HE’S ONE OF OUR OWN : AARON, FAN AND FOUNDER OF OADID

Before welcoming Dagenham & Redbridge to boundary park later tonight, we caught up with Aaron. Life long Oldham Athletic fan & founder of OADID to tell us a little bit about him & what inspired OADID.

Name – Aaron Diskin

Team- Oldham Athletic

What got you into football?

I’ve always been sporting/football obsessed from as early as I remember! I used to watch old football games on ESPN Classic all the time as a child, My dad was born on Boundary Park way in the hospital, so I always knew I was destined to follow him in being a Oldham supporter!

How long have you been a supporter?

I believe I was 4/5 when my Dad took me to my first Latics game and I’ve had the supporting bug ever since! We’ve both had season tickets for 10+ years , much longer in my dad’s case for the Rochdale Road End, although this year has been the first time in two years we’ve purchased Season Tickets, thanks to Frank, Darren, and co restoring pride and faith back into the club and its supporters.

Favourite memory as a fan?

So for me and my generation we are yet to see any form of success (hopefully that’s about to change in the near future), so most of our joyous moments have come from one off FA Cup ties. Now you are probably expecting me to say Liverpool or Everton at home, however as special as those ties were it was earlier in that run that sticks out to me… Nottingham Forrest away! This was one of the earliest memories I have of going to an away game with my dad and wow what a game and what a atmosphere and of course who can ever forget THAT Jose Baxter freekick

Worse memory?

Again I would probably avoid saying our most recent relegation campaign as I think I can speak for most Latics fans in saying there was always a inevitability as to what happened last year. However the relegation from league one is the one that hurts be the most still to this day, just purely down to the amount of talent we had in that squad; Kean Bryan, Jack Byrne and Eoin Doyle just to name a few . We should have never gone down with that squad and or manager, Richie Wellens (who’s Leyton Orient side are current top of League Two, in typical unlucky Latics fashion)

Recently set up OADID. Can you tell us about it?

So I alongside six other Latics supporting gentlemen decided to form a Disability Supporters Association in partnership with the football club back in September of last year called OADID (Oldham Athletic Disability Inclusion) . The main aim is to give a platform to disabled supporters of Oldham Athletic a voice and a say into to how to make the matchday experience more accessible for all.

We are very lucky at Oldham because we now have people running our club with a genuine interest into what the fans want, so that makes our jobs a lot easier as fan representatives because , Frank and Darren have been more then welcome to meet and work alongside us as a group.

Having Cerebral Palsy and being a wheelchair user myself I know how different a matchday experience truly can be for those with disabilities or impairments so it’s vitally important to be able to be in a position were we can be the voice and representatives for the disabled fans amongst Oldham Athletic supporters.

How can Her Game Too help with OADID?

I think both HGT and OADID do wonderful things and it’s vitally important for our two organisations to work and support each other hand in hand in making sure Football really is a sport we can ALL feel included and safe in. I personally have found it quite challenging to reach out to female disabled fans at Boundary Park and this is something we as a group are extremely passionate about changing , so with the help and support of HGT and the sharing of this blog post , hopefully we can reach more disabled female fans in continuing to ensure football is EVERYONE’S game!