Ticketless Euro final fans target disabled supporters ‘in a predatory way’

Uninspired fans targeted supporters with disabilities in “predatory” fashion when they tried to get inside Wembley Stadium for the Euro 2020 final, a review found.

One shocking incident saw a man in a wheelchair being taken from his father in someone’s attempt to swindle his way into a much-awaited match.

Fans without tickets tried to disguise themselves as waiters to get through the pass gates, a report by Baroness Casey on the events surrounding the England vs Italy July 11 match came to light.

The man’s father, as evidence for the sports charity Level Playing Field campaign for the report, said the England fan had worn a high-visibility jacket in an attempt to impersonate an official.

The father said: “He was then taken [son’s] wheelchair and pushed him to the door… Just as we got to the door we were twirling about what was going on and it turned out he was just an England fan in a tall jacket who literally hijacked a wheelchair to get into the stadium.

The man in the wheelchair was identified as a child in the review, but Level Playing Field later clarified that it was an adult.

It was just one example of how “unticketed fans target disabled supporters in a predatory manner near a revolving door” in behavior described as disruptive.

In another example, the unnamed father of a British footballer described how there were “waves of bodies thrown onto the floor, including a young child in a wheelchair – it was scary, embarrassing”.

Sports field safety authorities said how there were people “jumping over fans in wheelchairs”, adding: “That’s not human behavior. You don’t expect people to behave like that.”

A ticket holder who complained to the Football Association (FA) said they “saw people in wheelchairs struggling to get through mosh holes, pushing cans and bottles and God knows what else”.

Among its recommendations to the FA and Wembley ahead of upcoming matches, the review stated that “special care must be made to ensure those entering through the gates provided for wheelchair users and other more vulnerable members of the public are not threatened by the reckless actions of others”.