The Blind Leading The Blind By Phil Matthews
Dale and Irene Cooper are passionate Chesterfield fans. Both registered as blind or partially sighted - Dale has a certain limited vision, but his wife can see nothing.
Like all married couples they are mutually dependent, especially as Dale with his limited vision can tell his wife what is happening during a game.
Despite that at least one football club refused them access without a sighted helper unable to believe that the pair could cope by themselves. Both Dale and Irene hold down full time jobs.
Irene also has a guide dog that she and her husband use. The couple often takes the dog on away trips in order to negotiate the journey from railway station to ground.
On one such occasion a club that they proposed to visit explained that they would be welcome but the dog would have to be tied up outside the ground as they could not risk having it wander around the stadium or leaving unwanted calling cards. These are two things that guide dogs are specifically trained against.
The level of ignorance at some football clubs is remarkable. To a great extent, it is only the actions of disabled supporters clubs that have seen things improve at British football grounds. Bury's DSA was founded because: "We felt there was a need for a disabled supporters club at Bury because facilities were very basic to say the least."
Thanks to their work and the cooperation of the club things have improved vastly since - Gigg Lane has space for 55 wheelchairs and space for 6 visually impaired persons.
Similar successes have occurred at Everton where the local DSA are now: "EFC's main point of contact for developments around the design of new disabled viewing facilities at Goodison."
Stockport's DSA have gone even further afield in their aim "to bring more disabled supporters to Edgerley Park."
"Our 'away' travel has taken off and we have been as far afield as Sunderland and Oxford. We have also had memorable trips to local clubs such as Bury and Crewe where we have built up a good active relationship. Away trips are very special and have only been a dream for most disabled supporters. To some it is their first away match in 70 years of supporting SCFC!"
At Huddersfield Town, meanwhile, a couple of supporters who work in the braille transcription unit at the local prison are issuing braille copies of the match programme with the full support of the club.
It is perhaps because disabled supporters have taken so much action independently that clubs have been spurred into improving facilities.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, according to the National Association of Disabled Supporters it is at clubs that have relocated and built new grounds that they enjoy the best facilities. Derby County's Pride Park and Reading's Majewski Stadium being singled out as being closest to the ideal set up for disabled supporters.
By incorporating the views of their own disabled fans during design and construction many potential problems were ironed out at source.
Not all clubs are about to rebuild nor do many of them have the finance or space to adapt their current grounds accordingly, although money is available to help worthy projects from the Football Foundation.
Formulas are now in place to relate the number of wheelchair places in a ground to the capacity on a mathematical basis, but old grounds without room to expand will still fall foul of such things.
The National Audit of Football Stadia being carried out by the National Association of Disabled Supporters with financial assistance from One2One the mobile phone network probably holds the key to the best way forward.
The crucial point, though, is that NADS believe that their job is to advise not criticize.
According to chairman Alan Milner: "our role is not to wag the finger, but to work with clubs to ensure that the best possible facilities are made available to disabled fans."
"NADS is in a position to act as a united voice for disabled fans while offering impartial advice to clubs, and the audit will determine what is to be done."