Cafe Football

[Scotty]

CaleyThistleOnline has been asked by 'Bronson', one of our long time members, to post the following story/information regarding an organisation called Cafe Football and we are happy to oblige.

My name is Simon Macdonald and I work for the Highland Council as a family support worker. Over the years I have helped to create a football group for teenagers with learning, physical, social and emotional difficulties who attend all the home Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club games.

I have developed a great relationship with ICT and was recently approached about becoming involved with an organisation called "CAFE FOOTBALL" . CAFE stands for "Centre for Access to Football in Europe" and one of their vision's is to improve the footballing experience for supporters with disabilities by setting up local supporters groups and raising awareness of any issues.

CAFE FOOTBALL have the support of Uefa, the SPL and the SFL and are to meet with the SFA soon. Disability Support Associations are now in place at Aberdeen, Dundee, Dundee United, Dunfermline, East Fife, Falkirk, Hearts, Kilmarnock, Livingston, Motherwell and Rangers and all these clubs have pledged their support. Although DSA's are not in place at Airdrie, Celtic, Hibs, ICT, St Johnstone and St. Mirren, positive contacts have been established and it is hoped that they will soon be on board too.

I have been in touch with Keith Ferguson the UK and Eire Development Officer and we have arranged a meeting on Monday 25th October at 7pm at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium to which any disabled supporters, family members, carers and representatives from organisations are invited. Keith will be there and will hopefully be able to gain the views of those interested and look into the possibility of creating a Disabled Supporters Association for the club.

I would also appreciate it if you could forward this information to anyone you think would be interested in attending the meeting and I ask that those interested in attending send me a private message to enable me to gauge interest levels and numbers. [send PMs to username Bronson]

I look forward to meeting all interested parties on the 25th,

Regards

Simon Macdonald

[Bronson]

It's just been pointed out to me that I have made a mistake with the dtae of the meeting mentioned in the original post. The meeting is of course on Monday 25th of October, not August as stated.

Apologies for any confusion caused.

Scotty - Any chance this can be fixed please?

Edited October 21, 2010 by Scotty
done.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Great stuff Brosnon

Confused - not half as much if you had done a Brosnonesque 4 am attempt

[Govan Jaggie]

Well done Bronson. It is good to see people willing to put in the effort. I hope you get a good turn out.

[Naelifts]

Good luck old buddy

[CaleyD]

Glad to see the process has finally reached this stage and I hope the opportunity is grasped.

[TopSix]

Didn't know about this. Will speak to folk at work about getting a link with Hibs off the ground. Thank you for the information.

[L_G]

The Supporters Trust will also be in attendance at this meeting. We met Keith Ferguson from CAFE at our Annual Conference earlier in the year. Kenny Cameron put him in touch with Bronson and the rest is history.

I hope we can all work together to set up a disabled supporters association over the next few months.

TSNY - Hibs don't currently have a DSA and in fact they offer the least in the way of disabled concessions for away fans.

The meeting is open to any disabled fan, their family members, carers, staff etc etc, in fact anyone at all who has an opinion they would like to share or a suggestion they would like to make.

See you there.

[TopSix]

Thanks for the info L_G. I'll take this up when I've got a chance.

[Bronson]

Just a quick update. I want to thank all of those who attended tonights meeting. There was a good turnout from a mix of parents, disabled supporters and staff from L'Arche, Nansen Highland, Cheshire House and Key Housing.

Thanks to those in attendance form the supporters trust - Hamish and Laura for helping to arrange the meeting.

There is Supporters trust meeting arranged for Tuesday 9th Nov at the stadium where we hope to select commitee members. So if you are a disabled supporter, or know of a disabled supporter who would like to get actively involved please ensure that they attend this meeting.

Thanks also to Keith for his presentation, and his son for driving him up and I hope they found a Macdonalds on their way home.

Edited October 25, 2010 by Bronson