World Cup fever is definitely upon us! From the horrendous noise of the Vuvuzelas to the expectations for the England team, we have all been caught up in the spectacle of South Africa.
As a keen football supporter - a season ticket for Fulham FC - and a member of the FA London Advisory Group, I am passionate about making football inclusive for all. It is therefore disappointing to note that The South African Disability Alliance Group has stated that thousands of disabled people will not experience the 2010 FIFA World Cup live due to a lack of seats.
All 10 World Cup stadiums were jointly meant to have over 2800 seats allocated specifically for wheelchair spectators, but only just over a 1000 seats have been made available. The Cape Town Stadium was meant to have 340 seats for disabled people but will only have 110. Phillip Thompson, spokesman for The South African Disability Alliance Group has said there had been minimal effort to increase access for the disabled - “There are serious deficiencies in the various stadiums. There has been no undertaking from any of the stadiums to actually meet these adjusted figures. In Soccer City where we require 435 seats, it will be impossible to achieve 297," says Thompson.
I am afraid that FIFA must accept some of the blame for this unacceptable situation - they should have been monitoring the position and taking action to ensure that the promises of accessibility were met by South Africa. It is hoped that should England be successful in its bid for the 2018 World Cup, more will be done to be truly inclusive.
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