THE BEAT CONTACTED all 20 League of Ireland clubs on the back of some of the topics that were brought up during the course of this week’s column. It can be read here.
As per licensing requirement ‘PAD 1.11 – DISABILITY ACCESS OFFICER’ – “the licence applicant must have appointed a disability access officer to support the provision of inclusive accessible facilities and services. The disability access officer will regularly meet and collaborate with the relevant club personnel on all related matters.”
With that in mind, The Beat emailed the same five questions to all clubs on Wednesday morning and requested a reply by 5pm on Thursday ahead of publication on Friday morning. While not all clubs provided a response in time, we will update this article as and when they do.
The questions were as follows;
1 – Can you confirm the name of the person acting as your club’s Disability Access Officer (DAO)? Is it a dedicated role or one that is part of a wider job spec?
2 – Can you provide a description of the current facilities in your ground for wheelchair users?
3 – Can you detail how often your DAO has met with club personnel over the past 12 months?
4 – Is there a dedicated section for wheelchair users in the away section of your ground?
5 – Does your club offer a ‘wheelchair accessible’ option when home and away fans are purchasing individual match tickets?
Here are the responses.
Premier Division
Bohemians
Since 2023, club volunteer Irvine Ferris has served as our Access Officer.
In Dalymount Park, neither the Des Kelly stand nor the Mono stand (away supporters) have wheelchair accessible facilities.
Wheelchair users are accommodated in front of block A of the Jodi Stand, or the adjacent tramway terrace dugout which also accommodates players from our youth teams.
Supporters who purchase a Des Kelly stand or Mono Stand ticket, and who require a wheelchair accessible area are permitted access to the Jodi stand to avail of this.
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This is communicated to visiting clubs as part of our matchday operations planning so that their supporters can be made aware of wheelchair accessible facilities in Dalymount.
Irvine is in contact with club staff on a near weekly basis to discuss any issues raised by supporters, to discuss initiatives to improve the matchday experience for supporters with disabilities or additional needs, and/or to address specific disability related queries sent to him.
For all home games, an accessible ticket ballot is operated by Irvine.
Successful applicants (many of our applicants are wheelchair users) are then issued a link to purchase a concession ticket which includes a complimentary assistance/guest ticket.
This has been in operation for several years with an increase year on year in supporters with disabilities availing of the ballot service to secure tickets.
Irvine also oversees our Audio Described Commentary (ADC) service.
This was first introduced by our former Access Officer James Flanagan in 2019 and has been hugely successful in enhancing the matchday experience in Dalymount for supporters with visual impairments.
Our volunteers that make the ADC service available at every home game have on several occasions, been invited by the FAI to provide the service at FAI Cup Finals and Ireland international games.
Cork City
1 – Erika Ní Thuama is our Disability Access Officer. It is part of her role in the area of Community, Football & Social responsibility.
2 – We have 4 dedicated wheelchair user viewing areas in Turners Cross Stadium with space for at least 26 wheelchairs. There are two at the front of the Curragh Road (Shed End) stand – spaces for 5 wheelchairs in each side. There are two further areas at the back of the St Anne’s End including one at the back of the away section – space for at least 8 wheelchairs in each area. There are wheelchair accessible toilets in the Donie Forde Stand, Curragh Road Stand and two in the St Anne’s End.
3 – Our DAO is a full time employee at at the club. She meets regularly with relevant club personnel including the event controller and stadium personnel who she meets on a weekly basis. Erika also communicates regularly with a supporter who attends every home game, most away games and is a wheelchair user. This allows for feedback to be fed directly back to the club in terms of accessibility at home games but also means that Erika or another club representative can assist in real time if any issues arise at away games.
4 – [There is] an elevated viewing area specifically for wheelchair users at the back of the away stand.
5 – Wheelchair users purchase a standard match ticket. Those requiring assistance email the club and a complimentary assistant ticket is provided.
Derry City
1 – Can you confirm the name of the person acting as your club’s Disability Access Officer (DAO)? Is it a dedicated role or one that is part of a wider job spec?
Karen Pyne
2 – Can you provide a description of the current facilities in your ground for wheelchair users.
We have 3 wheelchair accessible entry and access gates and stand entry points. We can accommodate 16 wheelchair spaces at the front of the Mark Farren stand (with carer seating). There is a maximum of 24 more places allocated in the new stand for users and carer. We have five more places at the front of the Southend Stand. Wheelchair users are charged a nominal fee and carers are free. We also have disabled toilets in both ends.
