portlock seagull
Well-known member
- Jul 28, 2003
- 17,612
As some of you already know, a group of fans representing the issues of the disabled AND ambulant community of support, held a meeting with the club a fortnight ago.
If you’re NOT affected, I would kindly ask that you refrain from adding to this thread if it’s just to compliment work to date (I;ll say thanks now on everyone’s behalf!) or add an opinion or question if you only interested but aren’t disabled or know anyone who is. I’d rather this thread is kept succinct to deal with the questions from those affected; or those asking on behalf of those affected (e.g. close family and friends). In other words, we really don’t want a binfest here because we’re trying to build a constructive relationship with our beloved club and despite what people might have read or even wish to believe there are 2 sides to arguments; and that’s the case here too. Anyway, them’s the ground rules, please respect them and here’s a summary of the club’s feedback from the meeting:
1. Ambulant Supporter Needs
We thought it important to stress the meeting didn’t just encompass disabled fans in wheelchairs, but all fans with mobility issues, temporary or otherwise.
To this end, the club have purchased 30 wheelchairs for (free) use on matchdays, which is an extremely forward-thinking and an excellent initiative: so if you need one when alighting from the train, bus or car park, ask a nearby steward and they will assist. I’d be interested to hear feedback from those affected as to how this is going; we can’t help change things if we’re blind to supporter experiences.
For wheelchair fans, of the 3 park and rides, the club suggests where possible that you use Mithras House simply because it’s less congested and more wheelchair “friendly” in boarding terms.
Lastly, the WSU was never sold as a place for ambulant supporters to sit because there’s no lift access. The club strongly advises any affected supporters to contact them and they’ll happily relocate.
2. Match day parking: location & availability
The numbers of disabled parking spaces that exist are: 47 Bennett’s field (e.g. immediately adjacent to the stadium), 9 of which belong to 1901 members and 0 of which have been allocated to away fans. There are also 30 at Sussex University. From the Donny game, it appeared only half were actually used (though we gave several potential reasons why this could be so). Anyway, we agreed it would be a good idea to monitor usage to get a clearer picture, not least because no one really knows what to expect until several Sat and evening games have taken place/
As for proximity issues regarding those parked in Sussex Uni, the club immediately recognised this issue and were already working with Lord B concerning this. I won’t add anything more because there’s already a thread on this, other than to say the club have generously funded the shuttle and Lord B, once again, should take a big bow for his work in this area.
Lastly, the club aims to get everyone away within an hour of the final whistle, a target greatly helped by lots of fans staying on after the game to enjoy the facilities (so keeping consuming those beers and pies post-match!). But suffice to say, the increased congestion we all experience in comparison to Withdean is the price to be paid for following a BIG club. And I’m happy paying that for one!
3. Match day parking: pricing
Arguably the most contentious issue and, regardless of what might and might not have been said or interpreted, the club is simply unable to offer free parking to disabled fans. That is the situation now.
Instead, two generous concessions have been made (e.g. reduction to £180 / instalment payments) and that, from everyone’s perspective at the meeting, is really the end of the matter other than to say the decision-making was influenced by the rents imposed by Sussex Uni for (all) parking and the none-materialisation of other parking options making what little parking there is even more premium.
4. Communication:
It’s easy to criticise the club on this front to date, and they’d be the first to say things could have been different with hindsight, but if we all stop for a second and realise just how big a leap the club have just taken and just how many thousands of queries have flooded into the club recently....
Anyway, with Bods support, we’ve asked that a mobility-affected supporters page be added to the main website, which we’ll help write and also for a separate email address to be set up to handle related queries; and a page in a future match day programme detailing ambulant/disabled help.
In terms of supporting these initiatives, we, the fans want to re-launch BODS (more on that later in the week hopefully) and help spread the word / act as a conduit through which issues can flow / be raised. Half of the battle is getting visibility of the affected fans; not all are on the database as such and BODS certainly don’t have contact info for all such supporters. Those of you who know Tina already, don’t need to be told that she’s done a cracking job to date and will continue to do so. But she’s doing this voluntarily, could do with some help (able-bodied fans can join BODS too you know - perhaps we should all realise that any one of us can become an “involuntary” member of BODS at anytime e.g. ill health or an accident) and lastly, she hasn’t got full visibility of who amongst our support is affected either (something I’ve begun to really appreciate given my recent experience helping out)
So do PM me or Tina to check we know who you are / we can add you to newsletters (we intend to do one) and other comms if something happens that may affect you. Lastly, if you are contacting the club directly, please send to one person rather than several and then do respect the final answer (from someone in authority like Richard Hebberd, Martin Perry, Ken Brown or Sally Townsend) and don’t keep escalating or trying other potential ways just because you don’t really like the answer. Otherwise it creates a lot of inefficiency as you’d expect.
5. Stadium seating locations
We ran out of time but it’s on the agenda for next time
6. AOB
Radar-key access to the loos is being looked into. Able-bodied fans, please, join the queues for the standard toilets and/or time your beer runs better!
Stewards standing in the way: noted by the club who’ll ensure stewards are made aware / be more mindful.
