Crystal Palace fan becomes first visually impaired commentator at Premier League game

Football commentary is challenging enough – finding the correct words to describe the action, keeping up with the play and identifying the right player at the right moment is more difficult than the professionals make it look.

For Ormston, who said he was “nervous” to go live, it was made even harder by his inability to have notes or a teamsheet.

For Sunday’s match against Manchester City, he was providing audio to other visually impaired fans in the stadium alongside colleagues Roger Dickson, Andy Bull and Chris Winter.

Palace have provided this service for their fans for many years, but since last season GiveVision headsets have also been made available for those that are eligible.

The headset, which looks like a virtual reality mask, transmits to the retina to allow the person using it to see what is there.

During the game, the user can control what they see via network camera feeds and they can zoom in and out and change the contrast. It also also allows users to switch to regular vision to join in with the real-time celebrations with those around them.

“I’m actually at more of an advantage now than everyone else,” smiled Ormston. “My friends round me ask when there is VAR because I get replays so I can tell them when to cheer and not to cheer.”

Ormston took the headset to Dublin last Thursday for Palace’s Conference League victory over Shelbourne but is unable to take it to any Premier League away game because other grounds do not have the requisite 5G infrastructure.

“The atmosphere is what I want to experience,” he added. “But it’s about inclusivity.

“There are so many clubs that don’t even have the audio commentary option, so how many visually impaired people are there out there who don’t go but want to go?”

One in 30 people in the UK are affected by some degree of sight loss, but at present, Palace are the only club to offer the vision enhancement system.

A total of 73% of sports fans with visual impairments do not attend matches due to the lack of accessibility, according to Unadev, the France-based organisation that raises awareness of visual impairment issues.

That is something Ormston and other people connected to the club want to change.