RANGERS yesterday announced a major initiative to attract more families to their games with club owner David Murray saying he feared youngsters were being in danger of being "priced out of football".
The Ibrox club have reduced child season tickets by a third to £134 while the cost of the average adult tickets will be frozen at £393 in moves Murray says will ease the financial burden on his supporters by £750,000.
"The more I see of soccer up
and down the country the more I fear it is becoming too expensive for families," Murray said. "We believe passionately that we should be taking a lead on an issue which is growing in importance throughout Europe.
"We cannot stand back and allow families to be priced out of football. We must do everything we can to encourage young fans. We keep reading that children are only interested in TV, computer games and roaming the streets. We can debate that but I believe sport is the way forward. Kids love playing it and watching it and our national sport should be a big part of their lives as they grow up."
Murray says the measures are a "gesture that was due" and represent "a big thank you" for the support the club has attracted in playing more away games in Europe than any other in reaching the UEFA Cup finals this season.
"I was made aware of just how important families are to us when we played in the Scottish Cup against East Fife and I saw all these fathers taking their sons' hands as they left the ground," Murray said. "I said to (chief executive] Martin Bain that we had to do more for them and make it easier to come to games and now juvenile season ticket will only pay the equivalent of £7 to watch a league game, which is a big, big thing."
The full article contains 322 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
