Aberdeen Football Club is pleased to support the CAFE Week of Action 2019

Total Football Total Access.

 

CAFE aims to improve access and inclusion in the game that we love. They are working to ensure disabled people can take their rightful places amongst their peers within football – from grassroots to the boardroom – as fans, guests, volunteers, employees, coaches and players, and as leaders and decision makers.

There are more than 80 million disabled people living in the European Union alone – equivalent to the populations of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary and the Netherlands combined. In other words, more than 10% of the population. One in four Europeans has a family member with a disability. Six Europeans out of ten know someone, in their close or more distant circles, who is a disabled person. People with reduced mobility represent more than 40% of the population.

You might find it shocking that 50% of all disabled people have never participated in leisure or sport activities. Moreover, one third of the disabled population has never travelled abroad or even participated in day-excursions because of inaccessible venues and services.

According to statistics, 97% of Europeans think that something should be done to ensure better integration of disabled people into society and 93% of Europeans express their desire to dedicate more money to the removal of physical barriers that complicate the life of disabled people.

Accessibility is essential for disabled people to be able to exercise their rights and participate fully in society. In fact, in some countries, any lack of access to the built environment is considered a form of discrimination.

Europe is promoting a “Design for All” approach to the built environment so that buildings and public spaces are readily usable by as many people as possible and accessible to all. Despite the diversity in the specific technical solutions, at a functional level disabled people have similar accessibility requirements across Europe.

Moreover, accessible built environments are economically attractive; functionally they are more flexible and the infrastructure more sustainable as there is less need for expensive adaptations at a later stage. Disabled people should be seen as valued customers with good access not only considered a moral issue but also good business sense.

Access is a basic human right and a fundamental pillar of social justice. Social justice is about the acceptance of people as individuals and about access to fair and equal opportunity to participate fully in social life. A truly accessible environment is one where people are freely able to express their independence, and where all barriers to integration have been removed.

CAFE estimates that at least 500,000 disabled people within the extended UEFA European region are likely to be active football supporters with many more aspiring to become match going supporters. Disabled people have the right to enjoy football, sports and all forms of entertainment in the same way as everyone else. This applies to football at all levels.

More and more disabled football supporters wish to travel to football matches and tournaments both at home and abroad.

By inspiring many more disabled people to attend live matches and to get involved in local volunteering activities, CAFE aims to stimulate social inclusion, encourage interaction between citizens and contribute to intercultural learning and bring to the fore both Europe’s diversity and unity.

 

Aims of CAFE
• To promote equal access to all European football stadiums and their clubs;
• To act as accessible stadia advisors and to recognise and share good practice wherever it exists (facilities and services);
• To increase disability and access awareness using the special influence of football;
• To establish a European network of local and national disabled football supporters’ groups as user-led self-advocates at a local level;
• To enable more disabled people to follow and get involved in football at all levels of the game

‘Europe’ refers to the 55-member Football Associations of UEFA which extend beyond geographical Europe and include countries further afield such as Israel and Kazakhstan. CAFE will be working across this larger geographical area.

Last season’s CAFE Week of Action was the largest to date, as Total Football #TotalAccess was celebrated in 25 countries. Let’s make the CAFE Week of Action 2019 even bigger! This year’s week of action was between 2-10 March however, due to the way the fixtures landed, Aberdeen FC will celebrate this event on Saturday 16 March when Livingston FC are the visitors.

Disabled people constitute the largest minority group of any population, with over one billion disabled people alive today.

Naturally, a large number of disabled people will also be football fans – the world’s most popular game. Aberdeen FC and the Aberdeen Disabled Supporters Club are pleased to take this opportunity to thank our own disabled fans for their loyalty and continued support.

It is understood that around 50% of all disabled people have never had the opportunity to attend a live football match or other sporting or public event. We are delighted to be joining with other stakeholders across Europe promoting the important message of access and inclusion for all – Total Football Total Access.

The week ahead

This is the seventh year of the CAFE Week of Action annual, celebrating disabled people and their important roles across all levels of the game. We are delighted to add our name to the list of participants in helping to spread the CAFE message of Total Football Total Access Aberdeen and the North-east and beyond.

Total Football Total Access is not just a motto, it is what the game should be aspiring to achieve. Aberdeen FC and the Scottish Disabled Supporters Association are dedicated to improving access and inclusion for all disabled people across the game.

This year, Apache and AJR Facilities Consultancy Ltd are supporting this event along with our visiting support from Livingston FC. In addition to hosting our visitors, there will be eight disabled football supporters treated to a day out in the Teddy Scott Lounge at Pittodrie.

Aberdeen FC Disabled Supporters Association has been running for over 20 years and has been supported by Aberdeen FC and many others including SeaRoute, AJR Facilities Consultancy Ltd and Apache who have contributed with donations. This support enables Aberdeen FC disabled fans to travel to away games who otherwise would not be able to travel for many reasons.

For more information about CAFE and the CAFE Week of Action, visit www.cafefootball.eu, email info@cafefootball.eu or call +44 (0)20 8621 2405. You can also follow CAFE on Facebook (www.facebook.com/cafefootball), Twitter (@cafefootball) and Instagram (@cafefootball.eu) for updates from the CAFE Week of Action 2019. CAFE will be promoting events and sharing stories using the hashtag #totalaccess.

Please visit the Scottish Disabled Supporters Association website at www.scottishdsa.co.uk or email Sandy Riach at aberdeenfcdsc@btinternet.com. Look for AFC DSA on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/AberdeenFCDSC/