassment of Rangers being taken to court by those across the city)which considering their rumoured cost £80k for the 4 are rather poor quality restricted view spaces yet they can very easily and relatively inexpensively be converted to comply with the forthcoming criteria. Additionally the hospitality boxes in Argyle House can accommodate wheelchairs via the use of a portable ramp. All other areas of the stadium Club Deck, Main stand, Copland Stand etc cannot accommodate wheelchair fans. So currently Ibrox can accommodate 111 wheelchairs (+ Argyle House hospitality, I think there are currently 2 wheelchair users using it on a regular basis) while the new UEFA regulations state 210 for the first 40k of capacity and an additional 2 spaces per 1000 capacity giving the requirement for Ibrox of 230 wheelchair spaces.

 

Reaching the guideline of 230 wheelchair spaces at Ibrox isn’t going to be easy and it certainly isn’t going to be cheap and will probably result in a not too insignificant reduction in capacity. It will be interesting to see how Rangers are going to implement the changes required. I’d prefer to see them do it in a proper structured manner stand by stand if necessary even if that takes a little longer to implement, just how thorough UEFA will be in policing the regulations I’m sceptical even though I’m told they’re extremely serious I look at the way they police the FFP regulations then sigh. One thing however seems certain the days of grouping all the wheelchairs together pitch side and to the mercy of the elements will be consigned to the history books (hopefully!).

 

I realise that all this may be totally insignificant to you, your loved ones and your mates but that’s today, tomorrow it just might be a different story.

 

Some links to look at when you’re suffering from a bout of boredom.

 

http://cafefootball.eu/~cafefoot/sites/default/files/contentfiles/pdfs/UEFAandCAFEGoodPracticeGuide-accessible%281%29.pdf

 

http://www.levelplayingfield.org.uk/what-expect-accessible-stadium

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34249011

 

http://www.safetyatsportsgrounds.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/accessible-stadia.pdf

 

http://www.stadiumconsultancy.com/documents/BVCAFEPres_Withmovies_lowres.pdf

[pete 2,499]

As I am not an Invalid I never thought anything about invalid places anywhere. Having my mother on holiday recently, who needs a rollator to get around her own house, I was shocked at the problems invalids have to incur. We took my mother out in a wheelchair and it shocked me that people wanted to walk in a straight line and I had to try and steer the wheelchair to avoid them. Many Restaurants,pubs Cafe's have steps at the front door which means you are not welcome there..

I will stick my hand up and admit i never saw this problem until recently. One of my finest memories of old Ibrox was the invalid cars parked around the athletic track. Totally no thought that these people have no toilet facilites if needed.

FS I really hope you can get things changed as everyone has a right for reasonable basic facilities.

[BlueMazza 0]

It's disappointing we are still so lacking in facilities, it's long been an issue at Rangers. I imagine it wouldn't have been high on the previous board's priorities though given the current spate of indictments. I hope the current board go through the process properly and really consider the fans. I'm hopeful that the fan group they are building is to ensure they do.

[Frankie 8,150]

The situation is shameful.

 

Rangers must approach the issue with an open mind and deliver the kind of facilities that we can all be proud of. Our disabled kin should not be patronised or ignored - just given the same opportunities as the rest of us.

[Frankie 8,150]

PS: Now available on the main site.

 

http://www.gersnet.co.uk/index.php/news-category/current-affairs/448-lame-excuses-becoming-invalid

Edited September 29, 2015 by Frankie

[Frankie 8,150]

FS: How difficult would be it to transform Bar 72 into an area accommodating disabled fans? Or would it be possible to build similar cantilever constructions in the Copland and Broomloan stands?

 

With the RFFF cash sitting unused and groups like Rangers First interested in community projects, then there's no reason why Rangers can't push forward with this at pace.

[Bluedell 5,329]

Excellent article FS, and good to read a reasoned and informed piece on an important issue that many of us would normally not consider.

[D'Artagnan 173]

An absolute belter of an article FS.

 

I would stronly recommend reading any of the links FS has posted -in particular the cafefootball one, which while long, really opens your eyes.

Edited September 29, 2015 by D'Artagnan

[calscot 0]

The Dons Stadium in MK looks to have pretty good wheelchair facilities with 164 spaces (for a capacity of 30500) with a seat for the carer at the back of the lower tier at concourse level with simple access to catering and toilets. Not sure how it is in the reality of experiencing it, but it does look well planned and every space has a decent view. Entry to the stadium is also at concourse level on one side.

 

It's actually a really excellent stadium all round, with good sized, cushioned seats and plenty of leg room and no restricted views that I can see.

 

Ibrox is immensely impressive in size, history and lots of other ways, but it's starting to seem a bit dated in comparison.