– Full service agency worked with supporters to share their experiences – for launch of charity, Level Playing Field’s, impactful 2024 Unite for Access campaign
– Zut’s moving film challenges stereotypes around non-visible disabilities; boosting awareness and championing change while celebrating the universal joy of going to the match
Zut Creative has partnered with Level Playing Field to produce a powerful new campaign challenging stereotypes around fandom and non-visible disabilities.
The flagship film is being used to launch the charity’s 2024 Unite for Access campaign and features a diverse range of football supporters talking candidly about their experiences.
With almost one in four UK adults having a disability and approximately 70 per cent of being non-visible disabilities, the content focuses on the requirements of the country’s largest, but sometimes overlooked, minority.
Zut’s team captured fans of different ages from across the UK, speaking openly on camera – celebrating their love of the beautiful game and discussing the barriers they have faced accessing sport.
In a series of close up interviews, they talk movingly about the many and varied ways they enjoy football and the positive role it plays in their lives, while also discussing the prejudice that can come, as fans with non-visible disabilities, including blindness, deafness, reduced mobility, neurodivergence and chronic health conditions.
As one fan puts it: “Our disabilities may be hidden, but our love for the team is not,”
“It’s not just the game itself, it’s the journey, the music, the atmosphere”.
Others add: “We can’t hear the crowd, we can feel it”, “We come for the same reason, to stand with our friends and watch a beautiful game of football.”
The result is a hard-hitting but sensitive film that leverages lived experience to
educate, inform and advocate for change.
After being used to launch Level Playing Field’s 2024 Unite For Access campaign – an annual period of celebration of good access and inclusion at venues – versions of the film will be played across Level Playing Field’s social channels, EFL channels, wider social channels and in club stadia on matchdays, in a range of accessible formats.
Speaking about the campaign, Zut Creative’s Managing Director, Mark Hancock, said it had been a real honour to work with this community.
As he explains: “We’re known for our work with football clubs and we know that their fan communities are diverse – but that diversity isn’t always represented as widely as it could be.
“We wanted to provide a space for those fans to speak openly – to highlight how it feels to have a non-visible disability and to expose the barriers people face but also to talk about the joy of going to the match, the experiences that unite us, our passion for live sport.
“We’re really proud to be part of this project, Level Playing Field is an amazing organisation and I hope the film helps people understand why football is so important to so many of us – as well as highlighting the practical steps we can make it easier for everyone to enjoy.”
Level Playing Field’s Media & Communications Officer, Joseph Crabtree, said the film had created a dynamic talking point for fans and organisers of all types.
“We came to Zut with a really clear brief – a need to challenge stereotypes and find a way to make more voices heard,” Crabtree says.
“We were really impressed with their understanding of our ambition and the way they worked with individual fans.
“They have delivered something really powerful – a moving piece of film, grounded in authentic experience. As we know, there is so much misunderstanding around non-visible disabilities and this campaign counteracts that with education from genuine fan experiences, reminding us of the need to create an environment for everyone to enjoy sport without barriers.”
