Rotherham United, Rotherham DSA and Rotherham United Community Sports Trust celebrated Level Playing Field’s Weeks of Action at their home match against Rochdale on Saturday 10th March.
The club organised a range of activities on the day which included the launch of the club’s new Disabled Supporters Association (DSA), a match day programme article and the use of a LPF banner as the teams entered the pitch at the New York Stadium. The first-team squad also agreed to be photographed with an LPF banner during one of their training sessions in the week before the match.
Level Playing Field Chief Executive, Owain Davies and Project Coordinator, Kieran Reynolds attended the match and took part in a pitch side presentation at half-time. During this presentation the club chairman, Tony Stewart gave a personalised club shirt to DSA chair Joanne Archer and DSA vice-chair Kerry Coleman. The DSA has been established with support from Level Playing Field.
The matchday programme included an interview with Edward, a young disabled supporter who has been attending matches since 2016. You can read his interview here.
LPF Projects Coordinator, Kieran Reynolds said, “I would like to thank the team at Rotherham United for organising the event and their ongoing support. Rotherham United is a club with a long-standing commitment to our topic and has a community ethos which can be seen at all levels of the club. We would like to thank the DSA committee for everything they have achieved so far and believe that the establishment of a DSA is great news for all disabled supporters of Rotherham United football club. We are looking forward to continuing our positive relationship with both the club and DSA in the future and we really enjoyed our day at the New York Stadium”.
Rotherham United Head of Supporter Services, John Bird said, “We are delighted to support Level Playing Field’s weeks of action and to announce the launch of our new Disabled Supporters Association, the RUDSA. We are committed to working with the RUDSA to ensure we are providing the best possible match day experience for our disabled supporters and are looking forward to promoting the Level Playing Field’s work and weeks of action during next season and beyond”.
Rotherham DSA Chair, Joanne Archer said, “We are delighted to launch Rotherham United Disabled Supporters Association (RUDSA). We look forward to working with Rotherham United to achieve the best possible matchday experience for all of our disabled fans. We also hope to develop a social network which will create opportunities to enhance the everyday lives of our members”.
Photos by James Brailsford @JimBrailsford
14.3.2018