Able give you the lowdown on getting involved in participating and watching sport in Scotland.
Watching Football
Glasgow is home to the best supported football teams in Scotland. Each has a strong policy of looking after disabled fans.
Celtic Park
Recent years have seen a number of changes to the stadium based on the feedback and comments the club have received from disabled fans.
These changes include a brand new facility for 29 supporters that use wheelchairs (and their carers) for matches played at Celtic Park. This area was purpose built and designed to the specification as set out by the Disabled Supporters Association who played a major part in helping create this new facility which is located in an elevated and sheltered area. The section provides a dedicated lounge and catering facilities along with lift access. This new facility takes the number of spaces available for wheelchair users to 187 plus their helpers.
For visiting supporters, Celtic have, this season, installed a new elevated platform which is easily accessible and provides a much greater view of the match for wheelchair users in this part of the stadium. There are also easily accessed catering facilities contained within this area specifically designed for disabled supporters.
Celtic provides over 200 car parking spaces free of charge to disabled supporters which are in immediate proximity of the stadium. In addition to the facilities on offer to wheelchair users, they also provide facilities for visually impaired supporters with 38 seats given over each match to these fans along with headsets providing match commentary.
The club meets with their Disabled Supporters Association on a quarterly basis and they also ensure that they are included in Fan Forum meetings which also take place quarterly and include all members of the club’s executive. They have also appointed a Disabled Supporters Liaison Officer.
Ibrox Stadium
Glasgow Rangers Football Club can accommodate 76 wheelchair fans and 76 attendants at each home fixture; 65 of these spaces are located in the South West Enclosure, four in the Broomloan and seven within the North West Corner.
The 65 spaces in the South West Enclosure are used by Rangers fans and are split into season ticket holders and Match to Match (M2M) members.
The Match to Match scheme has been designed to encourage wheelchair-using (Rangers) fans to attend individual matches and thereby help ensure the most efficient use of the available spaces. Details of membership can be discussed by phoning: 0871 702 1972 or by email: wheelchairtickets@rangers.co.uk
The seven spaces in the North West Corner are utilised by away fans, with the exception of Celtic who utilise the four seats in the Broomloan. (The allocation of these spaces is controlled by the away club.)
