Argyle Unite for Access
Today's game against Ipswich Town marks our dedicated fixture for Level Playing Field’s “Unite for Access” campaign. It is a day for Plymouth Argyle to highlight the efforts on improving stadium access for disabled supporters and inclusion at all sport venues.
The playing squad will warm up in t-shirts showcasing the Level Playing Field logo, while educational content will be shown across the big screen and throughout the Fan Zone.
Level Playing Field is a sports charity that acts as a campaigning and advisory organisation for disabled sports fans. The charity offers a range of initiatives and services for disabled sports fans including:
The Level Playing Field podcast – A monthly podcast series with exclusive guests from across the sporting community.
Have Your Say – Asking disabled fans for their feedback, whether positive or negative, from their experience at live sports events
Club Pages – Level Playing Field offer accessibility information for all clubs from the Premier League, EFL, and National League to help disabled supporters plan and enjoy their matchday. This will soon include accessibility information for clubs across the Welsh domestic leagues.
As part of this year’s campaign, club staff, stewards and volunteers undertook training with Guide Dogs UK to learn more about how to assist anyone who may be blind or visually impaired as well as anyone visiting the stadium with an assistance dog.
Audio-descriptive match-day commentary is available every match day for supporters wishing to use the service, it ensures that a partially sighted or blind fan has a complete understanding of the match they are attending and can fully enjoy the match-day experience alongside seeing fans.
The specially trained commentator provides additional narration that describes all significant visual information such as body language, facial expression, scenery, action, clothing, colours and anything else that is important to conveying the match and surrounding activity.
Originally developed by the RNIB access project, Soccer Sight is designed to improve access to football at all levels for blind and partially sighted people.
Soccer Sight is a free service provided by the club with receivers and headsets readily available for supporters to collect from the Match Day Information booth prior to kick off. Please book in advance via disability@pafc.co.uk as there is limited availability.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager, Siobhan Robbie-James said: “We are committed to making Plymouth Argyle accessible to all and will continue to work hard to improve the match day experience for everyone.”
"Here at Argyle, we are working to improve the match-day experience and access for our disabled supporters. We have taken several steps to already improve the experience for disabled fans in recent years, including running disabled supporters forums, improving the online ticket purchasing experience, offering free sensory packs and audio-descriptive commentary headsets as well as working with Level Playing Field to assess the stadium facilities and improve access."
Argyle Community Trust run several projects and programmes that engage with fans including number of teams competing in the Ability Counts League for footballers with PAN disabilities. The Trust also works with a number of partners to increase mental health football, disability-specific teams, such as deaf and visually impaired football teams.
