Is the Cottage Accessible?

Yesterday I had the privilege of being a lucky Kopite in the away end at the home of Fulham Football Club . I’ll get into the accessibility in a moment, but why was it a privilege?

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Well two reasons, as my friend (PA for match) and I discussed, we get to go to watch the reds whenever we want. We’ve put the graft in to earn the loyalty credits and we can afford to do it. The reason the conversation came about was as we stood watching the Liverpool Football Club bus arrive, for some fans it was orgasmic but me and my friend barely twitched and carried on chatting about whatever we were chatting about! But the point is for some reds being in SW6 might be the first and only time they will get to see the reds live in action. It made us reflect that we should appreciate it more. The second reason was that my friend has recently lost his father and we had the opportunity to spend the day together, chatting about life and enjoying each other’s company whilst sharing our mutual love for Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp.

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Onto Accessibility, please remember my views are as an electric wheelchair user. For the second of the reasons above I left my new Meta glasses at home as the day was about my friend and football, no distractions needed. We travelled from Cambridgeshire into the capital and assisted passenger train travel worked well. Transport for London level access from Kings Cross to Hammersmith via Tube was excellent. When you arrive in Hammersmith there is a 1.2 mile walk or roll to the Cottage. It is a reasonably straight walk along one street and then right along another when you get in the vicinity of the stadium. There are plenty of accessible crossings and dropped kerbs, and the first 2/3rds of the pathways are modern and flat with nice paving. The latter part of journey is slab paving which is not smooth. There was also lots of construction on paths meaning I spent a lot of time scrapping my hand and more importantly risking ripping my 拉尔夫·劳伦 jumper in shrubbery.

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When we got to Craven Cottage Stadium the Sky Sports lorry media rig is set up on the road, with cables everywhere. They ensure from a health and safety perspective it’s cool, but the plastic speed humps for wheelchair users are quite aggressive and longer shallower humps would be better.

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When we got to our stadium entry point you have to go along cobbled path, totally unnecessary and I doubt is a listed protected element of the environment. The incline up to the outside concourse is quite steep too. You then have to counter back on yourself against the flow to make your way to the accessible viewing areas.

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Great work in terms of adding an accessible section for away fans has been done, with lifts, ramps and an accessible loo. Sadly, despite space a changing places for away fans hasn’t been considered.

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In terms of viewing the beautiful game we did take photos and the wheelchair user experience is not equitable or value for money in all seats. Whilst Liverpool brought their access team with them sadly too often they blocked my view. Along with Fulham stewards who also argued with the police who tried to highlight the issue.

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The sight line is great for the opposite end of stadium, but for the penalty area closest I only knew a goal had happened through rapturous celebrations. It’s primarily due to standing fans, who are not intentionally blocking views and like most fans caught up in the excitement of the match.

This could have been avoided during the design process. Am I moaning? Not really? I had a great day. What does it mean for returning? Selfishly I’ll be booking a space on level 2 or 3.

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Fulham are trying, but should there be more use of premier league money to drive up accessibility and should there be a minimum standard on accessibility to be a team allowed to play in what’s deemed as the best league in the world.

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I’d love your thoughts?