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.