Rangers land SPL Family Champions award

Rangers are this year’s winners of the second annual SPL Family Champions Award – with the prize presented to Rangers’ Head of Marketing Irene Munro by SPL chief executive Neil Doncaster at the Clydesdale Bank Premier League awards dinner at Glasgow's Old Fruitmarket on Tuesday.

This initiative, run by the SPL, is aimed at improving the match day experience for families across all SPL clubs. Mystery shoppers visited each club four times and reported back to the SPL and the clubs on the experience – everything from contacting the ticket office to buying a pie. 

Rangers performed highly in all areas and showed real evidence of having a family strategy in place – with family ticket offers, entertainment, meal deals, family activities, proactive stewards and helpful staff. These factors combined to make it an enjoyable day out for families and would encourage them to attend again. 

On winning the award, Irene Munro, Head of Marketing at Rangers said: “We are delighted that Rangers has been recognised for our continued commitment to enhancing the match day experience for our fans.

“Our strategy to make football more affordable for fans has gone a long way to safeguard the number of families coming to Ibrox.

"However we believed it was crucial to further enhance the match day experience for our fans and families, and it is great to receive an award which recognises Rangers as a family club.”

The family section is an area the club is continually looking to develop and in addition to the recent physical improvements to the interior of the family section, Rangers introduced a schedule of entertainment and activities for children at every home game. This included a DJ, disco, games, giveaways and additional bespoke seasonal activity. Next season, Rangers will be installing a Nintendo wii console, family friendly toilets and changing facilities. 

Neil Doncaster, Chief Executive of the SPL said: “The Clydesdale Bank Premier League Awards celebrate the very best of Scottish football in what has been another dramatic season.  As well as honouring excellent performances on the pitch this season, the awards also recognise the hard work of clubs off the pitch and I am delighted that their efforts will be celebrated this evening.  I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Clydesdale Bank for their continued and valued support of Scottish football and for their efforts in putting together tonight’s event.”

The SPL Family Champions award was chosen by a panel of representatives from the SPL, Mark Bradley Projects and Coca-Cola after reviewing information from the mystery shoppers.

For more information on SPL Family Champions, please click here.