Fulham

Fulham FC – Response to Nikki Allan, who attended Fulham V Leeds United 21 September 2021

When contacted in advance, we are more than happy to allow coaches with disabled supporters on board to drop off at the away turnstiles. This can be official coach travel our organised fan groups. Provided we know the coach company and registration number of the coach to make the stewards aware. We can then forward of a route for the coach to follow.

We have a very old stadium in a residential area, and we don’t have any onsite parking, let alone being able to create extra. There is a TMO (Traffic Management Order) that operates on match day that restricts the movement of traffic on the residential streets at the front of the stadium.

No parking within a reasonable walking distance for disabled Supporters arriving by Coach. Really poor policing thought has been applied. Suggested to get a taxi and maybe it will be allowed through but no guarantee. Pointless when there is adequate space for coaches to park alongside the ground. Instead . New stand almost built but could have extra parking available for thse with walking difficulties. Not environmentally friendly Poor stewarding by showsec stewards who stood and watched the game. Waste of money!! Fulhams own staff excellent and helpful. Disabled toilets along main corridor causing entry and exit problems with a large away support.

I understand Fulham Football Club will be in consultation with yourselves with regards to the Assessible Platform at their ground. On my visit it proved impossible to view the match as a carer and I have suggested that free standing chairs are used, placed next to the wheelchair user, until the situation is resolved. Having recently attended the Brighton v Villa I have sent a further email to Fulham Football Club suggesting they visit Brighton to see how a similar platform is used. I would be very interested in the outcome of your consultation with Fulham Football Club .

Usually hate coming to Fulham,as the disabled away area is awful. But I was assured by a Fulham fan that improvement had been made. When I arrived I was very disappointed to be told that the stand where improvement had be made,had been knocked down and now we just had a platform. Thought this was slightly better(as we was no longer on a slope) It was still awful,as we could not see due to people standing. Whilst I understand you are not responsible for people standing,I just cant understand why you would put a disabled stand where you have,so people can stand in the way. The steward in charge told me that she had been campaigning for years for improvement to this stand and I think it’s sad that you have not even bothered to listen to her and that shes had to campaign for something all fans should be entitled to when visiting a ground. Shame on you Fulham!!!

I agree with most of the pevious comments, if you go by coach then it’s rather a long walk down a road to get to the ground, then along the side of the ground to the away supporters end, I was fine as I had my wheelchair, but our friend didn’t do this seasons fixture as she’s quite bad on hr long and has breathing problems, which is a shame as she does most of th away games. There should be a mini bus service provided to take the less abled to the ground from the main duel cariageway where the coaches have to stop. The disabled toilets are some of the best in this league (Preston being the worst)..but the view from where the disabled are put is shocking, unless one complains and gets moved down to where the big red sand bin is, but then again not a lot of space for more than four wheelchairs, the best idea would be do put the disabled at the back of the away end and put a lift in like they do at Newcastle, Derby etc. Perhaps someone from the club should sit in the disabled area in a wheelchair and see the view I had before I compained on the Fulham twitter page and my husband asked several stewards, it’s probably a beter view if there ain;t too many away fans, but we had several thousands there on Saturday…it’s needs looking into or it could be seen as discrimination again the less abled.

Last season I planned to go to the Brighton game travelling as usual on the Official Supporters Club coach, but our organiser advised me that the Police don’t allowCoachesto pick up or drop at, or anywhere near the ground, she estimated a mile walk. We didntgo,apparently other clubs are like this, QPR was quite a hike a few years ago whenI was more mobile.

Obviously thelocal law cant be bothered to cone off the area, the Coach organiser has my name etc they should be allowed to drop only disabled at the ground, they could have a listof the relevant people.

Went to game on Saturday. Contacted Fulham’s disability officer prior to game as cannot stand and fans always stand in front of you. Advised by Fulham that rows x and y behind wheelchair section was allocated for ambulant disabled fans AND

if fans stood you could still see. Well that was rubbish ! You can’t see the game when fans stand in those rows and Fulham should not say you can see when you can’t. I certainly couldn’t see in row x.Another club that does not cater for ambulant disabled fans although they say they do !

It says 12 wheelchair spaces available for away fans but they offered Villa 5, the ones me and my friend had were restricted view. It also says free parking for disabled fans on a first come first served basis and I drove past the ground 3 hours before kick off and was told to park the other side of the main road (quite a push)

Access ramp to wheelchair platform – doesn’t do justice to how steep it is.

blocked view of far touchline

view from away wheelchair section

The away supporters viewing at Fulham was worse than appalling!!! We were literally stuck in a corner on a 8ft square concrete block, that was it for all away disabled supporters. There wasn’t enough room for all the wheelchairs and from part of this square you couldn’t see all the pitch. And this is a premier league club. The worst of it was that there was a ver very easy solution but the club seems unwilling to make improvements

The experience I had was terrible we could not see any of the game,do not go unless you are prepared to see the backs of peoples heads for 90 minutes.Something needs to be done as there are other posts on this site about the facilities