Just about any football team from around the British Isles has an official fan club with a London branch. In the case of Rovers, the London Branch has been around for not far short of half a century. The club has the aim of being a social anchor point for folk living down south with one thing in common: a love of Blackburn Rovers. 

The following article reflects on the glory days of the paper fanzine and the experience of Trevor Curson – long term London Branch member – sharing his experience of supporting Rovers whilst living a bloody long way from home.

“We’ll shortly be passing the tallest brick-built structure in Lincolnshire.” You could always rely on Martin Cook for necessary research into away trips, and Grimsby in 1992 was one of the very best. More of that later.

Born and living in Darwen, the 1974/75 season was memorable, as I followed the Rovers around the country – well, the north – on their way to promotion from the Third Division. Nowhere south of Port Vale and nowhere north of Carlisle, but all grounds in between. Three years living variously in Bradford, Gateshead, North Shields and back to Bradford involved many bus/coach/car/train journeys as the Rovers were relegated back to the Third and then promoted straight back up in 1980. 

So arriving in London in January 1981 there was a whole new catalogue of new grounds to follow the Rovers to – Orient, QPR, Brentford, Millwall, Charlton. It was Cambridge United away on a Tuesday night in December ‘81 (lost 0-1, about 40 away fans) when it first became evident that one or two of the faces behind the goals were becoming slightly familiar. Brentford away midweek (Milk Cup first round first leg, lost 3-2), October ‘82, was another memorable one, and by 1983 I was meeting up regularly with Peter Rudman, John Knight and other Rovers fans living in London.    

There had it seems always been a London Branch newsletter, comprising the strikingly dull but utterly acceptable combination of ‘the things they say’, football and darts team match reports, and bits of upcoming matchday travel.  I can’t quite remember when I started to get involved, initially (and please suspend your disbelief here if you are under 50) by: (i) taking the Lancashire Evening Telegraph match report which my mum cut out and posted down to me; (ii) gluing these onto pages of A4 paper; (iii) photocopying 50 times; and (iv) posting out to members. 

Over time, a few regular contributors started chipping in with articles of journalistic merit, but what became the defining moment was the name change to ‘Many Miles From Home’. You have to be pretty senior as a Rovers fan to remember a 7” vinyl single released in the seventies together with the Eagley Prize Silver Band, the B side of which (stay with me here) included the lyrics ‘whether or not we’re winning, many miles from home’.  It was a gift to Rovers fans in London and that was the launch of what remains the finest Rovers fanzine of all time... Adding the subheading ‘A distant perspective of Blackburn Rovers’ was the final masterstroke.  

Jack Walker’s money, and the recruitment of Kinky Knees Dalglish, moved all aspects of the club forward at pace. In February ‘92, a few days after re-signing Chris Price from Villa, many thousands of Rovers fans and four of us from London – me, Michael Taylor, Martin Cook and maybe Peter Ridehalgh (?) – set off to Grimsby carrying high hopes of automatic promotion. 

The London contingent also carried 500 copies of the newly printed edition of Many Miles From Home.  No longer match reports, just a series of respectable and occasionally brilliant satirical articles triggered by our collective disbelief at our newfound wealth and status.  It was a perfect fit for pre-match euphoric fans and before too long our donkey jacket pockets were laden with 500 50p coins which funded a magnificent post-match plate, being Grimsby, of fish and chips. 

Truly one of the finest days of my life, and I’ve been married (twice) and been at the birth of two great boys. (The match itself: Rovers went 3-0 up in 20 minutes including one from Chris Price, Grimsby pulled two back and battered us for the whole of the second half, Rovers hanging on in desperate fashion for the three points).

Many Miles was the journalistic peak for me, but others went to make a career from publishing and broadcasting. Having our work reviewed by Simon Mayo – Radio 1 in those days, in the midst of fanzine fever – is a tale still shared 30 years later. Only four copies went out on sale to the general Rovers following public, and in that form Many Miles didn’t survive promotion in 1992; it’s surprisingly hard to be creative when you think in footballing terms that you’ve died and gone to heaven.  

For a few more seasons it reverted back to being the newsletter of the London Branch then, after the euphoria on 1995, it gradually faded away. But the friendships made through the Rovers London Branch have endured this past 40-plus years of relocations, emigrations, divorces and funerals, along with European excursions and as many relegations as promotions. And it’s still here if Rovers fans new to London want to start their own journey.  

And if you are wondering, the tallest brick-built structure in Lincolnshire, at a staggering 309ft, is the Grimsby Dock Tower, completed in 1852.

If your life is now in London or nearby, but your heart will forever be in East Lancs, why not join like-minded souls in the London Branch? It’s fair to say it needs a bit of fresh impetus: bringing into the twenty-first century, something that maintains its aim but addresses the needs of fans nowadays. However, it’s great value at a fiver and less than the cost of a pint in the capital.

For more details email Roger Williams at rogerox53@btinternet.com or find our Facebook group HERE