[Archived] Rovers Supporters Groups and Communities (was Blackburn United)

[PMT]

More bureaucracy.

So who's actually representing the fans here? All I see are different groups with different agendas.

It shouldn't take three separate organizations to represent the fanbase. If they weren't full of their own self-importance they'd realize that.

Totally agree.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

We just need one massive group with everyone in it, to try and take over the club together (surely the combined wealth of concerned locals like Battersby, Currie, Khan, Wild, and perhaps a concerned Walker child etc will have a fair bit of money?)

[glen9mullan]

I thought I would clear this up a wee bit,

Sir Bill Taylor and I have been in contact throughout this season regarding the issues at rovers.

This past week he became an Honorary Patron of the BRFC Action Group (NOT BRAG)

He contacted me and Mark Fish regarding my thoughts on a coalition type meeting, and asked if I thought other groups would be up for it?

I said its worth a try and I passed on details of BRST, BRFCS, Vital Blackburn , FF and one or two others. Sir Bill then contacted them all, and some sent representatives and some did not

The Action Group sent Mark Fish and Rob Crabtree from our elected committee

BRFCS/FF Sent Ste B

BRST Sent John Waring who is now the secretary of both the FF and BRST and also Ozz the Chairman another from supporters trust attended

Graham Jones MP who is actively involved with the Action Group and BRSIT attended along with Sir Bill Taylor

David Metcalfe 4000 holes

There was one or two others there, and Im sure Mark Fish will clear this up when he post later

I was surprised that the name "Blackburn United" Was used in the LET today as we as a group have not agreed to form or be part of new formed group.

Its my understanding that all groups in attendance put across what they have been doing regarding rovers.

The BRFC Action Group is NOT a protest group, although we have actively organised legal demonstrations throughout this season to give supporters a platform to air their discontent in an organised manner to prevent the message being lost in translation. All protest was done in co-ordination with the Police and the club and no arrest have ever occured during an organised protest. The group has been praised by both the club and the Police for their efficiency and conduct.

The group was formed due to supporters having no voice and no group being out-there to present a voice. The time for a group was then, when a supporters voice was needed

What have we been doing recently???

We have 3 honoury Patrons of the group

Sir Bill Taylor, Maureen Bateson MBE, Wayne Hemingway MBE

We are the only Blackburn Rovers supporters group to my Knowledge who is officially affiliated and endorsed by the FSF (Football supporters Federation)

We now have 17 branches Worldwide, including USA, Ireland, Australia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Indonesia, Canada, Brazil, Finland, Argentina, Singapore, New Zealand, Italy, Zimbabwe, Thailand, and India.

The group is officially backed by

Jack Straw MP

Graham Jones MP

Cllr Michael Lee

Salim Mulla Deputy Mayor of Blackburn & Darwen

Zamir Khan New Mayor of Blackburn & Darwen

Lord Patel

Kate Hollern Leader of Blackburn Council

Cllr Stephanie Brookfield

Ibby Masters ( Community Leader)

We have had meetings with all these people and they have not only backed the group but have issued statements of support and faciliatated more contacts and supporters who we also hope to get on board.. They have also written personal endorsements which we will issue to the Premier League and Sports Minister in person.

Our members worldwide are in the thousands,

We are the only supporters group with a democratically elected committee by its members.

Our membership is free and open to everyone. We have never recieved funding from any legal entity and most things have been funded out of our own pockets. The cost of being a rovers supporter this season has increased ten fold.

We have a BRFC Action Football team who supported the Denise Hendry foundation in a tounament last month, where we entered 25% of the teams in attendance including the only Womens team who played without fear against the men

We have supported the Youth Zone Charity(Run by David Dunn)

Whilst also raising money for Chorley FC

We have donated prizes for tomorrows charity event in aid of East Lancs hospice, due to Blackburn Rovers refusing to.

We have set up meetings with the Sports Minister and Premier League, whilst we are in direct contact with the FA, Football League and Uefa.

We have called 3 open supporters meetings, and all our meetings are minuted including committee meetings and put on our website www.brfcactiongroup.co.uk.

We have done blanket leaflet and poster drops for Action Groups activites and also for the BRSIT. at least 30000 of these have been put out by our members free of charge.

The BRFC Action Group is an official supporter group for everyone, and we will be looking to take our committee here in the UK to 10 members due to the heavy work load and the number of members we have.

Blackburn Rovers is a 365/366 day a year job for the Action Group, its members are dedicated supporters who only want whats best for the club.

