Showing disability discrimination in football the red card

Putting disabled football fans at the heart of the game

This week marked a significant milestone in our partnership with disability charity Scope, as we highlighted disability discrimination in football and showed that all football is for all fans, no matter who you are.


Virgin Media is the official shirt sponsor of Southampton FC, however, on Wednesday the Saints wore a special Scope-branded strip for their match against Manchester United.


We donated our shirt sponsorship to Scope in order to put disabled football fans at the heart of the game after new research showed that eight out of ten football fans have experienced some form of discrimination or issue resulting from their disability in stadiums.


Together with Scope, we’re calling on fans, clubs and governing bodies to help improve the experiences of disabled fans at grounds across the UK and deliver everyday equality for disabled people.


Our campaign has also received the backing of Paralympic gold medallist Richard Whitehead MBE. Richard joined us at Southampton’s St Mary’s stadium on Wednesday and coached five fans during a penalty shoot-out at half time. For every goal scored, we committed to donate £5,000 to Scope, up to a maximum of £25,000.


Find out more about the story and what we did here.


This project is part of our wider partnership with Scope, which aims to transform the lives of disabled people. Together, we aim to digitally connect disabled children, inspire independence through technology and transform everyday attitudes towards disability.


This week was a proud moment for Virgin Media and Scope, and we hope it makes a real difference to disabled people across the UK.