Going the match, it really shouldn't be this difficult!

I am an Evertonian and I go the match, it is I do and I what I love doing. Being an Evertonian and going the match is really quite important to me as it kind of makes me forget for a bit one major but quite significant thing about my life - that I am disabled.

When I’m at the match or talking about Everton, I am just the same as every Evertonian, someone who just wants to go the match and support the team like so many other fans do, not a girl with Osteogenesis Imperfecta and a wheelchair user. I hate missing matches - I mean genuinely hate it - I have literally begged, my mum and doctors to allow me to go to games before. I am not someone who can watch us on the TV, it is hell on earth for me to do that, so much so that my brother has refused to watch a televised Everton game with me again after Krasnodar last season. This is why I have to follow us home and away!

Some of the best and most amazing friends that I have, I’ve come to know through going to the match. I sometimes think the only thing in life that I am good at is going the game and supporting Everton. But there are times when I wonder why I bother going to all the effort, time and expense that it takes to go the match. This is not because of the form and the performances from my team (though don’t get me wrong, they have tested my patience many times throughout the seasons and there’s been plenty of times where I have never wanted to see them ever again). The reason is purely down to the inadequate and appalling facilities that disabled supporters have to endure at quite a lot of grounds.

Would non-disabled supporters continue to go to games, especially away games, if their view was blocked by other supporters due to poorly designed seating areas? Many of which probably looked really good to architects when the stadium was empty but are ultimately not fit for purpose on a matchday. Would they continue to go when they then get told part of the reason why you couldn’t see is not because of this, but because of your own fans? I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been told that my view was blocked as my club sold all its allocation of tickets and our fans stood up. This is a reason I will never accept – it shouldn’t matter if they stand or not, or if we have 300 fans there or 3000.If it wasn’t for big screens at grounds there are times when I would hardly see a thing all game.

Would others continue to go if they couldn’t see the pitch and have missed seeing goals scored because of photographers and cameramen “just want to have the best view to be able to get the shots they need”? Surely it is important that the fans in attendance want the best view themselves? The best part of going to the match is being with your fellow supporters, yet sadly, this is not something that I can do at every ground. No away fan supporter should have to sit in the home end, but if we want to go to certain games, we have no choice but to do so. Imagine going to your local derby game, the biggest game of the season and having to sit in with your rival fans? This has happened to me for 12 seasons now and shows no sign of changing any time soon. This sounds dramatic I know, but I kind of dread us winning the derby at Anfield as I will not enjoy it anywhere near as much as I should do as I am not with the rest of our supporters.

At one ground a couple of seasons back I suffered abuse from home fans for celebrating our goalkeeper saving a penalty. It was a truly horrible and upsetting experience. To be told “you shouldn’t be sitting here, you need to get out” "Get over there with the rest of them" amongst other cruel and nasty comments made by people who really should have known better is something I never expected to happen at the match. Through no fault of mine or any other disabled supporter, we are in home ends, so therefore does that mean we not allowed to celebrate when things go our way? One of the best things about being a football supporter is the emotional side to the game, you sometimes just get lost in the joy and excitement of celebrating a goal, a great save or a missed penalty, and you just react instinctively. Well I do anyway, and why shouldn’t I? If the rest of our supporters could be exuberant at seeing that penalty being saved, why couldn’t the disabled supporters in the opposite side of the ground have the same levels of enjoyment? Isn’t that what football is all about? Not celebrating our goals that day was one of my biggest ever regrets. For those of you who know me, you would know how hard not celebrating those goals would be for me, I shouldn’t have let the home fans win, but I did as I didn’t want to risk being made to leave the ground like other disabled fans were that day for doing exactly what I didn’t do. I have not enjoyed us winning a match quite like that day.

I also hate not being able to see my friends and family at games, but at some grounds being able to this completely impossible, the only way I can see my mates on these match days is if I happen to bump into them on the way to and from the ground from the coach or car park - hardly very inclusive. Sitting with your mates or family is an option that is very rarely open to disabled fans. I’d love to be able to take my nephew to the game when he's older but as it stands at the minute, this is not something I could do as there is no accessible seating in the family enclosure.

I like to think I am as independent as I can be despite my disability, and don’t like asking for help from others. But going the match is something that I would never contemplate doing on my own due to not being able to get in or out of some grounds without assistance (the hill to exit one ground is that steep, non disabled fans would struggle walking up it, let alone push up it), get food and drink because the concourses are either inaccessible for not practical for wheelchairs, and in some cases I need a companion with me just to tell me what is happening on the pitch because I literally cannot see it. If I can go to work on my own, go shopping on my own, go to the cinema on my own, shouldn’t I be able to go to the match on my own if I wanted to? I am lucky that I can easily book leave from work for away games but I rely so much on family and friends being able to come to away games with me. If they couldn’t, I wouldn’t get to as many games as I do. If I knew I could manage at aways on my own, I would have no hesitation in going to them without having to take a companion with me.

This isn’t just a moan about other clubs either, as my own club are just as much at fault and I don't hold back criticising them just as much as I do with other clubs. They could do much more to make things better and easier for disabled supporters, as can the majority of clubs. I genuinely feel a lot of clubs have no real understanding of disabled supporters, they have no comprehension of the difficulties faced by disabled fans. Things like getting tickets for games - allocations of tickets, particularly for away games, are so small (unfairly so when you look at the capacities of some of the grounds). Getting to and from the games - transport is not always very accessible, this is only for domestic games. European away games are even harder to plan for. Only for us to be met with more obstacles once we get into the ground that really shouldn't exist if clubs put some consideration in to their disabled facilities. It would be so easy for me and other disabled fans to not bother going to certain games knowing full well the difficulties we’re going to face, but why should we have to pick an choose what games to go to? If I want to go the game, I should be able to go without having to consider can I see, who can come with me, is there transport available. I just want to go as many games as I can whilst I can. 

I sincerely hope with the announcement made from the Premier League last week that improvements will be made that will enable all disabled supporters to have an inclusive matchday experience like our fellow supporters do, because when all is said and done we are supporters too and should be treated as such.