THE Scottish Football Association hopes reduced ticket prices for concessions will encourage more neutrals to attend next month's William Hill Scottish Cup final.
Ronnie Bateman, the Falkirk managing director, had told Herald Sport last week that he expected Hampden to be no more than half-full for Scottish football's showpiece event between his club and Inverness Caledonian Thistle on May 30.
The announcement that children, students and senior citizens could attend the match in the west and east stands for just £5 was welcomed by both clubs, as well as by the SFA who hoped that non-partisan football fans would be persuaded to turn out to take in the match. Concessions, priced £10, will also be available in Hampden's north stand for the first time. An SFA statement confirmed that attracting supporters of other clubs to attend what has been dubbed "the family final" was partly behind the decision to reduce prices. It read: "The prices were agreed by all parties and, as well as ensuring every Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Falkirk supporter can attend this historic occasion, the policy will also encourage neutral supporters to come along and enjoy the occasion." Inverness are competing in their first ever Scottish Cup final, while Falkirk will be looking to lift the trophy for the third time in their history having done so in 1913 and 1957.
Stewart Regan, chief executive of the SFA, said: "This year's William Hill Scottish Cup Final promises to be a wonderful occasion, one that will capture the imagination not just of Falkirk and Inverness Caledonian Thistle fans, but their respective communities at large.
"On behalf of the Scottish FA, I would like to thank both clubs for their positive contributions to the plans for the Final, and wish them the best of luck on May 30th."
Kenny Cameron, chairman of Inverness Caledonian Thistle, said: "This will be very much a 'family final' and with youngsters able to attend for £5, I hope supporters will feel that the pricing meets their pockets and that it also appeals to neutral followers.
"I'm pleased that we, Falkirk, and the Scottish FA were able to reach a timely and amicable agreement on ticket prices, and we've already received an impressive volume of enquiries as the countdown to the final gathers momentum.
"There will be a major exodus from the Highlands on the day plus we'll have supporters travelling from a range of countries. It should be a memorable occasion."
Bateman added: "There has been a huge number of enquiries about tickets already, not only from our own supporters, but from neutrals.
"I think everybody realises it's going to be an exciting afternoon of football, and a game which will be in the 'not-to-be-missed' category.
"We've had fruitful talks with Inverness Caledonian Thistle and the Scottish FA, and all parties are committed to making sure that fans get their tickets with ease, and at an affordable price, for what promises to be a great family day out."
The newly-formed Scottish Football Supporters Association had lobbied for reduced ticket prices and were happy with the outcome. "We asked the Scottish FA to review its pricing for this year's Scottish Cup Final so we welcome the decision," said spokesperson Paul Goodwin. "This match, The Family Final, will be the biggest of the year for fans of Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Falkirk and reducing the prices for it will hopefully encourage as many supporters of both teams, as well as neutrals, to attend."
The SFA also announced there would be events lined up prior to the final, including a free Tesco Bank Family Festival at Lesser Hampden on the day of the game.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article