3 – Can you detail how often your DAO has met with club personnel over the past 12 months?
Once a month at present.
4 – Is there a dedicated section for wheelchair users in the away section of your ground?
Yes- see above
5 – Does your club offer a ‘wheelchair accessible’ option when home and away fans are purchasing individual match tickets?
Yes for both.
Drogheda United
1: Barry Matthews is our DAO – he is newly appointed in a volunteer position. His email is Barry.matthews@droghedaunited.ie
2: We have a wheelchair section on the clubhouse side of the stadium with a disability/accessible toilet in the clubhouse.
3: It’s a newly appointed role for us – we have had 3 meetings, and he is working closely with our FSR officer Aoife Burns.
4: The wheelchair section is a mixed fans area on the same side of the ground as the away terrace.
5: Details for wheelchair accessible tickets are listed on the event details (currently for games vs Derry and Bohemians) on our ticketing page: https://droghedaunited.ie/ticketing/
Shamrock Rovers
1: Graham Merrigan is our DAO. It’s a dedicated role.
2: Dedicated wheelchair parking, wheelchair toilets in every stand. Ground level wheelchair viewing bays in south, east and north stand. Elevator to access suites.
3: Appointed recently, Graham has open communication with club personnel weekly, meets with the club at each home match. Graham will also speak with the matchday event controller to discuss any issue that may arise before or during a match.
4: Yes, there are 2 ground level wheelchair bays in the East Stand in the away section.
5: Yes, wheelchair + companion tickets are available to purchase for home & away fans through the website, email or over the phone.
Sligo Rovers
1: Anthony Quinn. Part of a wider Job Spec (all voluntary positions)
2: Wheelchair parking on site in stadium car park. Wheelchair accessible entry points at both the home and away enterance. Wheelchair area in main stand, not available in away section. Wheelchair area can accommodate 5 chairs with 2 carers per wheelchair.
3: Twice, once every 6 months.
4: Not a dedicated section but part of the away section is completly flat (behind the goals). In most cases we work with the away team and and any wheelchair users who are away fans are permitted in the wheelchair section in the main stand. (home section)
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5: Not yet, something we can work on.
First Division
Kerry FC
We have a dedicated Disability Officer and Disability and Care Support area in Mounthawk Park.
As we have limited wheelchair space, we advertise that anyone wishing to come to the game makes contact with the club prior to the game and they are facilitated free of charge for both the person in the wheelchair and their carer. There is also an accessible toilet in the ground.
If we have other fans with restricted mobility, who aren’t in wheelchairs, are also facilitated in this area. Our disability area is fully covered and adjacent to the stand. It’s also in very close proximity to the pitch, allowing for the best possible matchday experience. This section offers space for both Home & Away supporters and has worked extremely well over the last number of years.
Having both home and away fans together in this area often brings a fantastic atmosphere and the bragging rights are often talked about during the game. Our DAO is in constant contact with the event controller and is present at every home game in Mounthawk Park.
Wexford
Mark Ross: Although I’m the 1st ever FSR Football in the community Officer at Wexford FC a role I’ve now had for coming upto two years, I’ve only been the Disability Inclusion Officer for a few weeks.
Firstly, not trying to bat away from the club’s moral and legal responsibilities, the club are still in a transition situation after the new board took over.
The club has a powerchair team which I started 2 years ago on the 4th of May 2023, and have been asking for wheelchair access to the clubhouse second floor ever since.
The main problem is quite simple, the current facility is being knocked down and we are to move to a new purpose build facility in Wexford town, as a new road will be running through Ferrycarrig Park. So installing a lift would be financially unsustainable in the current facility.
Now on the plus side, because Ferrycarrig Park is so open (only 1 stand) access to the ground is extremely easy. All one level, and we have small ramps if needed to gain access to the pitch when needed. Also access to catering vans and shop are very easy. Parking for wheelchair users is next to the pitch and is a designated area solely for them.
But as of yet, no covered viewing area has been erected for wheelchair users, for either home or away fans. We locate them on the corner of the pitch with unrestricted viewing.
I have held no meetings with the board or staff as of yet on any match day Disability Inclusion policies. This will be addressed within a matter of weeks.
As the community Officer for Wexford FC I have been trying to bring in policies for all additional needs supporters, and will continue to raise these important points with the board.
