Swansea City achieve EFL Family Excellence status

Swansea City is one of 65 clubs who have achieved the EFL Family Excellence status for the 2021-22 season.

Now in its 14th year, the Family Excellence scheme is an ongoing consultation programme, which aims to drive continuous improvement and best practice in family engagement across the EFL’s three leagues.

The scheme sees each EFL club receive two ‘mystery family’ visits throughout the season, with their feedback and reports determining whether each respective club would achieve ‘Family Excellence’ status.

The Swansea.com Stadium rated highly across the major touchpoints of friendliness, value and whether the assessor would recommend the stadium to a friend with activities in the family stand particular.

The report stated: “The provision of family activities inside the concourse is a major strength. While not all the activities were working, the ones that were made for a great addition to the family matchday experience (particularly the virtual penalty shootout).

“The member of staff supervising the virtual penalty shootout was great in encouraging kids to take part, making sure they had fun and cheering when goals were scored.

“The experience shows that the club have considered entertainment for kids and there is a general ease of moving around the stadium and accessing different things.”

Swansea City chief executive Julian Winter said: “We’re delighted to have achieved the EFL Family Excellence status for the 2021-22 season. We know that it was an extremely challenging season to follow the team with ever-changing Covid restrictions impacting how fans could watch and enjoy matches at the stadium, but we are pleased that our efforts to ensure the stadium remained an enjoyable place to come for families and first time fans has been a positive one.

“We recognise that there are some areas which can be improved for next season, and we are already working on ways to improve the matchday experience for all fans based on feedback from the report, and wider fan comments and consultations.”

Speaking after the league results were published, EFL chief executive, Trevor Birch, commented: “I would like to congratulate the record number of clubs that have achieved Family Excellence status this season. Ensuring a memorable matchday experience is vital to attract the next generation of young fans, so it’s great to see so many clubs excelling in this area.

 “Fans returning to EFL clubs in their millions this season has been fantastic to see and club staff should be commended for going the extra mile to make the matchdays engaging for families attending live games.”