‘Time to give disabled fans a voice’: Hull City DSA launched at MKM Stadium
ADDRESSING CONCERNS: David Batte, interim chair of Hull City Disabled Supporters’ Association
By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City Correspondent
The Hull City Disability Supporters’ Association has been officially launched at the home of the Tigers.
The public forum in the Dugout bar of the MKM Stadium was attended by more than 40 people who heard of the progress being made to ensure greater accessibility and inclusivity for Hull City fans with disabilities.
In his opening speech, Hull City DSA interim chair David Batte explained how the group had been founded early last year.
David said he had been inspired by the efforts of Wrexham disability liaison officer Kerry Evans, who was instrumental in setting up numerous initiatives to improve the matchday experience for disabled fans, including a sensory room and a service to deliver refreshments directly to wheelchair users.
David, who has Crohn’s disease, became increasingly concerned that there was no real voice for fans with disabilities, and after seeing fellow Hull City fan Dan Little having an “animated” conversation on X, formerly Twitter, about ticketing problems encountered by disabled supporters, he contacted him with a view to working together and doing some wider research on the issue.
They put out a survey on social media and were encouraged by the level of response. Respondents covered a wide age group and had varying levels of disabilities, from wheelchair users to fans with autism, hearing problems or anxiety, the latter being a recurring theme. The survey also identified barriers to attending matches such as issues with ticketing, anxiety and seating view restrictions.
The Hull City DSA eventually became a formal organisation under the guidance of the national charity Level Playing Field.
Level Playing Field’s fans’ liaison officer, Liam Bird, also addressed the forum. He explained the work the charity does to ensure that “accessibility is in the forefront of sport clubs’ minds”.
Liam said: “There are currently 65 disabled supporters’ associations in England and Wales, and the Hull City DSA is one of the newer ones. They are already doing some fantastic work, and I would also praise the club for empowering them to do that as well.”
He pointed out that what can seem like minor things – such as door hooks so people don’t have to lay their coats on the floor, or full-length mirrors that can help those with colostomy bags see what they are doing – can make huge differences to the experiences of disabled fans. “These are small things that have great impacts on people’s mindsets,” he said.
The audience listening to Liam Bird from the Level Playing Field charity
Liam urged fans who have any issues to contact representatives of Hull City DSA. “You've got a club that is clearly willing to bring about accessibility and better inclusion – grasp it, take it. Use the people in front of you to drive that forward, because they will.”
The event also heard from Hull City’s new marketing manager, Andrew Clark, who has been a major catalyst – along with fans’ liaison officer Brendon Smurthwaite – in acting on the issues raised by the DSA.
Andrew said the one thing the club did not want to do was “over-promise and under-deliver”. He acknowledged that things would not change overnight – but he stressed that the club was listening. “With your support, over time we’ll get to where we want to be,” he said. “I think the message is – please stick with us, please give us feedback, and keep coming to events like this.”
He added: “Wherever you walk around the ground, there’s ‘One family, one dream’ plastered left, right and centre. We are one family – and we want to make sure everybody has the same access to everything.”
Stadium catering was another key theme. Henry Crane, deputy general manager of Venue Catering Partner – responsible for the concourse kiosks – spoke at length of recent improvements to accessibility, including making payment terminals adjustable via the addition of a mounted lever, something that they hope to introduce in the coming week.
In response to a question from a member of the audience, Henry confirmed that the food on sale included vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free and gluten-free options – but acknowledged that this was not as widely known as it could be.
He said: “Every kiosk has decaf tea and coffee, as well as oat milk and soy milk. We separate the fryers so that chicken is cooked in one and fries are cooked in the other, so that means that the waffle fries are vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free.
“We also have some cauliflower options which are vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and dairy free. On top of that, we've got the vegan pie. We probably haven't done a brilliant job at telling people about that, but as I'm sure you can imagine, it is a real challenge communicating these things in the concourse environment.”
David added that the DSA was working closely with other fans’ groups around the country, and that Hull City’s facilities were being highly rated by visiting supporters, including those from West Brom and Birmingham who have recently given good feedback.
They are also working with the MKM Stadium’s other tenants – Hull FC – and David thanked two representatives of fans’ liaison group FC Voices for attending the public forum.
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Another major challenge is to improve the away matchday experience for disabled Tigers fans – and a lot of this comes down to educating other supporters, David said.
He and others in the audience spoke of thoughtless fans who routinely stand up in front of them, blocking their view – as well as some who behave far worse, both in the stands and on the concourses.
“We know they’re wanting to go out and have a good time,” he said. “But so do we.”
For more information about Hull City DSA, visit hullcitydsa.com