Eugen Svet is the head of the Kiev Pedagogical Rehabilitation Centre. He shared his thoughts with us about the UEFA Respect Inclusion – Football with No Limits project, which was delivered by the Centre for Access to Football in Europe around UEFA EURO 2012.

“For Ukraine, the development of audio descriptive commentary is just fantastic. Prior to UEFA EURO 2012, it was very rarely provided, and tended to just consist of somebody telling listeners what was happening in very little detail. It was in the Ukrainian Cup final match on the 6th of May that I heard the Respect Inclusion – Football with No Limits audio descriptive commentary for the first time, and the difference was staggering. There was absolutely no comparison.

“I felt that the work done by the commentators both in the cup final and during UEFA EURO 2012 was great – they were enthusiastic, informative and kept up with the game fantastically. This alone is a difficult skill for seasoned veterans, it was hard to believe that these commentators had been training only a short amount of time and were providing the service voluntarily. I spoke with a couple of the commentators and was surprised by their desire to improve and offer the best service possible. They were taking their roles very seriously and it paid off.

“There may have been one or two technical issues, and it was sometimes hard to hear the commentary over the crowd, but this was such a positive experience that this can be excused. The most important thing is the quality of the work, which was great. The crucial issue, though, is where do we go next? Ukraine must take audio descriptive commentary and offer it on a much wider scale. The difference it makes is immeasurable, and it must be the duty of state institutions to develop the use of the service across the country."