Oldham Athletic

Hi, I have recently taken up a voluntary post of supporters liaison officer for the disabled at Oldham Athletic, as a disabled supporter I have found it difficult in the national league to get away tickets etc.
so I have requested this information from the national league clubs, I have now collected this information which includes facilities, parking, toilets, level access, number of wheelchair spaces covered and uncovered, etc
Would you like a copy? All the national league clubs I’ve spoken to want a copy for their disabled supporters
Regards Trevor Walsh

No change for away fans from our last report in 2016. All I would add is that some of the PA seats for away wheelchair fans are effectively “high chairs” which give a good view of the pitch but leave feet unsupported and can cause back ache afterwards, be warned! No headset commentary for visually impaired fans (well not mentioned on the Club’s website) and our recall is that Oldham stopped this service some seasons ago as it was not used! Had our own food and drink so cannot comment on how easy or otherwise it is for away wheelchair fans to purchase refreshments. Good view of the pitch. Space for around 6 wheelchairs at the away end, undercover.

With the opening of the new stand at Boundry Park (re-named Sports Direct.com Stadium) the provision for away fans has moved to behind the opposite goal to where it was and away wheelchair fans are now accommodated there at pitch level. This also means that you need to enter the stadium at the lower level, as the road that did connect the two levels of the stadium no longer exists. Easy parking for away disabled fans immediately outside the entrance they now use which is on the ground below the right hand corner of the new stand. The accessible toilet for away fans is now a brand new one in the new stand (a steward escorts you through a door in the side of the stand.)

I go to most home games at Boundary Park.

I will say that getting into the ground is not that bad, particularly to the verlin stand which is flat, although getting into the chaddy end can be difficult if the weather is bad, the car park can get a little mucky but this should be solved with the new build whenever that is finished.

The problems i face are 1) the usual disabled parking problem of people who don’t need the spaces parking on them, very little seems to be done to stop that happening, and 2) the biggest problem, when people stand in front of us during games, as if we’re not there, when the back row or two stand up they’re a good foot above us, so unless I suddenly develop xray vision I cant see through them.

All it would take to stop this is either keep the top 2 or 3 rows empty, it’s not like we get massive attendances anyway and there are always empty seats lower down the stand. or raise the platform at the back where we sit a little bit so that we can see over people even when they stand up. But the club seem more than reluctant to do either one of these. They don’t seem to understand we have a standing up problem, in that we can’t.

And unfortunately I dont see these problems being solved by the new stand being built at boundary park, based on visual evidence so far, and I admit the stand is far from finished, I don’t yet see a situation where we can sit up at the back of the stand and be able to see over people standing up, it just looks like it will be the same situation as in the verlin stand, I was told they would be putting ‘super risers’ in the new stand but can’t see where they would be situated.

Hope I’m proved wrong, but based on past experiences at Oldham I dont think I am.

Written on behalf of the fans that attended as I would NEVER go again.

Definitely NO better. NO stewards at 3pm or later. The wheelchair area is in a good place under cover and near to ammenities if there is no one in the seats in front because they always stand up. Police asked supporters to sit down but they stood up again when police moved away. We know it is our own fans but things could be better if the 3 rows at the back were netted off as it was not a sell out and there was plenty of room further down the stand.

Toilets NO hot water, NO emergency pull cord. Seats too low down for disabled fans to sit on. Coach park bad for pushing wheelchairs on, very rough surface.

Since being a wheelchair user I had not travelled to any away match prior to this must not lose game at Oldham Athletic to complete our great escape from what seemed almost inevitable relegation to division 2. As an ambulant supporter I had previously travelled the length and breadth of the country following my team of choice without a second thought. However, things have now changed and a little more planning has to be put in place before embarking on any journey, let alone a football match!

I went on the OAFC website, checked it out and fired an email off to Ron before purchasing my ticket to allay any fears I had re parking and general accessibility etc. Ron duly answered and said ticket was purchased from the Meadow Lane ticket office which meant for the first time I was on the road as a wheelchair spectator. Once at the ground we entered the car park and were directed to the disabled parking spaces which are directly outside the away fans entrance and were also given the virtue of being waived the £5 parking charge to boot….(bonus). Upon getting out of my car we were greeted by Ron himself too, which was a nice touch. Although he wished me well he stopped short of wishing me good luck.

Entering the ground could not have been easier as we were led through the gate directly adjacent to the turn stiles by a steward, and bosh, we were there, totally hassle free! Once inside on the concourse there were bars and burger vans etc and easy access to the accessible toilets. I read on an earlier post that there was a small step to negotiate but the only toilet I used had been ramped with concrete so no such problem was encountered. I will say at this point, due to the size of our following (3,500) the whole of the Verlin Stand aka the Rochdale Road Stand was designated to away fans and the toilet was in the far right hand corner when facing the stand so cannot comment if there was another one to the left and this may need considering if the stand is split between home and away fans as this is generally the case for most of their home games.

Everything was accessible for me except the portable bar, which is out of reach of any wheelchair user due to being so high. However, if you are with a carer or friends this is not a problem as they get to queue whilst you take in the atmosphere and it sells real Ale too, which softens the blow. The wheelchair spaces for viewing the game are at the back of the stand and come with an excellent view of the game so long as there’s no 6 foot blokes stood in front of you. But to be honest, you are free to move around if you so wish to get the best view if at all possible and the carer’s seats are next to the wheelchair spaces and your really part of the atmosphere.

