Nottingham Rugby Club delight at school ticket scheme

Nottingham Rugby Club hope that a tickets-for-schools scheme that saw a bumper crowd watch last week's home game will attract a host of new fans.

The "School of the Week" programme saw 2,349 take in Sunday's Championship match against Plymouth at Meadow Lane.

Chief Executive Simon Beatham said: "Sunday was a fantastic achievement.

"We had more people at the game than at the Leicester friendly, which proves there is an interest in professional rugby by the people of Nottingham."

The "School of the Week" initiative provides thousands of free tickets to schools across the city and county over the season, and Beatham was thrilled with the response.

It's fantastic to get as many young people as possible interested in rugby and out supporting their local club

Glenn Delaney

"Attendance is up 34% on last year," he said. "We did a great promotion to launch our Schools of the Week programme and this will be followed up throughout the year with a different Borough being chosen for specific league games.

"This team has some natural role models within it. The likes of Craig Hammond, Ben Johnson and James Arlidge are fast becoming favourites with the kids.

"What I would really like is for the kids of Nottingham to want to grow up and become the next fly-half or No 8 for their home team."

Director of rugby Glenn Delaney added: "The School of the Week programme is obviously a huge event for us and something that we're all incredibly proud to be part of.

"It's fantastic to get as many young people as possible interested in rugby and out supporting their local club.

"We're very hopeful that the success of the opening weekend can be continued throughout the season because increasing our fan base and welcoming youngsters in to see the team is incredibly important in so many ways."

The next schools will soon be receiving the next batch of free tickets ahead of the clash with Moseley on 10 October.