If anyone would like to join please feel free to get in contact with:

[email protected]

[email protected] group secretary

[email protected] Treasurer

[email protected] Supporter Liaison

[email protected] Marketing

[email protected] overseas liaison officer

[email protected] communciation officer

This is basically what was asked at the meeting and im sure the other groups will post what they have been doing and their future plans

As I said earlier prob missed loads off but Mark will fill you in

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

But why can't there just be one group with everybody in it? We all want the same thing.

[Amo]

But why can't there just be one group with everybody in it? We all want the same thing.

If there's going to be a group, it needs to be an independent, impartial entity that is democratically elected to represent the fans and liaison with the owners/the media/politicians etc. It doesn't need to take a stance on protests and alike. That should remain up to the individual in how they want to express their grievances with the owners, so long as it's within the law. There's no reason why fans need to pigeonhole themselves into different organizations simply because they have a different ideology. All this does is weaken our representation, because their spokesmen aren't talking for the supporters, they're talking for the action group. Fans come from all walks of life but come matchday they're all united in their support of the club. It should be the very same when it comes to forming a supporter's group. As I said, the fact Sir Bill Taylor has felt the need to create a means of coordinating with the two action groups just highlights the problem itself.

[Stuart]

Sorry Glen. Can you just clear something up for me, what is the difference beteen BRFC Action Group and BRAG?

Also you don't have a title, are you the chairman?

[glen9mullan]

Sorry Glen. Can you just clear something up for me, what is the difference beteen BRFC Action Group and BRAG?

BRAG Is a name of a group i believe existed in the past and was quite extreme,

We are called simply BRFC Action Group and have no links prior or since with the other group

[Stuart]

BRAG Is a name of a group i believe existed in the past and was quite extreme,

We are called simply BRFC Action Group and have no links prior or since with the other group

So you had no part of BRAG? Do you know if it still exists as a group (as far as you are aware)?

And are you the chairman of BRFC Action Group?

[glen9mullan]

So you had no part of BRAG? Do you know if it still exists as a group (as far as you are aware)?

And are you the chairman of BRFC Action Group?

Dunno if it still exist, think Glenn P knows more about them than me,

Yes I'm the elected Chairperson for the BRFC Action Group

[Glenn]

To clear up the name thing. Many moons ago (before Venky's even completed the purchase) there was a short lived and very private mailing list set up to discuss potential new owners and their suitability (if memory serves, it may actually have been for WGA rather than Venkys). The mailing list name was probably only known to about twenty people, so it was no surprise when the "Blackburn Rovers Action Group" sprung out of the protest movement that they didn't know of the similarly named (by then defunct) mailing list.

[PAFELL]

BRAG Is a name of a group i believe existed in the past and was quite extreme,

We are called simply BRFC Action Group and have no links prior or since with the other group

Of which your were a member

[glen9mullan]

No I was not, first I knew of such group was when Glenn told me a few months back. So don't make assumptions and put out more false slander

[PAFELL]

No I was not, first I knew of such group was when Glenn told me a few months back. So don't make assumptions and put out more false slander

Haven't slandered anybody.

[glen9mullan]

Haven't slandered anybody.

Accusing me of being in an extremist group prior to the formation of the action group is pure slander , especially as you don't know anything about the old brag , as Glenn said it was a secret group which no-one knew about, including me.

[Stuart]

I'm not trying to bait or undermine anyone but I'm a bit confused by the "secret extremist BRAG" group which was set up as a list of about 20 people formed to share information about potential new owners.

I'm sure something has been lost in translate here.

Like PAFELL, I thought that BRAG was the original group behind the early protests. Clearly I am mistaken and what was actually BRFC Action Group was shortened to BRAG by certain ITK people - who also got the wrong end of the stick. (Which actually makes some posters' previous comments make a bit more sense now).

I'm guessing that, as Glen M, didn't even know about the original BRAG, he didn't correct people when they started to call BRFC Action Group, BRAG.

Okay, I think I've got my head around that now, but why was there an "extremist group" keeping tabs on potential buyers? Glenn P? Sounds like a lot of misunderstanding to me.

[glen9mullan]

I'm not trying to bait or undermine anyone but I'm a bit confused by the "secret extremist BRAG" group which was set up as a list of about 20 people formed to share information about potential new owners.

I'm sure something has been lost in translate here.

