Bristol Rovers F.C.

Bristol Rovers

Full name	Bristol Rovers Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Pirates, The Gas
Founded	1883 (as Black Arabs)
Ground	Memorial Stadium Horfield, Bristol (Capacity: 12,011[1])
Chairman	Nick Higgs[2]
Mangers	Lennie Lawrence (Director of Football) Paul Trollope (First-Team Coach)[3]
League	League One
2007–08	League One, 16th[4]
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Bristol Rovers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Bristol. They play their home matches at the Memorial Stadium, in the Horfield area of the city, and have played in League One since being promoted via the League Two playoffs at the end of the 2006–07 season.^[5]

The club was founded in 1883 as Black Arabs F.C., and was also known as Eastville Rovers and Bristol Eastville Rovers before finally changing its name to Bristol Rovers in 1898. They were admitted to the Football League in 1920 and have never dropped out of it since. The closest they came to going out of the league was in 1939, when they were re-elected after finishing bottom of Division Three (South), and in 2002 when the team finished just one league position away from relegation to the Football Conference. Their best ever finish was in 1956 and in 1959 when they finished in 6th place in Division Two, which was the second tier of English football at the time.

The club's official nickname is The Pirates, reflecting the maritime history of Bristol. The local nickname of the club is The Gas, from the gasworks next to Eastville Stadium, their former home. Their main rivals are Bristol City, and according to a survey conducted in December 2003, Cardiff City and Swindon Town are considered the second and third biggest rivals.^[6]

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early years 1.2 Into the Football League 1.3 Cup competitions 2 Colours and badge 3 Stadium 4 Supporter culture 4.1 Club song 5 Players 5.1 Current squad 5.2 Out on loan 5.3 Notable former players 6 Management 6.1 Management team 6.2 Managers 7 Youth Academy 8 Women's Team 9 Achievements 10 Records 10.1 Scorelines: 10.2 Players: 10.3 Other: 11 References 12 Sources 13 External links

History

For more details on this topic, see History of Bristol Rovers F.C..

Early years

The club was formed following a meeting at the Eastville Restaurant in Bristol in September 1883. They initially went by the name Black Arabs F.C., the name coming from the Arabs rugby team and the predominantly black kits in which they played. This name only lasted for the 1883–84 season, and in a bid to draw more fans from the local area the club was renamed Eastville Rovers in 1884.^[7]

The club played only friendly games until the 1887–88 season, when they took part in the Gloucestershire Cup for the first time. They first joined a league in 1892, when they became a founder member of the Bristol and District League, which three years later was renamed the Western League. In 1897 Eastville Rovers joined the Birmingham and District League, and for two seasons played in both this league and the Western League.^[8] At the beginning of the 1897–98 season, the team turned professional and changed their name to Bristol Eastville Rovers,^[8] and on 17 February 1899 the name was officially changed to Bristol Rovers.^[9] In 1899 Bristol Rovers joined the newly-formed Southern League, where they remained until 1920, winning the league title along the way in 1905.^[5]

Into the Football League

For the 1920–21 season, the Southern League teams were moved into the new Division Three of the Football League, which became Division Three (South) the following season. They remained in this division for over 30 years, before winning the league, and promotion in the 1952–53 season.^[10]

Promotion has been won by the team on three other occasions, in 1973–74 from the Third Division to the Second Division, again in 1989–90 as Division Three champions and also in 2006–07 to the Football League One. The team have been relegated four times in their history - in 1961–62, 1980–81, 1992–93 and most recently at the end of the 2000–01 season,^[5] when the team were relegated to the fourth level of league football for the first time in their history.^[11]

The highest position in the football ladder achieved by Rovers at the end of season is sixth place in the second tier, which they did twice; once in 1955–56, and again in 1958–59.^[5] The closest they came to the top flight was in 1955–56, when they ended the season just four points below the promotion positions.^[12] The lowest league position achieved by the club is twenty-third out of twenty-four teams in the fourth tier, which was attained during the 2001–02 season.^[5] It was a narrow escape from relegation from the Football League on two counts; firstly they ended just one league position above the relegation zone, and secondly the rules were changed the following season to increase the number of relegation places to two, meaning that if Rovers had finished in that position one year later they would have been relegated.^[13]

