• Home
• About CAFE
  • Vision
  • What we do
  • Vacancies
  • Testimonials
• Links
  • Supporters Groups
  • Organisations
  • Football
• Resources
  • Advice & Guidance
  • Setting up a Group
  • Publications
• Press
  • Contacts
  • CAFE in the Press
  • Press Releases
• News
  • Newsletters
  • News Archive
• Contact Us

ABOUT CAFE

Meet the Board of Directors

David Bernstein, Chairman of Board of Directors and Trustees

As the former Chairman of Manchester City Football Club, David has vast experience in the business of stadia. Under his leadership the club enjoyed its most successful period in recent years including a move to the City of Manchester Stadium and financial stability.
As a Director of the Wembley National Stadium Board for 5 years, David played an integral role in the successful delivery and opening of the fully accessible stadium and in June 2008 he was appointed Chairman. David is also Chairman of Blacks Leisure group plc and Sports Leisure Group Limited and is a Director of Ted Baker plc and Carluccios plc. He is President of NADS (National Association of Disabled Supporters).

 Lord Richard Rosser of Ickenham, Director and Trustee

Lord Rosser was General Secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association from 1989 until his retirement in 2004, following which he was made a life peer later that year. A lifelong football fan with a particular interest in the non-league game, he is also Vice President of the Ryman Isthmian Football League and a member of the All Party Parliamentary Football Group.
Lord Rosser is a Non-Executive Director of the National Offender Management Service Board and has been a Justice of the Peace for more than 30 years. Lord Rosser is a NADS Vice President.

Chris Bird, Director and Trustee

Chairman of Bird Consultancy, a PR and Media management company, with clients operating across Europe; Chris founded Bird Consultancy in 1990, after many years in commercial radio and local and regional press. His extensive experience also includes four years at Manchester City Football Club as Chief Operating Officer and Board Director.
He has a wide range of other commitments within Manchester and the surrounding community and is Chief Executive of Sports Tours International, Non-Executive Director of JD Sports plc, and is Chairman of the Lord Mayor of Manchester Appeal. Chris is a NADS Vice President.

Joyce Cook, Managing Director and Trustee

Chair of NADS, a UK registered charity representing disabled football supporters and providing guidance to other sports such as cricket, rugby and Olymics 2012. NADS was awarded the European Football Supporters Award for 2008 for its works for disabled supporters. Joyce is herself disabled and uses a wheelchair. She has a good understanding of the UK Accessible Stadia Guide and Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide) along with current progress on access guidance and technical reports for Europe.
She travels extensively to matches across Europe with a resultant hands-on understanding of the many challenges for disabled supporters. Joyce also sits on the London Olympic Delivery Authority's Built Enviroment Access Panel, established to provide expert strategic and technical advice for 2012; has acted as a consultant to UEFA for the 2008 and 2009 UEFA Cup and Champions League Finals and Poland 2012 providing advice on disabled supporters requirements; written an advisory briefing paper for the UK Sports Minister and given evidence to the UK All Party Parliamentary Football Group on behalf of disabled supporters and their issues. She has been a guest speaker at several disability seminars talking about access to sports stadia and the issues and challenges for disabled supporters and most recently spoke at the launch of Kick it Out's new Equality Standards for football clubs. Joyce recently joined other diversity representatives as part of a panel of experts consulted on the development of sports strategy at the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Darren Berman, Director and Trustee

A solicitor with extensive experience in the sports and commercial sectors, Darren has worked for a number of years in-house at both The Football Association and Wembley National Stadium Limited. As Head of Legal and Corporate Affairs for Wembley Stadium from 2002-2009, he was responsible for legal affairs through the redevelopment and opening of the new national stadium.

In his time at The FA before that he worked across the range of the governing body's commercial, regulatory and administrative operations. Darren worked originally at leading London law firm Denton Hall, in its sport, media and entertainment department which was consistently ranked as a leader in that sector, where his clients included the Premier League, England & Wales Cricket Board and broadcasters, producers and marketing agencies.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meet the Team

Filipa do Carmo, Administration Manager

Filipa has been living in the UK for 3 years and before she joined CAFE, she was working at Macmillan Cancer Support where she gained a wide knowledge about the not for profit sector and how charities can work to improve the lives of people.
At CAFE her responsibilities include updating the website contents and making sure that we’re always on the case. She will also be supporting the European Development Officers expanding networks and campaigning for better access to football stadia in Europe. She is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and French.
Apart from her charity experience, Filipa has worked in film production before and in international film festivals, which will be quite useful when setting up the seminar CAFE plans to organise in 2011.

