As the football season reaches its climax today
NEIL ALEXANDER considers one loyal group of Rangers fans who have
never seen their heroes play
THERE can't be many people on the South Side, or indeed in the whole
of Glasgow, who are not aware that Rangers are champions again -- for
the seventh year running. Almost everyone will have seen the ground, and
many will have seen the team play.
However, there is one group of about 50 loyal (some would say
fanatical) supporters who attend every home match, sitting by the
tunnel, and yet have never seen any of their heroes play. They have
never even seen the magnificent stadium that they sit in every week,
because they are blind.
The Rangers Blind Party, as they are known, sit in the Main Stand just
behind the dugout, and are some of the most vocal supporters at Ibrox.
They have their own sighted commentator who shouts a ball-by-ball
coverage at them, and there have even been complaints -- from sighted
supporters sitting behind the Blind Party -- about the somewhat
colourful language used by some of them.
Blind and visually-impaired football supporters throughout Scotland
owe their weekly visits to their favourite clubs to Rex Kingsley, who
worked for the BBC and was a sports writer for the Sunday Mail. Rex
founded the original blind parties in 1937, and the organisation now
bears his name. The Rex Blind Party.
Most of the bigger clubs in Scotland have blind supporters, and the
Rex organises commentators at Rangers, Celtic, Partick Thistle, Falkirk,
Hibs, Hearts, Dundee and Dundee United, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, and
Clydebank.
Davy Tanner, chairman of the Rangers Blind Party and the Rex Blind
Party, has been involved for as long as he can remember, and did his
first commentary at the age of six: ''Both my parents were blind, and my
dad used to take me to Ibrox every week. One week the sighted
commentator didn't turn up, so I did the commentary while sitting on
Dad's shoulders.''
There is no maximum or minimum age for membership -- and the group has
members from 11 to 85. Tanner said: ''We have one member, Drew Herbison,
who is totally blind and travels down from the Black Isle, north of
Inverness. He comes down for most home games. We also have supporters
from Ayrshire, Dumbarton, Edinburgh, and Grangemouth. In fact, they're
just like the ordinary sighted fanatics in that they will travel almost
anywhere to support their team.''
The style and content of the commentary is very important. ''The thing
about commentating for the blind is that you have to keep up with play.
There's nothing more frustrating than when you hear Archie McPherson or
one of the other commentators say 'Goal!' and you don't know whether
it's in your goal or the other goal.''
The secret, according to Davy Tanner, is speed: ''The blind supporters
like a fast-moving up-to-date commentary, and they also like a biased
commentary. For example, the other week I said the referee had given
Rangers a free kick just outside the penalty box, and added that I
didn't think it was a free kick. One of the younger blind supporters
answered: ''It looked more like a penalty to me!''
Rangers provides the 50 seats free, and access for the Blind Party and
ambulatory disabled supporters was considered when the stadium was made
all-seater to comply with the recommendations of the Taylor Report.
Tanner said the Blind Party's seats are situated in an area where they
will be safe if any missiles are thrown, and where they could be
evacuated quickly from the ground by security personnel if there was an
emergency.
However, the wall of noise which surrounds the Blind Party has made it
increasingly difficult for them to hear the commentary, and they are in
the process of raising funds for an audio-assisted broadcast system, so
members will have an ear-piece through which they can hear the
commentator.
Davy Tanner said: ''This system will mean we will no longer have to
choose the commentators with the loudest voices. The commentator will
still be at the game with them, but they won't have to shout.''
Rangers supporters clubs heard about the scheme and have already
raised about #2500 to pay for the equipment, although the Blind Party
have not yet made an official request for help with fund raising.
Because of the help of all those involved with the Blind Party, it
looks as if Rangers' visually impaired and blind supporters will
continue to watch their team play from the seats by the tunnel for many
seasons to come.
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