[Archived] Should all supporter organisations merge?

[MrT]

Having posted on this site since December I have been amazed at all the inter group bickering, the group bashing and general fall outs between all the various supporter organisations and fans alike

Speaking as someone who is not in any group, forum trust etc my feeling is that we should

try get everyone around a table and try to amalgamate all the different organisations under one roof.

I know there is history between some of the differing opinions but I feel that we should at least try !!

The rewards could be tremendous if we could only stop bitching and pool all the resources together...

[Stuart]

http://www.brfcs.com/mb/index.php/topic/27225-rovers-supporters-groups-and-communities-was-blackburn-united/

Have a scan through that.

[AndyNeil]

Having posted on this site since December I have been amazed at all the inter group bickering, the group bashing and general fall outs between all the various supporter organisations and fans alike

Speaking as someone who is not in any group, forum trust etc my feeling is that we should

try get everyone around a table and try to amalgamate all the different organisations under one roof.

I know there is history between some of the differing opinions but I feel that we should at least try !!

The rewards could be tremendous if we could only stop bitching and pool all the resources together...

MrT - as much as I admire the vision, I'm afraid that it just isn't going to happen. Unfortunately politics, ego and various other matters seem to come before that of a united supporter base and while it must be admitted that every group wants the same outcome (a well run, respectable club), the issues come with how you reach that goal and personal differences between people...

[MrT]

got to page three and gave up...

I just wish they could all work together, It's the only way forward in my opinion.

[Andy]

In an ideal world this would happen.

It's pointless having several mini supporter groups, all pulling in different directions and all having their own agendas.

What's wrong with just being Rovers supporters and leaving it at that?

[Paul]

It seems to me many supporters are confused and of the opinion there are many "rival" (for want of a better word) "groups." In fact there are really only two in this context, this is what appears to exist:

Travel groups such as Ewood Blues who organise coaches, a few beers and go away together. This type of group does not appear to have or need any form of committee. None seem to be "campaigning" in any way.

Fans Forum which discusses all manner of things with the club and has for many years

BRAG who by the definition in the name represent and take action on behalf of their membership

Rovers Trust with the primary objective to achieve fan representation at board level via full or part ownership of the club

Myself I don't see much to bicker about or to amalgamate as each group sees itself as having a different purpose. Saying that all, as do all fans, want to see a properly run club.

Of course the Trust would welcome all fans of whatever "group" to unite under our banner to purchase the club. The larger the Trust membership the greater its voice.

[glen9mullan]

It seems to me many supporters are confused and of the opinion there are many "rival" (for want of a better word) "groups." In fact there are really only two in this context, this is what appears to exist:

Travel groups such as Ewood Blues who organise coaches, a few beers and go away together. This type of group does not appear to have or need any form of committee. None seem to be "campaigning" in any way.

Fans Forum which discusses all manner of things with the club and has for many years

BRAG who by the definition in the name represent and take action on behalf of their membership

Rovers Trust with the primary objective to achieve fan representation at board level via full or part ownership of the club

Myself I don't see much to bicker about or to amalgamate as each group sees itself as having a different purpose. Saying that all, as do all fans, want to see a properly run club.

Of course the Trust would welcome all fans of whatever "group" to unite under our banner to purchase the club. The larger the Trust membership the greater its voice.

+100

[Steve Kean's Hypnotoad]

It seems to me many supporters are confused and of the opinion there are many "rival" (for want of a better word) "groups." In fact there are really only two in this context, this is what appears to exist:

Travel groups such as Ewood Blues who organise coaches, a few beers and go away together. This type of group does not appear to have or need any form of committee. None seem to be "campaigning" in any way.

Fans Forum which discusses all manner of things with the club and has for many years

BRAG who by the definition in the name represent and take action on behalf of their membership

Rovers Trust with the primary objective to achieve fan representation at board level via full or part ownership of the club

Myself I don't see much to bicker about or to amalgamate as each group sees itself as having a different purpose. Saying that all, as do all fans, want to see a properly run club.

Of course the Trust would welcome all fans of whatever "group" to unite under our banner to purchase the club. The larger the Trust membership the greater its voice.

Great post and totally agree.

In my opinion the general bashing going on, a lot of it which is also done by fans who aren't members of any group, is just a natural reaction to the frustration and anger caused by Venkys. Venkys themselves are the totally untouchable villains, have been since this all started. And not being able to get at them has caused fans to lash out at targets they can hurt, sometimes deservedly (Kean), sometimes not (supporters groups). But the bottom line is few of these alternative targets have any power to prevent whats happening. So in my opinion people should give over blaming them.

[glen9mullan]

Great post and totally agree.

In my opinion the general bashing going on, a lot of it which is also done by fans who aren't members of any group, is just a natural reaction to the frustration and anger caused by Venkys. Venkys themselves are the totally untouchable villains, have been since this all started. And not being able to get at them has caused fans to lash out at targets they can hurt, sometimes deservedly (Kean), sometimes not (supporters groups). But the bottom line is few of these alternative targets have any power to prevent whats happening. So in my opinion people should give over blaming them.

