Rob Crossan is a partially sighted travel journalist who has travelled the UK visiting his favourite old-fashioned football terraces and taking photographs.
He told BBC Sport why, as a visually impaired fan, these terraces allow him to experience football in a different way, by moving around to follow the action.
Old-style terracing was phased out at Premier League grounds in 1994, a recommendation of the Taylor Report following the Hillsborough disaster in 1989 when 97 fans died following a crush.
Designated safe-standing areas were introduced in some Premier League and Championship grounds in 2022.
However, old-fashioned terraces can still be found at many smaller grounds.
Rob Crossan – as told to Ciaran Varley
I was born with ocular albinism and nystagmus which makes me almost completely blind in my left eye and severely visually impaired in my right eye. Nystagmus worsens with age. I can’t drive a car and I struggle to see anything that’s more than a couple of feet away with any real clarity.
When I first started to go and watch Wrexham in 1991, there was a terraced paddock area underneath the main stand. My friends and I used to follow the linesman and run up and down the terrace while the game was played so that I could keep up with the action and see what was going on.
Nowadays, I hate using seats and safe standing as it means I can’t move at all to follow the action. But, in the upper echelons of the game, I have no choice.
