Inside Stamford Bridge at the Premier League match and at Kingsmeadow which was hosting a Women’s FA Cup semi-final, the film titled We Stand Together was shown prior to kick-off and it can also be viewed below…

This emotional production highlights the need to stand together and report any incidents of discrimination on a matchday. At Stamford Bridge and Kingsmeadow it was accompanied by stadium-wide posters with online links for reporting matchday incidents.

These initiatives by Chelsea FC are in line with the campaign Unite for Access which is run by the charity Level Playing Field to advocate for sports spectators with disabilities. They cover all sports at all levels across the UK.

Each year, Unite for Access has a different theme and this year’s is ableist discrimination, which includes slurs and derogatory insults directed at disabilities and is a hate crime, punishable by law in the same way as racism and homophobia.

The club takes this issue very seriously and has carried out educational sessions for our workforce and supporter base. At the recent Women’s Champions League fixture against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea Disabled Supporters Association hosted an event in the Tea Bar for fans which included interactive activities about discriminatory language and bias around supporters who attend games with personal assistants.

Chelsea is committed to standing against ableist discrimination. In addition to matchday reporting, we are monitoring social media platforms for the use of ableist slurs towards Chelsea supporters, players, staff and officials and are setting appropriate sanctions.

If you hear or see any discrimination on social media, please report it by clicking here on Report Abuse