Bradford City Football Club is pleased to support the 2017 Level Playing Field (LPF) Weeks of Action. This annual initiative, now in its 12th year, aims to celebrate access and inclusion for disabled sports fans across England and Wales.
This period of celebration and awareness began this Saturday (4 March 2017) and runs through to Sunday 19 March.
Disabled people constitute the largest minority group at around 15% of the population and this number is increasing year on year.
Naturally, a large number of disabled people are football fans too and we are pleased to take this opportunity to thank our own disabled fans for their continued loyalty and dedication to this great club.
This year we are celebrating the ‘Game Changers’ that make a big difference to the match day experience of our disabled fans. We want to shine a light on those who lead and pioneer change that improves access and inclusion, and in many cases changing the lives of disabled people.
Bradford City has many active disabled supporters and #gamechangers, and www.bradfordcityfc.co.uk will highlight the activities they do within the community.
The Monday's (6 March 2017) story involves two City-supporting brothers.
Bradford City Disabled Supporters Sam and Ben Robinson are season ticket holders who, along with their parents, enjoy both home and away matches and participate fully in the match day experience at Valley Parade.
Both young men have Fragile X which is the most common known inherited cause of learning disabilities affecting around 1 in 4000 males and 1 in 8000 females. It can cause a wide range of difficulties with learning, as well as social, language, attentional, emotional, and behavioural problems.
They do not just watch the first team but they also play disability football and have several achievements under their belt having competed with Bradford Disability Football Club since being young boys, this year they are both going to represent Yorkshire and Humberside at the Special Olympics in Sheffield in August.
Football is not their only sport as they can be seen running regularly at Bradford Park Run, the Bradford City Run and last year Sam ran a half marathon in Bridlington in under two hours with Eccleshill Road Runners and raised over £1000 for charity.
Sam recently received recognition for his sporting efforts at Bradford Sports Awards as Young Disability Sportsperson of the Year in 2016.
Level Playing Fields Weeks of Action are celebrating those who go the extra mile to improve access and inclusion for disabled sports fans. Ben and Sam are #GameChangers as they prove that their disability does not hold them back!
Make sure you join us in celebrating the #GameChangers this Weeks of Action!
Please showcase your stories and activities #gamechangers @officialbantams @lpftweets
For more information about Level Playing Field (LPF) and this year’s Weeks of Action, please visit www.levelplayingfield.org.uk email info@levelplayingfield.org.uk or call 0208 621 2403.