Girona Friendly - #fanstakeover

[We Are The Rovers]

We are delighted to announce that the Rovers match against Girona on 29th July will be sponsored by the Supporters Trust, We Are The Rovers.

Working with the club and other supporter groups we aim to provide a unique fan-led experience before, during and after the game.

There’ll be plenty of exciting and exclusive content for you in the build up to the game, courtesy of BRFCS and Rovers Chat.

Missed your physical match day Programme? It’s coming back for the day, courtesy of 4,000 Holes.

Ever dreamed of hearing your favourite song played at Ewood? Well we’re taking over the playlist and we’ll be taking requests.

There will be stalls at Ewood where you can find out about the work we and other fan groups have been doing. We’ll also be joined by the Community Trust who will be providing a number of activities suitable for all the family.

We appreciate the club’s efforts to make the game affordable, but recognise times are tough. The Supporters Trust will be providing a limited number of tickets to individuals and families who are facing financial hardship currently.

The party will continue after the full time whistle when we will be joined in Blues Bar by an exciting band with a local connection.

Football without fans is nothing, and we hope we make this a memorable occasion for you all. 

We Are The Rovers

[wilsdenrover]

31 minutes ago, Rovers Trust said:

We are delighted to announce that the Rovers match against Girona on 29th July will be sponsored by the Supporters Trust, We Are The Rovers.

Working with the club and other supporter groups we aim to provide a unique fan led experience before, during and after the game.

There’ll be plenty of exciting and exclusive content for you in the build up to the game, courtesy of BRFCS and Rovers Chat.

Missed your physical match day Programme? It’s coming back for the day, courtesy of 4,000 holes.

Ever dreamed of hearing your favourite song played at Ewood? Well we’re taking over the playlist and we’ll be taking requests.

There will be stalls at Ewood where you can find out about the work we and other fan groups have been doing. We’ll also be joined by the Community Trust who will be providing a number of activities suitable for all the family.

We appreciate the clubs efforts to make the game affordable, but recognise times are tough. The Supporters Trust will be providing a limited number of tickets to individuals and families who are facing financial hardship currently.

The party will continue after the full time whistle when we will be joined in Blues Bar by an exciting band with a local connection.

Football without fans is nothing, and we hope we make this a memorable occasion for you all. 

We Are The Rovers.

Great stuff.

You should have offered to provide a centre forward as well 😁

[Mike E]

1 hour ago, wilsdenrover said:

Great stuff.

You should have offered to provide a centre forward as well 😁

I play ‘TeamKickabout’ at Accy on Fridays, shall I lace up?

[wilsdenrover]

40 minutes ago, Mike E said:

I play ‘TeamKickabout’ at Accy on Fridays, shall I lace up?

Definitely!

[J*B]

This is a real moment of opportunity which - if circumstances allow - I encourage all fans to get behind.

We’ve moaned for years now about a distinct lack of effort being shown by the senior management, we’ve looked googly-eyed at Accy and Stockport who have created a day-out culture towards matchday. 

If this is attended by 2,000 people and nobody uses/gets involved in the pre/post match activities that The Trust, BRFCS, 4,000 Holes and RoversChat are putting time and resource into for free, Rovers will use it as evidence to show that “we’ve done all we can”. The Fans Forum will be told for years that when they allowed fan involvement there was no economic benefit and no additional enjoyment for fans. 

If it’s attended by 10,000 people, who enjoy, get involved with and spend outside the ground they’ll see what The Trust and BRFCS and others have said for years now. There is something special about Blackburn Rovers Football Club and given an opportunity fans will come back. 

If you’re in a position where distance makes attending impossible, rather than money, buy someone local you know that wouldn’t usually go a ticket. If you'd like to donate tickets reach out to BRFCS / The Trust and we’ll help find local people that would appreciate the tickets. 

We (BRFCS) can only show the financial and time commitment that we are doing once, so we want to make sure we best utilise the opportunity. If you’ve got a skill (especially photographers, videographers, content creators, graphic designer, printers) than could help please get in touch. 

[wilsdenrover]

17 minutes ago, J*B said:

This is a real moment of opportunity which - if circumstances allow - I encourage all fans to get behind.