Cup competitions

The only major cup competition won by Bristol Rovers is the 1972 Watney Cup, when they beat Sheffield United in the final.^[14] The club also won the Division Three (South) Cup in 1934–35, as well as winning or sharing the Gloucestershire Cup on 32 occasions. The team have never played in European competition, the closest they came was when they missed out on reaching the international stage of the Anglo-Italian Cup in the 1992–93 season on a coin toss held over the phone with West Ham United.^[15]

In the FA Cup, Rovers have reached the quarter-final stage on three occasions. The first time was in 1950–51 when they faced Newcastle United at St James' Park^[16] in front of a crowd of 62,787, which is the record for the highest attendance at any Bristol Rovers match.^[17] The second time they reached the quarter final was in 1957–58, when they lost to Fulham,^[16] and the most recent appearance at this stage of the competition was during the 2007–08 season, when they faced West Bromwich Albion.^[18] They were the first Division Three team to win an FA Cup tie away to a Premier League side, when in 2002 they beat Derby County 3-1 at Pride Park Stadium.^[16]

They have twice reached the final of the Football League Trophy, in 1989–90 and 2006–07, but finished runners-up on both occasions. On the second occasion they didn't allow a single goal against them in the competition en route to the final, but conceded the lead less than a minute after the final kicked off.^[19]bristol rovers are amazing.!

Colours and badge

Bristol Rovers are known for their distinctive blue and white quartered shirts, which they have worn for most of their history. The current home kit consists of a light blue and white quartered shirt and white shorts, while the away kit is green with black trim.^[20] During the 2008–09 season a special third strip, which is black with a gold sash, and is a reproduction of the original Black Arab shirt, will be used for a single match to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the club.^[21]

The team began playing in black shirts with a yellow sash from their foundation in 1883 as Black Arabs F.C. until 1885, by which time they were called Eastville Rovers. For the next fourteen years, until 1899, the team wore blue and white hooped shirts. These were replaced by black and white striped shirts until 1919.^[22]

When Rovers were admitted to The Football League in 1920 they wore white shirts with blue shorts. These remained the team colours until 1930, when the colours were reversed to blue shirts and white shorts for one season.^[22] The blue and white quarters were first worn in 1931, when they were introduced to try and make the players look larger and more intimidating.^[23] Rovers continued to wear the quarters for 31 years until they were replaced by blue pinstripes on a white background.

Over the next ten years, Rovers went on to wear blue and white stripes, all blue, and blue shirts with white shorts before returning to the blue and white quarters in 1973, which have remained the colours ever since.^[22] During the 1996-97 season, Rovers wore an unpopular striped quartered design, prompting fans to refer to it as the Tesco bag shirts^[24] because of their similarity to the design used for the company's carrier bags. The change in design prompted the Trumpton Times fanzine to change its name to Wot, No Quarters?^[25]

The black and gold shirts were also used as the away kit for the 2002-03 season, the mark the 120th anniversary of the club.

In 2005, Rovers ran an April Fools' joke on their official website, stating that the team's new away strip would be all pink. Although this was intended to be a joke, a number of fans petitioned the club to get the kit made for real, and also suggested that funds raised through the sale of the pink shirts should be donated to a breast cancer charity.^[26] Although the pink shirts were never used in a competitive fixture, they were worn for a pre-season friendly against Plymouth Argyle in 2006.^[27]

A pirate features on both the club badge and the badge of the supporters club,^[28] reflecting the club nickname of The Pirates. Previous club badges have featured a blue and white quartered design, based on the quartered design of the team's jerseys.

Stadium

Dates	Ground
1883-1884	Purdown
1884-1891	Three Acres
1891-1892	Schoolmasters Cricket Ground
1892-1894	Durdham Down
1894-1897	Ridgeway
1897-1986	Eastville Stadium
1986-1996	Twerton Park
1996-present	The Memorial Stadium

Main articles: Memorial Stadium (Bristol), Twerton Park, and Eastville Stadium

Rovers play their home games at The Memorial Stadium in Horfield, a ground they share with Bristol Rugby Club. The team moved to The Mem, as it is known informally, at the beginning of the 1996-97 season, initially as tenants but purchased it two years later.^[29]

When Bristol Rovers were known as Black Arabs F.C. in 1883, they played their home games at Purdown, Stapleton. The following year they moved to Three Acres, the precise location of which is not known, but is believed to have been in the Ashley Down area of Bristol, where they remained for seven years. This was followed by brief stays at the Schoolmasters Cricket Ground, Durdham Down and Ridgeway.