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Five questions put to 20 League of Ireland clubs on wheelchair access
THE BEAT CONTACTED all 20 League of Ireland clubs on the back of some of the topics that were brought up during the course of this week’s column. It can be read here.
As per licensing requirement ‘PAD 1.11 – DISABILITY ACCESS OFFICER’ – “the licence applicant must have appointed a disability access officer to support the provision of inclusive accessible facilities and services. The disability access officer will regularly meet and collaborate with the relevant club personnel on all related matters.”
With that in mind, The Beat emailed the same five questions to all clubs on Wednesday morning and requested a reply by 5pm on Thursday ahead of publication on Friday morning. While not all clubs provided a response in time, we will update this article as and when they do.
The questions were as follows;
1 – Can you confirm the name of the person acting as your club’s Disability Access Officer (DAO)? Is it a dedicated role or one that is part of a wider job spec?
2 – Can you provide a description of the current facilities in your ground for wheelchair users?
3 – Can you detail how often your DAO has met with club personnel over the past 12 months?
4 – Is there a dedicated section for wheelchair users in the away section of your ground?
5 – Does your club offer a ‘wheelchair accessible’ option when home and away fans are purchasing individual match tickets?
Here are the responses.
Premier Division
Bohemians
Since 2023, club volunteer Irvine Ferris has served as our Access Officer.
In Dalymount Park, neither the Des Kelly stand nor the Mono stand (away supporters) have wheelchair accessible facilities.
Wheelchair users are accommodated in front of block A of the Jodi Stand, or the adjacent tramway terrace dugout which also accommodates players from our youth teams.
Supporters who purchase a Des Kelly stand or Mono Stand ticket, and who require a wheelchair accessible area are permitted access to the Jodi stand to avail of this.
This is communicated to visiting clubs as part of our matchday operations planning so that their supporters can be made aware of wheelchair accessible facilities in Dalymount.
Irvine is in contact with club staff on a near weekly basis to discuss any issues raised by supporters, to discuss initiatives to improve the matchday experience for supporters with disabilities or additional needs, and/or to address specific disability related queries sent to him.
For all home games, an accessible ticket ballot is operated by Irvine.
Successful applicants (many of our applicants are wheelchair users) are then issued a link to purchase a concession ticket which includes a complimentary assistance/guest ticket.
This has been in operation for several years with an increase year on year in supporters with disabilities availing of the ballot service to secure tickets.
Irvine also oversees our Audio Described Commentary (ADC) service.
This was first introduced by our former Access Officer James Flanagan in 2019 and has been hugely successful in enhancing the matchday experience in Dalymount for supporters with visual impairments.
Our volunteers that make the ADC service available at every home game have on several occasions, been invited by the FAI to provide the service at FAI Cup Finals and Ireland international games.
Cork City
1 – Erika Ní Thuama is our Disability Access Officer. It is part of her role in the area of Community, Football & Social responsibility.
2 – We have 4 dedicated wheelchair user viewing areas in Turners Cross Stadium with space for at least 26 wheelchairs. There are two at the front of the Curragh Road (Shed End) stand – spaces for 5 wheelchairs in each side. There are two further areas at the back of the St Anne’s End including one at the back of the away section – space for at least 8 wheelchairs in each area. There are wheelchair accessible toilets in the Donie Forde Stand, Curragh Road Stand and two in the St Anne’s End.
3 – Our DAO is a full time employee at at the club. She meets regularly with relevant club personnel including the event controller and stadium personnel who she meets on a weekly basis. Erika also communicates regularly with a supporter who attends every home game, most away games and is a wheelchair user. This allows for feedback to be fed directly back to the club in terms of accessibility at home games but also means that Erika or another club representative can assist in real time if any issues arise at away games.
4 – [There is] an elevated viewing area specifically for wheelchair users at the back of the away stand.
5 – Wheelchair users purchase a standard match ticket. Those requiring assistance email the club and a complimentary assistant ticket is provided.
Derry City
1 – Can you confirm the name of the person acting as your club’s Disability Access Officer (DAO)? Is it a dedicated role or one that is part of a wider job spec?
Karen Pyne
2 – Can you provide a description of the current facilities in your ground for wheelchair users.
We have 3 wheelchair accessible entry and access gates and stand entry points. We can accommodate 16 wheelchair spaces at the front of the Mark Farren stand (with carer seating). There is a maximum of 24 more places allocated in the new stand for users and carer. We have five more places at the front of the Southend Stand. Wheelchair users are charged a nominal fee and carers are free. We also have disabled toilets in both ends.