We’ve moaned for years now about a distinct lack of effort being shown by the senior management, we’ve looked googly-eyed at Accy and Stockport who have created a day-out culture towards matchday. 

If this is attended by 2,000 people and nobody uses/gets involved in the pre/post match activities that The Trust, BRFCS, 4,000 Holes and RoversChat are putting time and resource into for free, Rovers will use it as evidence to show that “we’ve done all we can”. The Fans Forum will be told for years that when they allowed fan involvement there was no economic benefit and no additional enjoyment for fans. 

If it’s attended by 10,000 people, who enjoy, get involved with and spend outside the ground they’ll see what The Trust and BRFCS and others have said for years now. There is something special about Blackburn Rovers Football Club and given an opportunity fans will come back. 

If you’re in a position where distance makes attending impossible, rather than money, buy someone local you know that wouldn’t usually go a ticket. If you'd like to donate tickets reach out to BRFCS / The Trust and we’ll help find local people that would appreciate the tickets.

We (BRFCS) can only show the financial and time commitment that we are doing once, so we want to make sure we best utilise the opportunity. If you’ve got a skill (especially photographers, videographers, content creators, graphic designer, printers) than could help please get in touch. 

What a great idea, has there been any indication on the ticket price yet?

Edited July 15, 2023 by wilsdenrover

[J*B]

5 minutes ago, wilsdenrover said:

What a great idea, has there been any indication on the ticket price yet?

 

[wilsdenrover]

4 minutes ago, J*B said:

 

I’ll DM you…

[DustBowlRover]

A great initiative from We Are The Rovers for the upcoming Girona game. Splendid stuff 👏

[J*B]

2 hours ago, J*B said:

This is a real moment of opportunity which - if circumstances allow - I encourage all fans to get behind.

We’ve moaned for years now about a distinct lack of effort being shown by the senior management, we’ve looked googly-eyed at Accy and Stockport who have created a day-out culture towards matchday. 

If this is attended by 2,000 people and nobody uses/gets involved in the pre/post match activities that The Trust, BRFCS, 4,000 Holes and RoversChat are putting time and resource into for free, Rovers will use it as evidence to show that “we’ve done all we can”. The Fans Forum will be told for years that when they allowed fan involvement there was no economic benefit and no additional enjoyment for fans. 

If it’s attended by 10,000 people, who enjoy, get involved with and spend outside the ground they’ll see what The Trust and BRFCS and others have said for years now. There is something special about Blackburn Rovers Football Club and given an opportunity fans will come back. 

If you’re in a position where distance makes attending impossible, rather than money, buy someone local you know that wouldn’t usually go a ticket. If you'd like to donate tickets reach out to BRFCS / The Trust and we’ll help find local people that would appreciate the tickets. 

We (BRFCS) can only show the financial and time commitment that we are doing once, so we want to make sure we best utilise the opportunity. If you’ve got a skill (especially photographers, videographers, content creators, graphic designer, printers) then could help please get in touch. 

We’re up to £400 just from this post, which will see tens of local families who normally wouldn’t get the opportunity to get down to Ewood, have something to eat and drink and enjoy the post match entertainment. Thank you very much for all of the messages and support. 

[Miller11]

That’s an amazing response in just a couple of hours!! Thanks to everyone who has reached out to Josh.

The Trust also have funds allocated for this purpose - we really want it to be a day for the supporters with nobody being priced out.

To echo what Josh said in his earlier post, the success of the day will be judged in no small part by the club by the number of fans in attendance. Please get behind this if you can, and have a word with your friends who might not normally attend. We want to make it a really great day… plus if today is anything to go by, the footy will be well worth a watch too!

[DustBowlRover]

Hello Miller11, Bravo 👏

An excellent initiative and one I'm looking forward to participating in. 

Best

Dusty 

[Mike E]

How do we submit playlist requests?

[Miller11]

12 minutes ago, Mike E said:

How do we submit playlist requests?