For the majority of their history, Bristol Rovers have played their home games at Eastville Stadium, where they remained for a period of 89 years from 1897-1986. Financial problems led to the team being forced to leave Eastville, and they found a temporary home at Twerton Park, the home of Bath City. They stayed in Bath for 10 seasons, before returning to Bristol in 1996.

Rovers have also played home games at Ashton Gate following a fire which destroyed one of stands at Eastville, and also for one match during the early days of the period spent in Bath. During World War II, some friendly matches were played in Kingswood, and in their early history some games were played at Parson Street, Bedminster^[7]

In January 2007 planning permission was granted for a new 18,500 capacity all-seater stadium to be built on the site of the Memorial Stadium.^[30] Building work was originally intended to begin late in 2007, but a number of delays set the project back first until the summer of 2008^[31][32][33], and then until the summer of 2009.^[34] Rovers were originally due to play their home games at Cheltenham Town's Whaddon Road ground when the work began,^[35] but this decision has now been reversed and the club will now stay at the Mem while the work is carried out.^[36]

Supporter culture

The team traditionally draws the majority of its support from north and east Bristol^[37] and South Gloucestershire. Many towns and villages in the surrounding area are also home to significant pockets of Rovers supporters.^[22]

The nickname given to Bristol Rovers supporters is Gasheads.^[38] The Gas was originally coined as a derogatory term by the supporters of Bristol Rovers' rivals Bristol City and was in reference to the large gas works adjacent to the old Bristol Rovers stadium, in Eastville, Bristol which wafted the sometimes overpowering odour of town gas across the crowd.^[22] Gasheads was adopted as a name by a splinter group of Rovers supporters in the mid-1980s to early 1990s. The chant 'Proud to be a Gashead' spread to regular fans and a fanzine was produced called The Gashead.

The term 'Gasheads' is now universally accepted within the English media and football fraternity as referring to Bristol Rovers supporters.^[39] After the club's relegation to Football League Two in 2001, the club designated the squad number 12 to the Gasheads to signify them as the club's 12th Man in recognition of their loyal support.^[38]

In 2000 another splinter group of supporters came together. Known as The Blackthorn Buccaneers the aim of this group was to celebrate the maritime heritage of the city of Bristol, identifying with the Pirate on the clubs badge. The group celebrate their existence at most games by the waving of Pirate flags and wearing of Piratesque costumes. The group take their name from the originally named Blackthorn terrace on which they stand at The Memorial Stadium. Since forming, The Blackthorn Buccaneers have lobbied the club to make more commercial use of the Pirate as a logo.

In the British film Hot Fuzz Danny Butterman played by Nick Frost is seen wearing a Bristol Rovers shirt. ^[40]

Club song

The song which is synonymous with Rovers is "Goodnight, Irene", which was written by Leadbelly.^[41] It is sung by fans in support of the team.

Opinions differ as to how this came about but it is thought to have become popular in the 1950s when a version of the song was in the British charts - the line "sometimes I have a great notion to jump in the river and drown" - seemed to be particularly apt when Rovers lost as the Bristol Frome flows alongside the old Eastville ground.^[22] Another theory is that it was sung at a fireworks display at the Stadium the night before a Home game against Plymouth Argyle in the fifties. During the game the following day, Rovers were winning quite comfortably and the few Argyle supporters present began to leave early prompting a chorus of "Goodnight Argyle" from the Rovers supporters - the tune stuck and "Irene" became the club song.^[42]

Another popular Bristol Rovers song is "Tote End Boys", which was written & sung by Ben Gunstone. The name "Tote End Boys" came from the section of Gasheads who stood in the main terrace behind the goal at Rovers' old home, Eastville Stadium, known as the Tote End.