Like PAFELL, I thought that BRAG was the original group behind the early protests. Clearly I am mistaken and what was actually BRFC Action Group was shortened to BRAG by certain ITK people - who also got the wrong end of the stick. (Which actually makes some posters' previous comments make a bit more sense now).

I'm guessing that, as Glen M, didn't even know about the original BRAG, he didn't correct people when they started to call BRFC Action Group, BRAG.

Okay, I think I've got my head around that now, but why was there an "extremist group" keeping tabs on potential buyers? Glenn P? Sounds like a lot of misunderstanding to me.

In fairness we always correct people on calling the group Brag, We have never posted the words BRAG on anything, and that nickname was born on here

[PAFELL]

Accusing me of being in an extremist group prior to the formation of the action group is pure slander , especially as you don't know anything about the old brag , as Glenn said it was a secret group which no-one knew about, including me.

Blackburn rovers action group has often been commonly known as brag. By many on here.

[glen9mullan]

Blackburn rovers action group has often been commonly known as brag. By many on here.

Blackburn Rovers Action Group as stated at least 4 times on this thread now, is not a common knowledge group, and had you known about, then someone has obviously been spinning you tales to their own agenda,

I had never heard of it, nor had any of our members/committee,

How you get brag out of BRFCAG is beyond me

[HemelRover]

How you get brag out of BRFCAG is beyond me

BRFCAG is quite often referred to on here as BRAG. Obviously incorrectly. Apparently.

[Glenn]

It wasn't an "extremist group" it was just a few semi-influential semi-itk people sharing info. Nothing clandestine or extremist. It was people who wanted to discuss what they knew without wanting to publicly criticize and potential new owners (as I say I think it was the Ali Syed bid, not Venky's, it was a long time ago now).

As far as I know nobody objected to the re-use of the name or anything. I just mentioned it in passing to Glen a few months ago that the "yellow and black" BRAG wasn't the first one. Wish I'd never bloody mentioned it now. There really isn't a story here.

[Stuart]

In fairness we always correct people on calling the group Brag, We have never posted the words BRAG on anything, and that nickname was born on here

I don't think it helps that you sometimes call it Blackburn Rovers Action Group, and even BRAG on Press Releases, but ok.

A couple of examples here where the two have been used interchangably by your members so you can see why people might become confused.

http://roverstruth.co.uk/wordpress/archives/1211

http://www.brfcfans.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Supporters-Meeting-Minutes-2-2-2012.pdf

[redroses]

who are the yellow and black clothed guys/gals who generally sit together? BRFCAG?

[glen9mullan]

I don't think it helps that you sometimes call it Blackburn Rovers Action Group, and even BRAG on Press Releases, but ok.

A couple of examples here where the two have been used interchangably by your members so you can see why people might become confused.

http://roverstruth.c...s/archives/1211

http://www.brfcfans....es-2-2-2012.pdf

They are not our sites, so we cant control how they report things,

However this is getting off subject,

Back onto Blackburn United I was hoping the other groups in attendance would post on here their progress and plans, as this was the point of the meeting

[Stuart]

It wasn't an "extremist group" it was just a few semi-influential semi-itk people sharing info. Nothing clandestine or extremist. It was people who wanted to discuss what they knew without wanting to publicly criticize and potential new owners (as I say I think it was the Ali Syed bid, not Venky's, it was a long time ago now).

As far as I know nobody objected to the re-use of the name or anything. I just mentioned it in passing to Glen a few months ago that the "yellow and black" BRAG wasn't the first one. Wish I'd never bloody mentioned it now. There really isn't a story here.

I think I'm at fault here, but I just wanted to clear that up.

We have:

BRFC Action Group - which is Glen's team looking to do their thing, working with local community and business leaders

"The Action Group" or "Blackburn Rovers Action Group" or loosely "BRAG MkI" - which was an original group of ITK people sharing info about prospective buyers

Some other "BRAG", possibly "BRAG MkII", possibly the original wearers of yellow and black, which Glen recalls being a bit of an extremist (small 'e') group which which he was not involved, and may even never have existed under the name "BRAG", and is probably a complete misconception - which is what is causing the confusion.

Clear as mud.

[Glenn]

Guys. Does it really matter? Sir Bill is trying to do something good and productive. Something I thought wouldn't be possible (in fact something I'd be told by key people in some of the groups would NEVER happen), so lets focus on that and the not fact that BRFC Action Group ended up with an unfortunate commonly used shorter nickname.

This place infuriates me at times.