As 2011 comes to a close, we take a look back at some of the fantastic achievements that the last twelve months have brought.

Undoubtedly our biggest event of the year was our first ever European conference, held at Wembley Stadium in September. ‘Total Football, Total Access’ was attended by over 170 delegates from all different areas of life and from all over Europe. The two day event highlighted areas of good practice and raised awareness of key issues. An important theme of the conference was that sometimes very little, inexpensive changes can make a huge difference, and the Derby County Story demonstrated some of these possibilities.

The conference also saw the launch of the UEFA and CAFE Good Practice Guide – ‘Access For All’, which has been created to offer vital guidance to stadium access for disabled supporters. This Guide has already proved to be an invaluable advisory document to many supporters and we hope that it continues to help in 2012.

We also launched the official UEFA Respect Inclusion – Football With No Limits project in 2011. Working with our local implementing partners, we are running this awareness project in the host nations of Poland and Ukraine to promote good access for disabled supporters before, during and after the tournament. The project includes setting up local advisory groups and liaising with local businesses to improve the overall experience for supporters and providing commentary to blind and partially sighted supporters during all matches.

2011 also saw the birth of CLUB CAFE – a network of like-minded individuals and organisations who support our aims and objectives. The purpose of CLUB CAFE is to act as a support network and demonstration of stakeholder solidarity, with a louder voice to work towards greater access for all.

2011 has been a great year for CAFE and we are already working towards making 2012 even better. We would like to thank you all for your continued support as we work towards our goal of Total Football, Total Access.

Published 05/12/2011