Players

As of 28 November 2008.^[43]

Current squad

No. Position Player 1 GK Steve Phillips 2 DF Ryan Green 3 DF Joe Jacobson 4 MF Chris Lines 5 DF Craig Hinton 6 DF Steve Elliott 7 MF Stuart Campbell (captain) 9 FW Rickie Lambert 10 FW Darryl Duffy 11 MF Jeff Hughes 13 GK Mike Green 14 MF David Pipe 15 DF Byron Anthony 16 DF Danny Coles

No. Position Player 17 FW Jo Kuffour 18 FW Ben Hunt 19 FW Sean Rigg 20 MF Craig Disley 21 DF Tom Parrinello 25 DF James Tyrell 27 FW Matt Groves 28 MF Adam Mahdi 30 MF Charlie Reece 31 FW Charlie Clough 32 DF Aaron Lescott 33 DF Liam Harwood 36 MF Richard Langley

Out on loan

No. Position Player 8 FW Andy Williams (on loan to Hereford United) 22 MF Joe White (on loan to Chippenham Town) 23 MF Ben Swallow (on loan to Bridgwater Town) 24 DF Alex Kite (on loan to Chippenham Town) 26 MF Lewis Haldane (on loan to Oxford United) 29 FW Josh Klein-Davies (on loan to Newport County) 34 FW James Fraser (on loan to Tiverton Town) 35 FW Richard Walker (on loan to Shrewsbury Town)

The shirt number 12 is used by Gasheads to represent the fans as the 12th Man.^[38]

Notable former players

This is a list of the most noted former players at Bristol Rovers Football Club, giving the period that each player spent at the club, their nationality and their reason for being listed. To be included in this list a player must have made over 400 league appearances for the club, scored over 100 league goals or hold a club record.

Note: all details from Byrne & Jay (2003) unless otherwise stated.

Years	Nation	Player	Achievement	Notes
1927–1947	England	Jack Pitt	Played 467 league games. Spent over 50 years at the club as a player, coach and groundsman.	[44]
1928–1932	England	Ronnie Dix	The club's youngest ever player, at 15 years 173 days. The Football League's youngest ever goalscorer, at 15 years 180 days.	[45]
1936–1956	England	Ray Warren	Played 450 league games.
1945–1955	England	Vic Lambden	Scored 117 goals in 268 league appearances.
1945–1962	England	George Petherbridge	Played 457 league games.
1946–1958	England	Harry Bamford	Played 486 league games.
1949–1964	England	Geoff Bradford	Rovers' record goal scorer with 242 league goals from 462 appearances. The only player to be capped by England while at Bristol Rovers.
1953–1962	Kenya	Peter Hooper	Scored 101 goals in 297 league games.
1953–1968	England	Alfie Biggs	Played 424 league games and scored 178 goals.
1956–1973	England	Bobby Jones	Played 421 league games and scored 101 goals.
1959–1973	England	Harold Jarman	Played 452 league games and scored 127 goals.
1966–1980	England	Stuart Taylor	Played 546 league games, more than any other Rovers player
1981–1999	England	Ian Holloway	Named the fans' Cult Hero in a BBC poll.	[46]
1987–1989	England	Nigel Martyn	Became the first goalkeeper to command a million pound transfer fee when he was sold to Crystal Palace.	[47]
1992–2000	England	Andy Tillson	Record signing, and former club captain.	[48]
1997–1999	Jamaica	Barry Hayles	Club record sale when he moved to Fulham for £2,100,000.
2000–2003	Latvia	Vitālijs Astafjevs	Most capped Bristol Rovers player, with 150 in total. He made 31 appearances for Latvia while on Rovers' books.	[48]

Management

Management team

Job title	Name[49][50]
Director of football	Lennie Lawrence
First team coach	Paul Trollope
Physio	Phil Kite
Goalkeeping coach	Steve Book
Under-18s coach	Billy Clark

Managers

For more details on this topic, see List of Bristol Rovers F.C. managers.

As of November 2008, 28 men have been appointed as a manager of Bristol Rovers Football Club, excluding caretaker managers.^[51][52] Bobby Gould and Gerry Francis are the only men to have been given the job on a permanent basis twice, although if caretaker managers are included Garry Thompson and Phil Bater have also held the position on two separate occasions.

