State-of-the-art giant TV screens, described as the biggest of their type in Scotland, are to be installed as permanent features at Murrayfield Stadium to further enhance the home of Scottish Rugby.

The screens that will be erected over the next couple of months will be 60 square metres - more than double the size of those that were hired at the start of last year's RBS 6 Nations Championship and represent a substantial six figure investment by Scottish Rugby.

Scottish Rugbys Chief Executive, Gordon McKie, said: "We have decided to invest in two permanent screens, to improve the match day experience for supporters at Murrayfield, and also to enhance the world-class facilities that we have at Murrayfield, facilities that play a key part in attracting major events to Edinburgh and Scotland.

We have hired big screens for many events at Murrayfield over the years but the size and positioning of these screens (in the past erected in the North and South tunnels) was never ideal.

Big screens are now an absolutely integral part of modern professional sport, especially when you consider in a rugby context the drama of a referral to the video referee."

The screens will be supplied by the ADI Group. ADI currently serve 48 of the UKs 59 race courses, including Ascot, Aintree and Cheltenham, have long-term partnerships with a number of English Premier League football clubs including Manchester United, Aston Villa and Everton, and are also screen partner for the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Robin Currie, Sales Manager at ADI, said: It gives us great pride to partner with Scottish Rugby as their screen provider to one of the UKs leading and most iconic stadia.

The screens being installed at Murrayfield will be the largest of their type in Scotland. Murrayfield will also boast the largest screen areas per stadium seat, larger than Twickenham, Wembley or The Millennium Stadium.

As part of the improvements ADI will also supply new 'digiSCORE LED scoreboards, to be erected in both the north and south stands. The scoreboards are a huge improvement over those they replace, being larger, full colour and able to play video.



Gordon McKie added: Weve thought long and hard about where the new screens will be located and clearly visibility for supporters was a major consideration, alongside safety which will always be paramount.

The new screens will be positioned in the lower north and lower south stands with the intention that they are ready for Scotlands opening Bank of Scotland Corporate Autumn Test  against New Zealand on Saturday 8 November and the following week when world champions South Africa visit Murrayfield. Thereafter they will be available when matches are broadcast from Murrayfield, including the Heineken Cup Final, Rugby Football Leagues Magic weekend and Edinburgh home games in the Magners League and Heineken Cup.

To accommodate the new screens, Scottish Rugby will lose a small number of seats in the north and south stands, still leaving the stadium capacity at more than 67,000, the biggest stadium in Scotland.

We have written to debenture holders whose seats may be affected explaining the rationale behind our approach and we are looking to ensure that we find an alternative seat for these most loyal supporters that they find acceptable, McKie said.

Notes to editors: Murrayfield will host two Bank of Scotland Corporate Autumn Tests: Scotland v New Zealand and Scotland v South Africa on Saturdays 8 and 15 November respectively.

The stadium will welcome Wales, Italy and Ireland during the 2009 RBS 6 Nations Championship, while May 2009 will see Rugby Leagues Magic Weekend, the Heineken Cup Final and Emirates Airline Edinburgh 7s all take place at Murrayfield. For details of tickets to matches at Murrayfield please log on to www.scottishrugby.org or call the Scottish Rugby Ticket Centre on 0131 346 5100.

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This article was posted on 13-Aug-2008, 22:24 by Hugh Barrow.