Swansea City players join DSA for Christmas party

Swansea City players Matt Grimes, Jay Fulton, Ollie Cooper and Kyle Naughton recently paid a special visit to the Disabled Supporters’ Association’s Christmas Party as part of a series of community visits to mark the festive period.

The event – hosted by Kev Johns MBE and also attended by club president Alan Curtis MBE -  saw the Swans first-team players meet and mingle with the DSA members and join in with the singing of Christmas carols ahead of their annual festive gathering - followed by an evening of fun with music, raffles and food.

There was also an appearance from Santa Claus to get those in attendance in the festive spirit.

Launched in 2013, the DSA is continually growing and currently has over 100 members. The DSA works to improve facilities and policies that affect disabled supporters. 

The DSA Christmas Party is an important time for members to get together to socialise, with recent years having been particularly challenging due to the impact of the pandemic.

Cath Dyer, DSA secretary, said: “It’s the highlight of the year for the DSA. The members love it, it’s an inclusive environment and the smiles on their faces are so lovely.”

Andrew Brayley, DSA chair, added: “It’s the main event of the year really, and it was good to see everyone get together and have a good time.”

It was also an important event for the players and club represented with Cooper and Curtis acknowledging the important community role the club plays, not just at Christmas but all-year round.

Cooper said: “It’s really nice to come to things like this, be among the fans and have chats with them. Ultimately everything we do is for the fans and any opportunity we get to do stuff like this, we should do it.

“It was an amazing experience to be here, and it’s really important that as a club we continue to be part of this.”

Curtis added: “We class ourselves as a community club and the DSA play a huge part in that.

“It was great to see all the kids and the parents – everyone looked like they’re enjoying themselves.”