Falkirk believe they have been treated unfairly after the Scottish Football Association elected to give their supporters around 15,000 tickets for the Homecoming Scottish Cup final against Rangers.
The SFA met representatives from both clubs yesterday, with Falkirk hoping for an even split of tickets for the match on May 30. Instead, they are to receive 11,740 tickets, a total that will rise to 14,940 should they sell out their initial allocation.
Falkirk took an estimated 9000 supporters to their semi-final against Dunfermline last month but were confident they could sell substantially more for their first major cup final in 12 years.
"We went in looking for a 50/50 cut; we put up a case based on the argument that this isn't just Falkirk Football Club against Rangers, this is the whole of the Falkirk district,"
said George Craig, the club's managing director.
"We were not going in there talking about core supports or attendances in games; this is a one-off occasion for the people of Falkirk in the Scottish Cup final. I think everyone in the Falkirk district wants to be a part of that. We were disappointed that we could not secure parity. I have a lot of sympathy for the Association; it was going to be difficult for them to come up with something to suit everyone."
Rangers, in contrast, will receive 24,890 tickets for the final, a sum that has satisfied their supporters groups.
Andy Kerr, president of the Rangers Supporters Assembly, said: "We currently have over 43,000 season ticket holders and we regularly sell out our allocation of tickets for SPL, CIS and Scottish Cup away matches.
"We acknowledge that a cup final is a big occasion for any competing club but it must be borne in mind that, for high-demand matches, priority should be given to those fans that regularly turn out and pay to watch their team.
"Falkirk will be able to satisfy their season ticket holders and other fans that regularly attend matches but a fair proportion of Rangers season ticket holders will not be allocated a ticket, despite Rangers receiving a higher share."
John MacMillan, secretary of the Rangers Supporters' Clubs, added: "The bigger clubs should get a bigger share of tickets for games like this.
"There is a case for Rangers getting an even bigger share for the final so the SFA have been more than fair to Falkirk.
I can understand Falkirk would be able to sell more tickets for this game but the question that has to be asked of those who might complain that they should get more is, where are they during the season when their team needs them?' "The harsh reality is they don't support their team in the league games. Some Falkirk fans will miss the game but a lot more Rangers fans will not get along."
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