Lastly, to reiterate, please PM me if you have any questions or want to be added to the mailing list. And respect the ground rules of this thread please!
If you’re NOT affected, I would kindly ask that you refrain from adding to this thread if it’s just to compliment work to date (I;ll say thanks now on everyone’s behalf!) or add an opinion or question if you only interested but aren’t disabled or know anyone who is. I’d rather this thread is kept succinct to deal with the questions from those affected; or those asking on behalf of those affected (e.g. close family and friends). In other words, we really don’t want a binfest here because we’re trying to build a constructive relationship with our beloved club and despite what people might have read or even wish to believe there are 2 sides to arguments; and that’s the case here too. Anyway, them’s the ground rules, please respect them and here’s a summary of the club’s feedback from the meeting:
1. Ambulant Supporter Needs
We thought it important to stress the meeting didn’t just encompass disabled fans in wheelchairs, but all fans with mobility issues, temporary or otherwise.
To this end, the club have purchased 30 wheelchairs for (free) use on matchdays, which is an extremely forward-thinking and an excellent initiative: so if you need one when alighting from the train, bus or car park, ask a nearby steward and they will assist. I’d be interested to hear feedback from those affected as to how this is going; we can’t help change things if we’re blind to supporter experiences.
For wheelchair fans, of the 3 park and rides, the club suggests where possible that you use Mithras House simply because it’s less congested and more wheelchair “friendly” in boarding terms.
Lastly, the WSU was never sold as a place for ambulant supporters to sit because there’s no lift access. The club strongly advises any affected supporters to contact them and they’ll happily relocate.
2. Match day parking: location & availability
The numbers of disabled parking spaces that exist are: 47 Bennett’s field (e.g. immediately adjacent to the stadium), 9 of which belong to 1901 members and 0 of which have been allocated to away fans. There are also 30 at Sussex University. From the Donny game, it appeared only half were actually used (though we gave several potential reasons why this could be so). Anyway, we agreed it would be a good idea to monitor usage to get a clearer picture, not least because no one really knows what to expect until several Sat and evening games have taken place/
As for proximity issues regarding those parked in Sussex Uni, the club immediately recognised this issue and were already working with Lord B concerning this. I won’t add anything more because there’s already a thread on this, other than to say the club have generously funded the shuttle and Lord B, once again, should take a big bow for his work in this area.
Lastly, the club aims to get everyone away within an hour of the final whistle, a target greatly helped by lots of fans staying on after the game to enjoy the facilities (so keeping consuming those beers and pies post-match!). But suffice to say, the increased congestion we all experience in comparison to Withdean is the price to be paid for following a BIG club. And I’m happy paying that for one!
3. Match day parking: pricing
Arguably the most contentious issue and, regardless of what might and might not have been said or interpreted, the club is simply unable to offer free parking to disabled fans. That is the situation now.
Instead, two generous concessions have been made (e.g. reduction to £180 / instalment payments) and that, from everyone’s perspective at the meeting, is really the end of the matter other than to say the decision-making was influenced by the rents imposed by Sussex Uni for (all) parking and the none-materialisation of other parking options making what little parking there is even more premium.
4. Communication:
It’s easy to criticise the club on this front to date, and they’d be the first to say things could have been different with hindsight, but if we all stop for a second and realise just how big a leap the club have just taken and just how many thousands of queries have flooded into the club recently....
Anyway, with Bods support, we’ve asked that a mobility-affected supporters page be added to the main website, which we’ll help write and also for a separate email address to be set up to handle related queries; and a page in a future match day programme detailing ambulant/disabled help.
In terms of supporting these initiatives, we, the fans want to re-launch BODS (more on that later in the week hopefully) and help spread the word / act as a conduit through which issues can flow / be raised. Half of the battle is getting visibility of the affected fans; not all are on the database as such and BODS certainly don’t have contact info for all such supporters. Those of you who know Tina already, don’t need to be told that she’s done a cracking job to date and will continue to do so. But she’s doing this voluntarily, could do with some help (able-bodied fans can join BODS too you know - perhaps we should all realise that any one of us can become an “involuntary” member of BODS at anytime e.g. ill health or an accident) and lastly, she hasn’t got full visibility of who amongst our support is affected either (something I’ve begun to really appreciate given my recent experience helping out)
So do PM me or Tina to check we know who you are / we can add you to newsletters (we intend to do one) and other comms if something happens that may affect you. Lastly, if you are contacting the club directly, please send to one person rather than several and then do respect the final answer (from someone in authority like Richard Hebberd, Martin Perry, Ken Brown or Sally Townsend) and don’t keep escalating or trying other potential ways just because you don’t really like the answer. Otherwise it creates a lot of inefficiency as you’d expect.
5. Stadium seating locations
We ran out of time but it’s on the agenda for next time
6. AOB
Radar-key access to the loos is being looked into. Able-bodied fans, please, join the queues for the standard toilets and/or time your beer runs better!
Stewards standing in the way: noted by the club who’ll ensure stewards are made aware / be more mindful.
Lastly, to reiterate, please PM me if you have any questions or want to be added to the mailing list. And respect the ground rules of this thread please!
