Press Release: Coventry City Football club recruits Rugby fans

A Rugby-based Coventry City supporter has been encouraging the town’s youngsters to follow in her footsteps after visiting schools.Elaine Ward, from Dunchurch, has been organising visits to schools across the borough as part of CCFC’s Tickets for Schools programme – a club-supporter partnership which offers schoolchildren the chance to experience a Coventry City matchday.As part of a recent visit to Paddox Primary School, in Hillmorton, the Tickets for Schools team, which also includes life-long supporter Pat Abel and fellow fan Cheryl Bates, were joined by Coventry City players Lukas Jutkiewicz and Isaac Osbourne.Children were given the chance to chat with the players and ask questions as well as having the chance to take pictures and collect autographs.Elaine has been supporting CCFC since she met her husband 26 years ago and since taking up her role at the start of this season she has visited 25 schools in the Borough and brought more than 1,250 supporters through the turnstiles.Elaine said: “I decided to take up this role because I feel really passionately that kids should support their local team rather than being an armchair fan for a club somewhere else in the country.“Hopefully this scheme will encourage youngsters to go along to games, actually be involved and support their nearest football league club – Coventry City.“It has been good and very interesting, I have built up some good contacts in the area now, and hopefully we will have produced a few more Sky Blues fans.”Since its launch Tickets for Schools has brought more than 16,000 youngsters and parents through the club’s turnstiles.In total more than 120 schools have been visited as part of the initiative across Coventry, Nuneaton, Bedworth, Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth.Paul Clouting, chief executive of Coventry City, said: “We are extremely proud of the success Tickets for Schools has achieved to date and of the hard work put in by everyone involved.“We want to do all we can to ensure schoolchildren in the area grow up to become the next generation of Sky Blues.“Tickets for Schools has attracted 1,000s of budding supporters through our turnstiles and that is why partnerships like this are so important.”The aim is for every primary school in the area to be given at least one chance to benefit from tickets through this scheme per season. For more information call 0844 873 6300.ENDS

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