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The Women’s Super League has built a reputation for its inclusive and welcoming environment for all, but does that feeling always ring true for supporters with disabilities or children with neurodiverse needs?
Experiences across the division can be hugely contrasting, often depending on whether your team are sharing their men’s team’s ground or a lower-league venue, meaning that half the WSL clubs do not currently have specially designed sensory rooms, for example.
Even fewer are able to offer audio-descriptive commentary headsets for blind or visually impaired fans. There have been many progressive developments, not least Chelsea making BSL interpretation available on-screen at all of their women’s home games at both Kingsmeadow and Stamford Bridge, in every competition.
Visually impaired fans, though, have told the Guardian much more could be done. Holly Tuke, from York, is a fan who, like so many others, fell in love with the women’s game when England won Euro 2022. Having been a premature baby arriving 16 weeks before her due date, she was born with retinopathy of prematurity and is registered as blind. But initially she struggled to find the information she needed about matchdays, and did not attend her first WSL game – at Old Trafford – until the 2023-24 season.
“It initially took me a good couple of years to even attend a match and that was purely down to a real lack of accessibility information online,” Tuke said. “Many clubs did not have accessibility information about the women’s team and you just spent so long playing games of email tennis to get the information. [Now] it’s growing and improving but I think there’s a lot more work to be done.”
Tuke loves listening to radio commentary of games from home and says BBC 5 Live’s Vicky Sparks is her favourite commentator for detailed information, but she wants to be able to attend more games, and one big barrier is the absence of headsets.
George Sullivan, an Arsenal fan with visual impairment has experienced the good and the bad; since his club’s move to play all their games at the Emirates Stadium, he has pre-booked an audio-descriptive commentary headset for this entire season and is glowing in his praise for the Emirates’ provisions, whereas, as a travelling fan in the away end for Arsenal’s 5-1 win at West Ham last Friday, with no such service available at Dagenham’s Chigwell Construction Stadium, it was a very different story.
“It’s vital for a visually impaired fan’s matchday,” Sullivan said of audio-descriptive commentary services. “I went to the West Ham game last week and I didn’t have an audio headset so it was really, really hard to follow it, whereas if you have the headset, you can probably even follow it better than some people who are watching it. At Dagenham it was quite peculiar. Obviously I could build off the excitement from the atmosphere and the singing but I couldn’t really follow the game. I had to wait for the highlights. Whereas any WSL team that plays at a men’s stadium like in the Premier League, it seems a lot easier to find out who has the headsets.”
A majority of WSL clubs’ most common home stadiums do not currently offer audio-descriptive commentary in the grounds. Some of those who do not can offer it when they play at their larger men’s team homes, such as Manchester United. For Tuke, who has long been a Manchester United fan, when she attended her first WSL game at Old Trafford, the audio-descriptive commentary service provided a good matchday experience for her, but the same headsets are not available at Leigh Sports Village. That situation is, she says, making her strongly consider becoming an Arsenal fan instead.
“I am really contemplating my choice of team. Arsenal are leading the way in terms of accessibility. Their Arsenal app is free so you can tune into the commentary for free [from home]. Whereas, the fact they don’t offer audio commentary at Leigh Sports Village is it’s just so hard for me to truly follow a team that one really seems to not care about disabled women’s fans. I can’t support the team that I got into for family reasons in the same way that my sighted family members could, so I’m leaning to more of a club that truly lives my values, it’s a real tricky one for me at the minute.”
Manchester United are understood to be engaging with a representative from the Royal National Institute of Blind People to improve staff training and communication for those living with visual impairments. Asked about their service provision, a Manchester United Women spokesperson said: “At Leigh Sports Village we aim to recognise the individual before the disability and understand that every person’s needs are unique. We are committed to creating an inclusive, accessible and safe environment, and strive to ensure that everyone feels welcome, supported and empowered to participate fully.”
Tuke added that some clubs who do offer “audio-descriptive” commentary sometimes appear to be broadcasting a more standard audio or radio-level service without the specially detailed descriptions aimed at visually impaired fans, which she says “just doesn’t cut it” and that sentiment was shared by others. Two visually impaired England fans, who did not wish to be named, told the Guardian they have felt unable to attend WSL matches because of a lack of headsets and they prioritise attending Lionesses games at Wembley instead.
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Without exception, all of the supporters spoken to for this article were full of praise for Arsenal for the broad extent of their matchday information for disabled fans, including their guide/assistance dog facilities at the Emirates and the tactile pathways around the outskirts of the stadium, helping fans navigate their way around.
More widely, WSL Football is understood to be working with the disabled fans campaign group Level Playing Field to discuss how best to support fans with disabilities at games, but implementing league-wide rules on provision is deemed tricky because of the huge variations in infrastructure at the venues used by clubs across the division.
Even at Everton, where the women’s team have moved into Goodison Park, there is no sensory room at the stadium, although they – like many of the clubs without sensory rooms – do offer sensory packs. Fans across the board also acknowledge provisions are far from perfect in the men’s game too, but as the women’s game tries to sell itself and grow attendances, this appears to be an area of the fan matchday experience that deserves more attention.
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