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 last 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.
will highlight the activities they do within the community. www.bradfordcityfc.co.uk, and #GameChangersBradford City has many active disabled supporters and
This Saturday's (11 March 2017) story involves a City-supporting family.
Rose and Ian Siddall are season ticket holders who come with their youngest son Ryan and grandson Taylor to every match, Bradford City is a big part of their family life.
Ryan, 16, was born with Chronic Kidney disease and under the watchful eye of the Leeds renal team he a number of operations as a toddler and had at times to be fed through a tube.
At the age 5 he began to deteriorate and it was then that Rose and Ian were told he would need a new kidney, obviously both parents were first in the queue to be tested for compatibility and Ian was overjoyed to be found to be a suitable donor and in July 2006 the transplant went ahead and was a success.
The transplant unfortunately was not a cure for Ryan’s condition, he continues to be closely monitored, suffers from very low immunity to the everyday illnesses and at some point a new kidney donor will be needed, but Ian’s kidney has given Ryan a real chance of a future.
Ryan loves watching and playing football and his highlights include being chosen to be a mascot at Wembley in 2013 when Bradford took on Swansea in the Capital One Cup and playing at half time on the pitch at Bradford City with the disability team.
Rose Siddall was last year diagnosed with bowel cancer and as a family with its fair share of heart ache this was quite a blow, but they have continued to work together as a family and support each other as Rose underwent her operation to remove the cancer and subsequent 6 months of chemotherapy.
Watching Bradford City both home and away has given them something as a family that they can enjoy and they even find time to raise money for charity. Thank you for you continued support you are inspirational #GamesChangers.
this Weeks of Action!#GameChangersMake sure you join us in celebrating the
@lpftweets@officialbantams#GameChangersPlease showcase your stories and activities
or call 0208 621 2403info@levelplayingfield.org.uk email www.levelplayingfield.org.uk For more information about Level Playing Field (LPF) and this year’s Weeks of Action, please visit