New funding confirmed to help under-16 Caley Thistle supporters make the Scottish Cup Final
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INVERNESS Caledonian Thistle FC chief executive Scot Gardiner has welcomed the “brilliant news” that Inverness Common Good Fund will shoulder some of the costs to transport young people to the Scottish Cup Final next month.
The club’s plans were thrown into disarray for the fixture after the controversial rescheduling of the kick-off time from 3pm to 5.30pm, apparently to accommodate broadcasters, with the English FA Cup final also to be held on the same date.
The move sparked fury, posing travel difficulties for north fans. Now the Inverness Common Good Fund, which takes in rents and other revenues from publicly owned buildings and aims to use the cash for the benefit of locals, has agreed a grant for ICT supporters planning to head to Hampden.
The exact details of what support will be offered were still to be finalised yesterday as the Courier went to press.
Mr Gardiner said: “We were subsidising the final transport and semi-final transport, so this is a huge help and we are hugely grateful for it.
“It is fantastic news for us because just under 39 per cent of our travelling support down to Glasgow for the semi-final and the final are 16 or under and we don’t charge anything for that. “It is brilliant news and a very positive thing.
“The last time it was done was for the 2015 final and we had some conversations about it and we got the confirmation of the award of the grant.”
BBC to blame?
He was speaking shortly after a visit to Caley stadium by Scottish Secretary Alister Jack who weighed in on the match row, laying the blame at the door of the BBC.
Mr Jack recognised the controversial rescheduling of the kick-off time posed difficulties, particularly for families.
“So this decision has been made by the BBC and they've decided to do it this way and reschedule the game,” he said.
“I mean the good news is that the club have got in touch with ScottRail and they will have the Inverness Express going up and down.
“And they've also organised a lot more buses to be running so people will get back to Inverness late on Saturday night. That could be particularly tough for families with young children. That's a pretty tough one but as I say, it was a decision for the BBC.”
He added: “I'm delighted because I'm going to watch the game on television, so I'm delighted but I will be able to watch it and that's important – I'm just sorry that Queen of the South aren't playing.”
Highlands and Islands MSP and ICT fan Emma Roddick welcomed the extra train service having written to her ministerial colleague Kevin Stewart about the issue.
She said: “Last week, I wrote to Transport Minister Kevin Stewart asking for a later train to be put on for ICT fans travelling back to Inverness on Scottish Cup Final day.
“Pleased to see this happening with Scotrail now running an extra service on the day.”
Both cup finals are popular
A spokesman for the BBC said: “The kick off time was announced by the SFA after discussions with all parties, including clubs and both broadcasters, the BBC and Viaplay.
"Both cup finals are hugely popular with our audiences and we are now able to offer licence fee payers the possibility of watching them both live.
"We will give details of our coverage in good time and our production teams are well-versed in coping with overruns on either game.”
