Success for Mersey duo

Both Liverpool and Everton have proved to be the pride of Merseyside, with their successful disability programmes earning national recognition of late.

Firstly, Everton in the Community’s disability programme scooped the Best Community Programme category at the 2011 Sport Industry Awards at London’s Battersea Evolution, beating Adidas, Manchester City, the Football Foundation, Premiership Rugby and the Cricket Foundation to the accolade.

The judging panel, which included the BBC’s John Inverdale, paralympian Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and Alastair Campbell, former chief press secretary to the Prime Minister, said Everton's scheme was: “single minded, highly impactful, and addressed an important social issue.”

The award was collected from Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis and World Cup winner Geoff Hurst by Steve Johnson, who runs the disability programme and Steven Raynor, Everton in the Community's deputy CEO.

Everton in the Community’s disability programme is the largest and most respected in the world, delivering over 10,000 football opportunities for disabled children and adults every year. Using the power of sport, the Blues’ official charity has engaged with over 17,000 disabled participants and 2,850 in the past year alone on a local, national and international level. There are currently 26 successful disability teams representing Everton, which field a total of eight international players.

Denise Barrett-Baxendale, Chief Executive Officer of Everton in the Community, said: “We are so proud and thrilled to have won the Best Community Programme award for our fantastic disability programme. Not only does the scheme allow disabled people who wouldn’t normally get the chance to play football, but it gives them the opportunity to make new friends, build self esteem and most importantly have lots of fun!”

Across Stanley Park, Liverpool may have played their final home game of the season, but Anfield was a hive of activity earlier in May as the club showcased some of their community initiatives on the hallowed turf.

On an occasion to remember in front of the Kop, teams, players and coaches in the Liverpool Ability Counts FA Charter Standard Development Club, were first to play out a series of matches. The Club’s U12s Mixed, U16s Male and 4 Male Adult Pan Disability Squads played amongst one another for over 45 minutes having the chance to emulate some of their heroes.

Following on the Ability Counts Squads were Liverpool’s Respect 4 All Centre groups who took to the field for their once in a lifetime opportunity. The Respect 4 All Centre is specifically designed for those with severe disabilities with the aim to create opportunities for participation. The Centre is impairment specific and its participants have a range of disabilities such as severe learning difficulties, visual impairment, physical disabilities or are wheelchair users. The players played short football games and all of them scored several penalties into the famous Kop stand and they all enjoyed seeing the first teams changing rooms, interview areas and running out onto the most renowned European football ground.

To top things off, through Liverpool FC’s new sponsor Standard Chartered, the club’s Community department have developed a proactive partnership with the charity ‘Seeing is Believing,’ a global initiative to help tackle and treat avoidable blindness.

For any monies raised, Standard Chartered match every pound and dollar, thus doubling their impact on the ground. Through this partnership Liverpool in the Community coaches have been able to deliver blind football sessions in London and help develop blind football in Seoul (South Korea) and will be jetting our to Dubai in the next few weeks.

Mathew Pounder a coach with Liverpool and also an England Partially Sighted Development Player said: “It was a great opportunity to be able to coach football to people who have never played before, seeing is believing is a fantastic project. Standard Chartered had everything set up so professionally and did a great job creating these opportunities for children and adults.”

Anna Farrell, Liverpool County FA Disability Football Development Officer said of the programme, “Liverpool in the Community Disability supports The FA’s aims and objectives in providing opportunities for all.

“Their development in blind football comes at a time when The FA are altering the National Blind Football pathway, and Liverpool in the Community coaches are vital in ensuring that blind football is developed in Merseyside, England and across the globe.”