A special night of football under the floodlights at Bramall Lane between Sheffield United Women and Newcastle United Women celebrated inclusivity for disabled fans with the charity Level Playing Field.
Unite for Access works in collaboration with the Women’s Super League to celebrate good access and inclusion at sports venues. This year’s campaign took place from 28 February to 15 March.
Sheffield United Women’s players wore white T-shirts with Unite for Access and Level Playing Field written on the front and back during warmups.
Players from both sides also walked out to little mascots holding the Unite for Access flag.
The club said on its website: “Sheffield United is proud to be involved in ‘Unite For Access’ – a celebration of access and inclusion for disabled sports fans.
“Disability can be a complex subject matter, and that is why we invite both disabled and nondisabled fans to engage with us through this important campaign and to ensure access and inclusion is at the heart of everything we do.”
The special night of tribute continued with the Sheffield United and Newcastle United players, staff and fans standing for a minute of silence to pay tribute to 15-year-old goalkeeper Amelia Aplin, who passed away playing for Oxford United academy.
The match itself ended in a 1-1 draw. Both goals came late in the first half, with the home side taking the lead thanks to Simone Sherwood before Emily Murphy equalised for the visitors just less than five minutes later.
Sheffield United Women’s head coach, Stephen Healy, said he was pleased with the point against a playoff contender but felt like they could have got more with the missed chances at the end of the game.
Healy said: “I’m yearning for those three [points] ultimately. [Newcastle United is] competing for that playoff spot, and it’s another point on the board for us. So in terms of the work that we’re doing, I’m really pleased with the girls and the performance that they put in.”
This was the first game back for The Blades after the international break and their first league game since 1 February against Charlton.
Midfielder Mollie Rouse was frustrated to see chances being wasted and Connie Scofield’s effort hit the post but was generally pleased with the progress: “Considering the lack of games we’ve had recently, it’s a good result and our performance was good enough, and I think it’s something to build on.
“This is actually the first time we’ve had the full first team bench this whole season, which is exciting, as a player starting and seeing people come on, knowing that we can keep pushing on,” Rouse reflected on the squad depth, “We’re having a three-game week, we need that depth.”
Sheffield United Women will travel to Sunderland and Birmingham on 18 March and 22 March before returning to Bramall Lane on 28 March to host bottom-placed Portsmouth.