3 – Can you detail how often your DAO has met with club personnel over the past 12 months?
Once a month at present.
4 – Is there a dedicated section for wheelchair users in the away section of your ground?
Yes- see above
5 – Does your club offer a ‘wheelchair accessible’ option when home and away fans are purchasing individual match tickets?
Yes for both.
Drogheda United
1: Barry Matthews is our DAO – he is newly appointed in a volunteer position. His email is Barry.matthews@droghedaunited.ie
2: We have a wheelchair section on the clubhouse side of the stadium with a disability/accessible toilet in the clubhouse.
3: It’s a newly appointed role for us – we have had 3 meetings, and he is working closely with our FSR officer Aoife Burns.
4: The wheelchair section is a mixed fans area on the same side of the ground as the away terrace.
5: Details for wheelchair accessible tickets are listed on the event details (currently for games vs Derry and Bohemians) on our ticketing page: https://droghedaunited.ie/ticketing/
Shamrock Rovers
1: Graham Merrigan is our DAO. It’s a dedicated role.
2: Dedicated wheelchair parking, wheelchair toilets in every stand. Ground level wheelchair viewing bays in south, east and north stand. Elevator to access suites.
3: Appointed recently, Graham has open communication with club personnel weekly, meets with the club at each home match. Graham will also speak with the matchday event controller to discuss any issue that may arise before or during a match.
4: Yes, there are 2 ground level wheelchair bays in the East Stand in the away section.
5: Yes, wheelchair + companion tickets are available to purchase for home & away fans through the website, email or over the phone.
Sligo Rovers
1: Anthony Quinn. Part of a wider Job Spec (all voluntary positions)
2: Wheelchair parking on site in stadium car park. Wheelchair accessible entry points at both the home and away enterance. Wheelchair area in main stand, not available in away section. Wheelchair area can accommodate 5 chairs with 2 carers per wheelchair.
3: Twice, once every 6 months.
4: Not a dedicated section but part of the away section is completly flat (behind the goals). In most cases we work with the away team and and any wheelchair users who are away fans are permitted in the wheelchair section in the main stand. (home section)
5: Not yet, something we can work on.
First Division
Kerry FC
We have a dedicated Disability Officer and Disability and Care Support area in Mounthawk Park.
As we have limited wheelchair space, we advertise that anyone wishing to come to the game makes contact with the club prior to the game and they are facilitated free of charge for both the person in the wheelchair and their carer. There is also an accessible toilet in the ground.
If we have other fans with restricted mobility, who aren’t in wheelchairs, are also facilitated in this area. Our disability area is fully covered and adjacent to the stand. It’s also in very close proximity to the pitch, allowing for the best possible matchday experience. This section offers space for both Home & Away supporters and has worked extremely well over the last number of years.
Having both home and away fans together in this area often brings a fantastic atmosphere and the bragging rights are often talked about during the game. Our DAO is in constant contact with the event controller and is present at every home game in Mounthawk Park.
Wexford
Mark Ross: Although I’m the 1st ever FSR Football in the community Officer at Wexford FC a role I’ve now had for coming upto two years, I’ve only been the Disability Inclusion Officer for a few weeks.
Firstly, not trying to bat away from the club’s moral and legal responsibilities, the club are still in a transition situation after the new board took over.
The club has a powerchair team which I started 2 years ago on the 4th of May 2023, and have been asking for wheelchair access to the clubhouse second floor ever since.
The main problem is quite simple, the current facility is being knocked down and we are to move to a new purpose build facility in Wexford town, as a new road will be running through Ferrycarrig Park. So installing a lift would be financially unsustainable in the current facility.
Now on the plus side, because Ferrycarrig Park is so open (only 1 stand) access to the ground is extremely easy. All one level, and we have small ramps if needed to gain access to the pitch when needed. Also access to catering vans and shop are very easy. Parking for wheelchair users is next to the pitch and is a designated area solely for them.
But as of yet, no covered viewing area has been erected for wheelchair users, for either home or away fans. We locate them on the corner of the pitch with unrestricted viewing.
I have held no meetings with the board or staff as of yet on any match day Disability Inclusion policies. This will be addressed within a matter of weeks.
As the community Officer for Wexford FC I have been trying to bring in policies for all additional needs supporters, and will continue to raise these important points with the board.
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League of Ireland THE BEAT