Keith Ferguson, UK & Eire Development Officer

For nearly fifteen years, Keith has been secretary of the Heart of Midlothian Disabled Supporters Club travelling extensively to matches in Scotland and across Europe. He is ambulant disabled (a bilateral lower limb amputee) and has a firsthand understanding of the many challenges that disabled supporters face. Keith brings a well rounded experience to his new role previously working for the Citizens Advice Bureau and having spent many years working within the logistics industry. He continues to act as an independent advocate for the Murray Foundation, which is a UK registered charity supporting people who have lost limbs in Scotland.

Much of Keith’s involvement to date with regard to access to sports stadia and the difficulties for disabled supporters has been on behalf of his own club’s fans. Joining CAFE will allow Keith to fulfil his ambition go further in supporting disabled supporters and creating better conditions in football stadia across Scotland, Northern and Southern Ireland and more widely.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meet the Operational Advisory Group (Honorary)

The Board of Trustees will be supported by CAFE's Technical Director, James Froggatt, author of the UK Accessible Stadia Guide and a full CAFE Advisory Group of representatives and advisors from across Europe including disabled football fans and disability groups (to be announced).

James (Jim) Froggatt, Technical Director

Jim is an architect by profession and has recently retired after serving for more than 20 years as an Inspector at the Football Licensing Authority. He is the author of the Accessible Stadia Guide and editor of the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (Green Guide). He has considerable experience in the provision of access requirements for new and existing stadia both within the UK and overseas.
Jim continues to sit on a number of sports stadia guidance working parties both in Europe and the UK and he has most recently advanced the CEN 315 technical report which will be published in 2009. Jim, a NADS Vice President, will provide ongoing technical advice on stadia design and access on behalf of CAFE.

Danny Wallace, Ambassador

Danny is an ex-footballer, having played professionally for England, Southampton, Manchester United and Birmingham City before retiring early with the onset of unexplained injuries. He was later diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and is now ambulant disabled. Danny has written an autobiographical book about his experiences and has also set up the Danny Wallace Foundation to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis research. He is also an Ambassador for NADS and 'Kick it Out - anti-racism' charities in the UK.

Jeanette Dodd - NADS 'Founding Partner' Representative
Jeanette is a Management Trustee (Secretary) for NADS and a member of the Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association. As a member of England Fans, she travels extensively following both her club and country in Europe and is a frequent visitor to the Czech Republic, with close family living in Prague. Jeanette is herself disabled and uses a wheelchair.

Maarten Luyts - INTRO (Belgium) - European Partner Representative

Maarten works at Intro, a Belgian organisation that’s makes music festivals and sport events, including football games, accessible for disabled people. He travelled around several stadiums in Belgium to assess their accessibility.
He also introduced a grandstand for blind people and people with a visual disability in Belgian football stadiums. Together with the Royal Football Union Maarten organized training days about the accessibility standards and legislation for all who is responsible for safety and security in football stadiums.

Christopher Bray, Event Director - Fundraising and Events Honorary Officer

Christopher Bray, Event Director at MS Life joined the MS Society in 2004 having previously worked for Help the Aged and the Princess Royal Trust for Carers. He has considerable experience in fundraising for large events and created and produced the inaugural MS Life Convention in 2006, the largest European event for people affected by multiple sclerosis (MS). He has spent the past three years developing the MS Life format, the largest event in Manchester attracted more than 3,500 visitors, including over 800 people with a disability. Christopher is also a member of the Community Outreach Team for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and is a judge for the annual Visit London Awards.

Gary Deards – Access and Stadia Development Advisor

Gary is a Chartered Tax Advisor by trade and has been involved with the issues facing disabled football supporters since 1999 with the National Association of Disabled Supporters (NADS) in the UK. Through NADS, he has worked closely with other disability organisations and bodies and has a pan-disability understanding of the many challenges faced by disabled people who follow football. Gary has also been a member of The Football Association’s Disability Advisory Group where he provided user-led advice on the issues faced by disabled football supporters into their disability football strategy and Football For All programme.
He is fully versant with the requirements of the UK Accessible Stadia Guide and the Disability Discrimination Act and has provided detailed responses to consultations on such documents as British Standards 8300:2009 (Design of buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people), various Football Licensing Authorities (FLA) guidance documents including the Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds (the “Green Guide”), Accessible Toilets and Safety Management. He works closely with a number of the FLA’s Inspectors on current and new builds as the project leader for the NADS Stadia Development sub-committee which is a consultative group for all new stadia and stadia improvements. He has carried out user-led consultations to over 50 football clubs and their stadia requirements which included preparing an access appraisal template for use by others and a disability policy for clubs.
He joins the Advisory Board to offer his technical understanding and user-led knowledge of stadium accessibility having worked alongside disabled supporters and providing support to these organisations.