You’ll have to wait til next week

[SuperTonyParkes]

Hi I would like to donate some tickets 

 

how do I do it please 

[Gav]

5 minutes ago, SuperTonyParkes said:

Hi I would like to donate some tickets 

 

how do I do it please 

Send a direct message to @Miller11

[AllRoversGirl_]

Good on you! We’re all aware that more fans need to be on seats. I think unfortunately people are very sour since the days of Venky’s Takeover, but it’s time to forget the past and look forward to the future 

[roversfan99]

The sourness about Venkys massively cutting crowds is a myth. Sort the pricing out and be more proactive and the crowds will go up.

[OldEwoodBlue]

I won't be going because the owners are still here. Very simple.

However I may support the initiative and certainly support the efforts of those involved. I just don't understand what the aim of the exercise is ? It doesn't say.

Regarding attendance as being a measure of success. The issue there is, the game itself is not being advertised or promoted in any way. Same as Season tickets in that respect. 

[Upside Down]

1 hour ago, roversfan99 said:

The sourness about Venkys massively cutting crowds is a myth. Sort the pricing out and be more proactive and the crowds will go up.

No, it isn’t. But we'd have a massive increase if the price was right.

 

This is an excellent initiative. Hopefully it is a success. 

If this goes well then we can hopefully prove the point at a league or cup game in the future. 

It is my hardline belief that NOBODY should be priced out of going to things like football. 

Edited July 16, 2023 by Upside Down

[Mattyblue]

Making yourselves hostages to fortune by judging ‘success’ on bums on seats. 10k?! We don’t get close to that for FA Cup ties, even some league games (night games).

It’s a friendly against very low profile opposition in the peak summer holiday period. Be amazed if more than 3/4k tickets are sold. And that’s not a slight on anybody, the Trust organisers or the fanbase, just how it is for pre season friendlies. 

[chaddyrovers]

very good effort by those involved. 

I am already going to the game and looking forward to it. 

Will you be putting different food items on? 

[Herbie6590]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

very good effort by those involved. 

I am already going to the game and looking forward to it. 

Will you be putting different food items on? 

BRFCS doesn’t have the culinary skills nor the public liability insurance to cope with the consequences of our lack of ability…but we will be selling raffle tickets to raise money for Tony Parkes and giving away some really nifty fixture cards…😉

[Hasta]

Wrong thread.

Edited July 16, 2023 by Hasta

[Miller11]

10 hours ago, OldEwoodBlue said:

I won't be going because the owners are still here. Very simple.

However I may support the initiative and certainly support the efforts of those involved. I just don't understand what the aim of the exercise is ? It doesn't say.

Regarding attendance as being a measure of success. The issue there is, the game itself is not being advertised or promoted in any way. Same as Season tickets in that respect. 

For me there are a few aims…

There’s always criticism from within the fanbase that our own fanbase is splintered, and there are “too many groups”.

Actually I don’t think we have enough groups in all honesty, some more organised regional supporter groups like we used to have would be good! We’ve tried to bring together the various open member groups which each have their own area of interest and focus, along with the main supporter communities and content creators to show the club, and the fanbase, that we can all work together and provide something good.

From a Trust point of view, we want to give something to our existing members and provide potential new members with a reason to join up. We need to up our membership numbers and to do so need to raise our profile, get out there, and engage with and listen to the fans.

From a personal point of view there are loads of little things I’ve moaned about. The scrapping of the printed programme, the same old dull music pre-match, the fact Ewood is deserted 5 minutes after the full time whistle… I’m happy we are being able to try something different!

Promotion for the event and advertising of the game will ramp up over the next week, both from the supporters end and the clubs. 10,000 is blue sky thinking for sure, but we want to see a bump on the number the club would ordinarily be expecting, we hope the feedback is good to.

Specifically in response to @Mattyblue, I don’t feel we have made ourselves hostages to fortune. I do feel that we (Trust, BRFCS, Rovers Chat, and other groups) have more faith in our fanbase than the people in charge of the club do. With many of our discussion with them, the challenge presented to us has often been to prove their is an appetite for some of the things we’ve discussed. We’re trying.

@chaddyrovers there will be the footy curry and bar stalls open around the fanzines, along with the Sodexo offerings in the ground (hopefully with some deals on). Is there anything specific you’d like to see? No promises, we’re bang in the middle of festival season so it might be tricky, but we can certainly ask the question.