CAFE Managing Director Joanna Deagle attended the recent UEFA-European Union Stadium and Security Conference in Munich, and spoke about the importance of ensuring accessible football matches for all.

The annual conference brought together around 350 representatives of UEFA, the EU, national football associations, football clubs, police forces and other stakeholders for discussions and exchanges on the broad range of security, safety and service related issues surrounding the game.

In a panel session on updates in Access for All, Joanna discussed the value in installing Changing Places toilets at stadiums and venues, and how some disabled spectators can find it impossible to attend matches at stadiums without such facilities.

The panel also included Rangers FC, who presented their new sensory room, Broxi's Den, and Colour Blind Awareness, who spoke about colourblind-friendly stadiums.

The conference takes place at the start of each new club competition season, and the aim of the Munich gathering was to help participants keep pace with latest developments in stadium safety and security; share experiences from the previous season; and promote an integrated pan-European approach to security, involving governments, municipal authorities, police, security forces, football authorities, supporters and local communities.

Other topics on the agenda included how to counter the continuing problem of violence in and around stadiums, the threat of potential terrorist attacks at football matches, the dangers posed by, among others, pyrotechnics and drones, and potential liabilities and risks for the organisers of football events.

UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin described the UEFA-EU security conference as “a unique forum in which all those working in the field of stadiums and security can meet to discuss, exchange ideas, make proposals and set the course for ongoing work in the future.”

“Supporters are the lifeblood of football,” he said. “Without them, the game would lose its atmosphere, its passion and its meaning.”

To read more about the UEFA-EU Stadium and Security Conference, please click here.

Published 13/09/2017