Abuse of disabled supporters at live sports events is growing problem, survey finds

The proportion of disabled supporters who say that “disability abuse” is a barrier to them attending live sport has risen sharply in the last three years, according to a new survey.

The annual survey (PDF) of disabled supporters by the disabled-led charity Level Playing Field (LPF) also found that the proportion of those fans reporting inaccessible public transport as a barrier has risen significantly over the last three years.

In 2021, 5.5 per cent of those taking part in the survey pointed to disability-related abuse as a barrier to attending live sport, but this rose to 6.5 per cent in 2022 and seven per cent in 2023, and it has now risen to 8.5 per cent.

LPF said it was working with other organisations, including the Football Policing Unit and Kick it Out, to combat the trend of rising abuse.

The “attitudes of others” also remained a significant barrier – the second most-reported – with 26 per cent reporting this, a slight increase since last year.

Those reporting inaccessible public transport as a barrier rose from 16 per cent in 2021, to 17.5 per cent the following year, to 20 per cent in last year’s survey, and now to 22 per cent.

LPF said the trends on public transport and abuse were “concerning”.

As with last year, the most reported barrier was physical access at sports stadiums, which saw a significant increase from 29.5 per cent to 33 per cent in those reporting this as a barrier, although it had fallen significantly last year.

LPF said addressing problems with physical access was a “huge priority”, and that it was working with the Sports Ground Safety Authority and others on a new version of the Accessible Stadia guidance.

The largest increase in any of the barriers reported by disabled supporters was in the cost of attending live sport, with the proportion of those saying this was a barrier increasing from 17 per cent last year to 22.5 per cent in 2024, an increase of 5.5 percentage points or nearly a third.

LPF believes these concerns are partly due to the removal, reduction and alteration of some disability- and age-related concession rates for match tickets and parking.

The survey results also show that more than a fifth (22 per cent) of disabled supporters said there were sports or sporting venues that they felt unable to attend because they were inaccessible, although this was far lower than the 36.5 per cent who said yes to this question in 2022.

LPF’s chair Tony Taylor said that, despite the fall since 2022, it was “completely unacceptable” that more than a fifth of disabled sports fans were still unable to attend some events due to access concerns.

More than 2,000 disabled supporters responded to the 2024 survey – the highest ever number of responses – with half of them (49 per cent) supporting a Premier League football club, and a quarter (26 per cent) following a club in the Championship, the second tier of the football pyramid in England and Wales, but there were also some responses from those following women’s football (1.2 per cent), cricket (0.3 per cent) and rugby (0.2 per cent).

Among its recommendations, LPF said clubs should have a “clear process” for fans to report any disability discrimination they experience, and that fans should know what that process is; all such reports should be taken seriously, investigated, and responded to; and stewards should receive training to recognise and act on any abuse.

LPF also called on clubs to raise issues about inaccessible public transport with local providers.

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