Saturday's match against Shrewsbury Town is dedicated to Level Playing Field's 'Unite For Access' campaign – a celebration of access and inclusion for disabled sports fans.
The Level Playing Field campaign, will see sporting communities across England and Wales come together at matchdays throughout the start of March.
On the day, players will be warming up in t-shirts, there will be information on the Big Screen and in the programme and we will be highlighting our fantastic 'Soccer Sight' service for partially-sighted and blind supporters to use at home fixtures at St James Park.
The service, which has had big upgrades this season, allows visually-impaired supporters to listen to full match commentary for all league and cup fixtures from within the stadium, to help to improve the matchday experience.
Headsets are readily available for supporters to collect from reception ahead of kick-off. If you would like to book one in advance, please contact reception on 01392 411 243 or by emailing reception@ecfc.co.uk.
There are more than 16 million disabled people in the UK, representing almost a quarter of the population, as the largest minority.
Many of those disabled people are sports fans and we believe all supporters should be able to enjoy matchdays. Structural and societal barriers can prevent many disabled supporters from having that experience, however.
Everyone can have an impact on making matchdays more inclusive. The 2024 Level Playing Field Annual Fan Survey results revealed ‘attitudes of others’ is the second most common barrier to disabled fans. We want to be part of a change in attitudes, to change matchdays for the better.
We also recognise that ‘physical access’ remains the most common barrier to disabled fans attending and are committed to making St James Park accessible to all. We invite feedback from supporters on this, as we look to make improvements.
Disability can be a complex subject matter, and that is why we invite both disabled and nondisabled fans to engage with us through this important campaign and to ensure access and inclusion is at the heart of everything we do.
We ask you all to…
Unite for Your Team
Unite for your fans
#UniteForAccess
To find out more about the work of Level Playing Field, please visit levelplayingfield.org.uk, or find them across social media by searching Level Playing Field.