All in all it was good to travel again and my experience was a good one (albeit being helped by the 1-1 score line and relegation being staved off) with no issues at all and would recommend anyone thinking of travelling to Boundary Park to watch their team play to do so with confidence. As we left the ground we bumped into Ron again, we shook hands and said we will meet again next season. As I stated previously this was my first experience travelling to an away ground as a wheelchair user and have nothing to compare it against but It worked for me.

We are naturally very sorry they had a negative experience on the day. We are all well aware here that Boundary Park is an old ground well passed its sell by date, and offers facilities that are less than ideal for all fans, never mind disabled ones. All we can say is that we are doing our best to make disabled fans as welcome as possible, and in our opinion the stewards work very hard to that end.

The problem of obstruction caused by standing fans is a universal problem, visible on every ground.

To our Wolverhampton friends the very obvious point to make is that it was their own fans, not Oldham fans, causing the obstructed views. (The same applies to the earlier comment from the Sheffield United fan). It is a point worth addressing therefore to their own clubs as well as to Oldham Athletic. It is in practice very difficult for stewards to prevent this happening, as they run the risk of verbal abuse or even violence when they attempt to do so. It is worth noting that when Liverpool came to us in the FA Cup last season we spoke before the game to the Liverpool DLO and he was quite philosophical about and accepting of the problem.

It does sound on this occasion as though the stewards did try to help the people in question to get an unobstructed view. As for stewards standing in front of the fans we cannot comment. That directive would have come from the Safety Officer on advice from the police. It does however sound very unfortunate.

We do hope the fans concerned will visit us at Boundary Park again. They will be very welcome, and we will do our best for them within our very obvious limitations.

Attended this cup match with two supporters who have learning disability, and one with limited mobility, but not a wheelchair user, and a helper. We had pre-booked a blue badge space and were parked directly outside the away stand. We arrived very early and were allowed to all enter through an accessible gate in order to use the toilet even though the ground was not open and then returned to our car to await the opening time.

The seating was unallocated and the stand was entered from the rear with a wheelchair platform and some ‘higher’ chairs available for use by disabled supporters. However it was obvious that our view would be obstructed by fans standing in front of this area so we decided to move down to the front of the stand. The stairs down were quite shallow so at a push this was achievable with support for people with limited mobility. We were stopped about 10 rows from the front by a steward who informed us that unless more fans than anticipated turned up, would remain unused.

This was a fair point as the weather was awful with wind rain hail thunder lightning and at one time even snow and the roof did not shelter the front rows. We talked to stewards and were assured that if they needed to use the seats nearer the front then they would allow us to move further forwarded to ensure our view was un obstructed if we remained seated. This was fine until it was apparent at kick off that the stewards were going to stand in the row in front of us, completely obscuring our view. We addressed this but whilst discussing we missed the kick off and first goal!

We were then directed to move across the aisle to the centre and had a slightly better but still obstructed view. My friends who are wheelchair users and therefore had no choice but to stay at the top of the stand later confirmed that their view had been completely obscured throughout the match. Not a great experience and don’t think I will be returning for the league match.

Our second visit to Boundary Park as away fans travelling in our club’s wheelchair accessible mini-bus. Be sure to park at the top of the hill and not the bottom, as it is a very steep path up. Our experiences would concur with earlier reviewers. The only additional comment I would make is that Boundary Park is the only ground I have visited that has a step (about 2 inch depth) into the accessible loo at the away end, in front of you on the left as you enter. Whilst this may prove difficult for manual chairs, in my powerchair, I had to turn up the speed to get up it and then almost crashed into the back wall trying to stop in time! Persist with the hot water supply it does work despite its appearance suggesting otherwise.

It is worth noting, the away fans nearest the home fans at Boundary Park, are a lot of very vocal youngsters who made very personally offensive remarks to one of our ambulant disabled fans. The stewards seem to take the attitude there is nothing they can do with them as they are kids. I will email the club separately to bring this to their attention.

Went by coach from Goodison Park to Boundary Park arriving in good time. Easy access and helpful personnel. Ground management agreed to move Michael and I to more suitable seating area. Understanding and common sense from their staff.

No head set commentary but did receive excellent radio reception from BBC Radio 5. Prior to the game we spoke to Ron the disability officer who told us about no commentary. He came to see us before KO to ask if all was well.

All in all a good experience, thanks to all at Boundary Park.

Oldham were very helpful to us. I spoke to Ron prior to our visit and he gave us great information and even met us by the away end to make sure everything was ok. Parking was outside the entrance and free to blue badge holders. View was good, at the back of the stand and under cover. Didn’t have any fans in front of us but may have effected view if there had been some and they had been standing.

No stewards, no view of match.

Very good view if no one in front. Although they were away fans they all stood up in front of wheelchairs so no one saw the match.No room for carers to stand as the “Keep Clear for disabled only” spaces were full of non disabled fans. No steward on duty after 3pm so no one to help. Definitely will NOT go there again