+100

[till i die]

Cant believe 1 post 6 replies and no abuse for Glenn and BRAG lol. All the different groups have their own ideas and all have made mistakes along the way. They are not and have never claimed to be professional groups so with that I think they are all doing a great job representing the club. I have no problem with any of them although i do feel sorry for the abuse that BRAG and in particular Glenn gets. I think maybe the reason Glenn gets so much abuse is because he has appeared on TV several times and people like to put a name to a face, the same goes for Shebby. On the other hand if you become a public face you have to handle the stick you will always attract, although it does appear to be the same keyboard warriors giving them abuse time and time again.It is a simple solution to anyone who thinks they can do better than any of the groups-- get off you arse and do something about it yourselves. I agree with SKHypnotoad all this is caused by fans frustrations = Venkys

[yoda]

should all supporters group merge?

you mean like form a circle

[Hughesy]

NO

Fans forum should be the only one that matters... & they should just have 2 strands to it.

1 which deals with the current stuff they already meet the club about....and 1 which is abit more vocal about the bigger issues.

[Guest Norbert]

No way. Can you imagine the bickering about the seating plan, who becomes chairman/President and all the rest of it? It would be worse than the dunken embers of a Loose Women Christmas party. If this board is a reflection of Rovers fans as a whole then putting BRAG, the FF, the Trust and non-associated Rovers fans in the same room would start the world's biggest bitchfight.

[Paul]

No way. Can you imagine the bickering about the seating plan, who becomes chairman/President and all the rest of it? It would be worse than the dunken embers of a Loose Women Christmas party. If this board is a reflection of Rovers fans as a whole then putting BRAG, the FF, the Trust and non-associated Rovers fans in the same room would start the world's biggest bitchfight.

That is a rather silly post and indicates you have little idea who the individuals concerned are.

[SouthAussieRover]

NO

Fans forum should be the only one that matters... & they should just have 2 strands to it.

1 which deals with the current stuff they already meet the club about....and 1 which is abit more vocal about the bigger issues.

I don't think so Hughesy.

[Guest Norbert]

That is a rather silly post and indicates you have little idea who the individuals concerned are.

Flippant yes. Silly and without a grain of truth? No. This site has loads of one-uopmanship, name calling and general bashing of people who've at least tried to form organisations to solve the situation in a variety of ways. So I've been going by what I see here, facebook et al.

[Paul]

No way. Can you imagine the bickering about the seating plan, who becomes chairman/President and all the rest of it? It would be worse than the dunken embers of a Loose Women Christmas party. If this board is a reflection of Rovers fans as a whole then putting BRAG, the FF, the Trust and non-associated Rovers fans in the same room would start the world's biggest bitchfight.

Flippant yes. Silly and without a grain of truth? No. This site has loads of one-uopmanship, name calling and general bashing of people who've at least tried to form organisations to solve the situation in a variety of ways. So I've been going by what I see here, facebook et al.

I'm unclear what you are saying in these two posts. In the first you seem to be suggesting the representatives of the various bodies would be incapable of organising and holding a meeting between themselves in a civilised manner. I have to say you are wrong and knowing many of these people i can vouch for the fact they are more than capable of working in a correct way.

Your second post is pointing towards the discussions which take place on the internet between people who have opposing views regarding those organisations. That is a different issue.

[PAFELL]

No way. Can you imagine the bickering about the seating plan, who becomes chairman/President and all the rest of it? It would be worse than the dunken embers of a Loose Women Christmas party. If this board is a reflection of Rovers fans as a whole then putting BRAG, the FF, the Trust and non-associated Rovers fans in the same room would start the world's biggest bitchfight.

I do not accept that. When it comes to the crunch, every rovers supporter wants a well run and successful club. We may have different ways of wanting that achieved. There may have been a lot of anger and heated discussions along the way. But I suggest each individual knows that at the end of the day, we are rovers fans who want the samething.

[Glenn]

I've been saying this for quite a long time now, but the groups all serve different purposes, have different aims and are viewed differently by different parts of the fan base. So out right merging would be detrimental to the fans as a whole.

You are right that the groups must work together, but despite there are one or two people involved with these groups who plainly don't get on, these groups are already working together in different ways. The Trust in in fact the result of two groups merging, plenty of different groups got involved with our raising of the coffin ceremony and we've done bits (such as the live broadcast) with the trust and hope to do more and I know Andy from the FF is working on something he can put forward as a joint initiative (for all the groups) and the FF itself has ties to the disabled supporters association, us, rovers talk, Ewood blues etc. The action group has previous carried advertising for the trust and even Sir Bill too has made efforts to ensure all the groups are at least talking about common aims.

So it's safe to say, despite the high-profile spat or two that gets played out on here, the groups actually do get on and play nicely together.