1899–1920 Alfred Homer 1920–21 Ben Hall 1921–26 Andrew Wilson 1926–29 Joe Palmer 1929–30 David McLean 1930–36 Albert Prince-Cox 1936–37 Percy Smith 1938–50 Brough Fletcher 1950–68 Bert Tann 1968–69 Fred Ford 1969–72 Bill Dodgin, Sr. 1972–77 Don Megson 1977–79 Bobby Campbell 1979–80 Harold Jarman 1980–81 Terry Cooper 1981 Ron Gingell (caretaker) 1981–83 Bobby Gould 1983–85 David Williams

1985–87 Bobby Gould 1987–91 Gerry Francis 1991 Martin Dobson 1991–92 Dennis Rofe 1992–93 Malcolm Allison 1993 Steve Cross (caretaker) 1993–96 John Ward 1996–2001 Ian Holloway 2001 Garry Thompson (caretaker) 2001 Gerry Francis 2001–02 Garry Thompson 2002 Phil Bater (caretaker) 2002–04 Ray Graydon 2004 Phil Bater (caretaker) 2004 Russell Osman & Kevan Broadhurst (joint caretakers) 2004–05 Ian Atkins 2005– Paul Trollope

Youth Academy

The Bristol Rovers centre of excellence is associated with the Bristol Academy of Sport, located at Filton College, which offers a college education along with football coaching.^[53] Current squad members Sean Rigg, Tom Parrinello, Lewis Powell, James Palmer, Darren Mullings, Chris Lines and Mike Green all graduated from the Academy to earn a professional contract. Perhaps the most successful former member of the academy is Scott Sinclair, who was signed by Chelsea in 2005 for an initial fee of £200,000, with further payments to the club possible, depending on performance.^[54]

Women's Team

Main article: Bristol Academy W.F.C.

The club boast a successful women's team, formed in 1998 as Bristol Rovers W.F.C. and now known as Bristol Academy W.F.C.. They play in the top flight of women's football in England, the FA Women's Premier League National Division, and have won ten trophies since their formation, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the FA Women's Cup on five occasions.^[55]

Achievements

• Southern Football League Division One: 1
  

1904-05

• Football League Third Division South: 1
  

1952-53

• Football League Third Division: 1
  

1989-90

• Football League Two play-offs: 1
  

2006-07

• Football League Third Division South Cup: 1
  

1934-35

• Watney Cup: 1
  

1972

• Football League Trophy, Runners-up : 2
  

1989-90, 2006-07

• Gloucestershire Cup: 32
  

1888-89, 1902-03, 1904-05, 1913-14, 1924-25, 1927-28, 1934-35, 1935-36, 1937-38, 1947-48, 1948-49, 1950-51, 1953-54, 1954-55, 1955-56, 1958-59, 1962-63, 1963-64, 1964-65, 1965-66, 1967-68, 1973-74, 1974-75, 1981-82, 1982-83, 1983-84, 1984-85, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1992-93, 1993-94, 1994-95

Records

Scorelines:

• Biggest League Win:^[56]
  • 7-0 (v Brighton & Hove Albion, Division Three (South), 29 November 1952)
  • 7-0 (v Swansea City, Division Two, 2 October 1954)
  • 7-0 (v Shrewsbury Town, Division Three, 21 March 1964)
• Biggest Cup Win:
  • Competition proper: 6-0 (v Merthyr Tydfil, FA Cup Round 1, 14 November 1987)^[56]
  • Qualifying: 15-1 (v Weymouth, FA Cup Third Qualifying Round, 17 November 1900)^[56]
• Biggest League Defeat: 0 - 12 (v Luton Town, Division Three South, 13 April 1936)^[57]

Players:

• Most League Appearances: 546 - Stuart Taylor, 1966 - 1980^[58]
• Most Goals for club: 242 - Geoff Bradford, 1949 - 1964^[58]
• Most Goals in a season: 33 - Geoff Bradford, 1952-53^[58]
• Highest Transfer Fee Paid: £375,000 - Andy Tillson from Queens Park Rangers, November 1992^[58]
• Highest Transfer Fee Received: £2,100,000 - Barry Hayles to Fulham, November 1998^[58]

Other:

• Record Home Attendance: 38,472 (v Preston North End, FA Cup, 30 January 1960^[59]

References

Sources

• Byrne, Stephen; Jay, Mike (2003). Bristol Rovers Football Club - The Definitive History 1883-2003. Stroud: Tempus. ISBN 0-7524-2717-2. 

External links

• Official site

• Bristol Rovers F.C. on BBC Sport: Club News - Recent results - Upcoming fixtures - Club stats
• Official Fan's Forum
• Fans photos on Flickr
• Supporters Club Website
• "Black Arab" on-line fanzine
• Vital Gas, A site run by the fans
• Alternative Forum for Rovers fans

Bristol Rovers FC
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