On Saturday 22^nd October 2011, CAFE Western European Development Officer Keith Ferguson went along to a key meeting to discuss setting up a national DSA in Belgium.

The meeting was held in Zellick on the outskirts of Brussels. A big thank you goes to Intro-Events for providing the meeting venue and refreshments on what was a very sunny and productive day!

Over the past year CAFE, with great support from Open Stadion, Intro- Events and the Purple Army, have been establishing contacts and meeting with existing DSA’s, the football clubs themselves plus disabled fans who want to be involved.

Of the 16 teams in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League there is disabled support activity at 12 clubs, the vast majority of which were represented at the meeting which is great news for disabled fans in Belgium.

The new association wants to ensure a Pan Disability approach is taken and they have the backing of various organisations in Belgium, for example Enter VZW.

The name will be the National Disabled Supporters Association of Belgium on a temporary basis. A shorter name with more impact will be decided upon in the very near future.

The next step is to fill the office bearer posts. Geert Thomas of the Purple Army (supporters of R.S.C. Anderlecht) has been a keen advocate of setting up a national DSA and everybody at the meeting agreed he should be actively involved by taking on one of the posts. In early December the next meeting will take place. High on the agenda will be key current issues which need worked on to improve access at ProLeague fixtures.

Published 07/11/2011