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Level Playing Field Annual General Meeting

21 June 2011

Level Playing Field (LPF) Annual General Meeting (AGM) which highlighted another year of important work was hosted in historic place.

Representatives from Centre for Access to Football in Europe (CAFE) were among many attendees at the Level Playing Field (former NADS – National Assembly of Disabled Supporters) Annual General Meeting that was held at Westminster in the Houses of Parliament on 9th June 2011.

I was impressed not only by the House of Parliament where the AGM took place but also a wide variety of attendees, which included representatives from Football League, Football Association, Football Licencing Authority, Professional Football Clubs, Disabled Supporters Groups and individuals. It was good to see people from different levels of football coming together to work collectively to improve the situation of football fans across England and Wales. At the beginning the AGM was addressed by LPF Chair – Joyce Cook, Vice Presidents Lord Rosser and Lord Faulkner all of whom highlighted the importance and the success of campaigns run across the country promoting an equality of supporter experience and further development of successful partnerships with clubs, Football Foundation, Football League and the FA.

Furthermore, Joyce Cook raised sad but significant recent issues of disability abuse. There is an increase need for monitoring and addressing this subject. Joyce rightly pointed out that most disabled people face discrimination on a day to day basis, whether it is because of attitudinal, physical, sensory or intellectual barriers and abuse. There was an emotional but strong agreement within the room that this issue cannot be ignored.

Additionally, a representative from the Football League presented the results of the ‘mystery shopper’ experience that has been run in some of the English stadiums. The study showed a great need for the improvement of not only facilities but also services and further staff disability awareness training. Finally, Mark Bradley from The Fan Experience Company presented his work and asked for the cooperation and volunteers from disabled fans groups.

All in all it was a very exciting and interesting day. The quality of AGM reflected the greatness and quality of the place where the AGM has been hosted. I feel it is an important story to share with the rest of Europe as we can all learn a great amount from experience and knowledge from LPF.

You can find out more about Level Playing Field, by following this link: http://www.levelplayingfield.org.uk/default.aspx

 
Karolina Zaleska
Administration Manager