Paul Letters | FIFA World Cup experience showed seating for football fans with a disability is a nightmare

Within the last year, I've been blessed to witness both Messi's magnificence in the 2022 FIFA Men's World Cup and the Matildas' magic in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.

But my contest with FIFA is off the pitch, concerning some of the world football body's policies, which, whether for the men's or women's competition, remain discriminatory - including here and now in Australia.

But one positive difference during the current tournament is that local stadium staff endeavour to counteract - arguably, countermand - FIFA's discriminatory ticketing policies, which hamper disabled families and, if adhered to, deny people inclusive seating.

I've been fortunate enough to attend several World Cups and was appointed a "fan leader" for Qatar 2022, prior to which I took part in numerous consultative online meetings with representatives from FIFA and the World cup organising commitee.

I first confronted FIFA Ticketing over inclusive seating ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, before I advised FIFA'S diversity and accessibility manager of the issues in advance of Qatar 2022 and then reminded both departments again before the current FIFA Women's World Cup. Nothing was changed, and FIFA tournaments remain discriminatory for us disabled fans.

For over a decade now, inclusive seating - where a family or group of friends with a disabled member can sit together like an all-able-bodied group can - is something my family and I have experienced at world-class sporting events, from World Athletics Championships to track cycling to soccer matches, in Australia, the UK and beyond - just never at any tournament organised by FIFA.

Adjustable, removal seating, flexible enough to meet the needs and family size of a disabled individual, isn't new and it isn't rocket science (and it isn't the only solution).

For the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, able-bodied fans may apply for up to 10 seats together - it was up to six together in Qatar and four in Russia.

However, for these tournaments, disabled fans - whether they are wheelchair users or those needing "easy access" seating - could apply only for two seats together. Of course, a family may make an additional application for the rest of their family, and FIFA have said they would then "of course" allocate seating close together for these two applications.

FIFA issue specific seat numbers close to the event, and shortly before we were due to fly to Moscow, our nine-year-old son was allocated a seat on the opposite side of the pitch to those allocated to myself and my wife.

Here in Australia, for this current FIFA Women's World Cup, our allotted seats were split far apart for every game; generally, either my wife or son would have to enter the stadium from the opposite end to myself and my plus-one carer.

For one game, we were issued tickets five levels - in terms of stadium height - apart. I'm a member of the Matildas Active fan group, where one mum told me that their family of five, with one member disabled, are split into a three and a two for their World Cup games, far apart in the stadium.

In contrast, up to 10 able-bodied ticket applicants would all be placed in seats together. FIFA's ticketing website deters disabled families from even applying (unless they are a family of two), while others put up with separation without complaint - because as British Paralympic legend Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson tweeted to me [we've never met], disabled people don't have friends - or so some ticketing services seem to believe.

Now, FIFA have said that they do all they can to sit families within easy reach of each other. Our lived experience over three world cups is that FIFA do bother to improve seating proximity, but only if you put in a complaint, and do so in good time. But why should disabled people have to complain to get what everyone else receives as a matter of course?

READ MORE:

In Qatar 2022, we forgot to complain in time, and so my wife had to enter the stadium through a different gate to my son and I, to sit in a different section. FIFA had ticketing resolution centres in all stadia in Qatar, but we found their staff showed no willingness to even attempt to resolve the considerable distance between our allotted seat numbers.

One stark aspect to consider is that if a family or group of friends with one disabled member buy tickets to a non-FIFA event - as the three of us did to see the Matildas play at Brisbane's Lang Park last year - they are all seated together.

Ticketmaster can do it but FIFA - who perennially insist upon using a ticketing sub-contractor near FIFA HQ in Switzerland - cannot. Yes, in that same Brisbane stadium, for FIFA World Cup matches a disabled person cannot apply for three seats together: computer says no, because FIFA's chosen ticketing system forbids selling more than two seats/places together for disabled fans.

However, at least in Australia, once inside the stadia, FIFA's discriminatory ticketing policies become drowned out with common sense. The staff make great efforts to sit disabled families together, with a no-nonsense solution: a simple stack of spare chairs positioned within wheelchair areas for friends or family to pull up a seat alongside their loved one. Long-term, there are more elegant solutions, but those little stacks of chairs show us that where there's a will, there's a way. Australia clearly has that will: does FIFA?