How did you get into the Rovers? [Archive]

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BlackburnRover

13 Dec 2007, 12:02 PM

dring1

13 Dec 2007, 02:35 PM

You've probably already discussed this before, but I'm too lazy to look, and I'm nosey enough to ask. So how did you all get into Rovers?

Pretty easy for me I know, my dad took me when I was 4. Your turn...

OK, ermm, my first game was against Wolves in the really old 3rd Division. 0-0 freezing, sat in the old Nuttall street stand shivering. I was gutted at the end, I wanted to run onto the pitch like everyone did on TV at the time but my dad wouldn't let me! I'd been looking forward to it for ages.

My parents moved to Burnley and dragged me up there as a Rovers fan, so that was fun. Then they moved back when I left home, which is taking the piss as far as I'm concerned.

Favourite memories, loads, Full members cup win, my first trip to Wembley. Winning the play offs to get promoted to the Prem first time around. Couldn't speak properly for a week after that. Beating Derby 4-2 after we were 2-0 down in the semi of those play-offs. Shearer's goal in the last home game of the season when we won the league. Beating Burnley any time, but especially in Burnley, although it was a bit dodgy leaving the ground after that one. League cup win ...

Worst, RELEGATION!! Shearer signing for Newcastle, absolutely gutted. Losing 4-2 to Manure at home in Championship season, refereeing at its worst. Then having to walk back through all the celebrating mancs.

Your turn ... or point me to the original thread;)

right think ive mentioned this before but was never really into football untill i watch the 1993 fa cup final and got into it from there and started following rovers after my next door neibours took me to the champions league match at the start of the 1995-96 season and never looked back had a spell were i didnt go for a bit after they had a kid and could not afford to go but soon as i got a job that was it back following rovers started going back in the 2000-01 season been a season ticket holder since 2002-03 in the blackburn end first away match was bolton wanderers and we won 4-1 on a friday night in our promotion season but the best memory was cardiff and winning the worthington cup.

Foxhill

13 Dec 2007, 03:47 PM

I first got into Rovers when I was six years old, strangely enough, my first game was against Wolves and that was also a 0-0 draw.
That was September 1960, yeah, I know I'm ancient ;)

I lived very close to Ewood Park, on the housing estate behind the Riverside (Frazer Eagle Stand, as it now is). We used to hang out around Ewood and the steam engine sheds nearby.

My brothers, friends and I used to climb up the gate that was against the wall of the Blackburn End / Riverside....the gate is still there by the way...We used to drop down inside the toilets and onto the terraces.Naughty little boys:D

I've had a season ticket since 1992, I still sit in the same seat as I had when the Blackburn End was rebuilt in 1993, I went to as many matches as I could, but I was seriously into Archery as well as the Rovers. I represented my country for six years between 1986 and 1992.

My best memory was the Worthington Cup win in Cardiff, brilliant day!!!
Next best was the win against United at Ewood for the first time for many years, that goal by Shearer is my favourite goal of all time...this is because one of my worst memories is being at Ewood in 1966 when we lost to Man U next to last game of the season...4-1 when we got relegated to the second division. 1966 wasn't just a World Cup win!!

Not to forget the Championship win in 1995, I was actually at the games previously mentioned, couldn't get a ticket for Liverpool even though I queued for three hours for a ticket:(

1974 / 75 when we got promoted to the second division was a brilliant time, I only missed two games all season Palace away on Tuesday evening in London and Plymouth away also a Tuesday evening.

Shearer leaving was horrific!! I was in Devon on holiday, ruined it for me!!

SMUPlayer

13 Dec 2007, 03:55 PM

I found the old link, but it's fun to bring this out every once in a while. Here's my previous post:

Quote:
Originally Posted by jkritchey
Started following Rovers when the EPL was made available to me over the satellite. I chose Rovers because I was following Friedel, but when they picked up Ryan Nelsen of my hometown DC United, I was fully on board.

I have to agree with my pal, here, but it's really jumping to the end of the story.

When I was in college, I wanted to work in sports, and not this European crap called soccer. Well, after 18 months of sending out resume's, I went to a post graduate school called GameFace, Inc.. After two weeks, I had interviews with 8 sports teams, and wouldn't you know it, D.C. United was the best opportunity for me.

After about 3 weeks, my new colleagues asked if I wanted to be in an EPL fantasy league. I said, "Sure." The website asked for my favorite team, and I had to ask one of the lads who would be a good team. My criteria: No one like the Yankees in baseball. No one like the Browns in American Football. Someone like the Mavs or Spurs in basketball, and like the Boston Bruins in the NHL. My friend turned me to Blackburn because of the tradition, Brad Friedel, and Ryan Nelson, who helped DCU win a MLS Cup the year he left.

Now that I have come full circle, I will leave you with my football priorities:

1 - US World Cup Win
2 - Who ever is playing Mexico
3 - DCU winning the MLS Cup
4 - Blackburn winning the Premiership
5 - Blackburn winning the Champions League

Oh yeah, and here is the link to the other post. (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=488202)

SMUPlayer

13 Dec 2007, 04:02 PM

For full disclosure, here is my answer defending my above post.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Revelian
A few of questions, out of interest, if I may:

Why Mexico? Is it as black and white an explanation as why I hate Germany, but mostly Argentina?

First, I don't want to come off as racist, so let me preface this by saying that I don't hate Mexicans. I think they are great people. I do hate thier soccer (football) team.

Not enough Americans have come on board with soccer, so when it's US v. Mexico in the US, there are more Mexican fans than US supporters. The last time, they played in Tempe, Arizona. There were about 69,000 people in the stands. I am sure that about 60,000 of them were screaming for the Tri-Colores.

Mexico has a long standing tradition of beating the US. We are 12-29-10 (GF 56, GA 115). We went from Sept. 1937 - Nov. 1980 without recording a win. However, we are now 7-2-1 in the past 10 matches. The only time in that stretch that we have lost is in Mexico City, where the altitude and smog kills us. Well, that's not mentioning the 110,000 screaming fans, but that's the minutiae.

Here is a little side rant for the day:
The US sport teams, specifically the soccer team, gets bagged on for the nation's foreign policy. I am not here to talk about that, but because the US is a controversial topic in the world today, the soccer team is always seen as worse than they should be seen. Take the last World Cup for example. Mexico got one of the #1 seeds, and the US did not. We were ranked higher in the standing (yes, they were crap standings, but that's what they had to go on) and we had absolutely destroyed them in CONCACAF, remember, 7-2-1 (I just realized that I might need to make a note here. In the US, when we state the record, it's wins-losses-draws, not wins-draws-losses). Did the US get a #1 seed? Nope.

Maybe it will help us when we have our own Champions League, the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. MLS has also started a MLS and MFD (Mexican First Division) tourny called the SuperLiga. Maybe this will give the US a better standing in the world. Maybe not. At least it is a good first step into international waters.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Revelian
Is the MLS Cup any good, and how many teams take part? Are any of the matches played two-leg affairs? Does the Final change venue year on year?

The MLS Cup is a joke, but it's the best we have. I see the Supporter's Shield as the more important thing, but we, Americans, can't get past the whole championship game thing. 8 out of 13 teams get into the tourny. The first round is a home and home. The second round is one game at the higher seed's home. Two 15 min. halves if they are tied, and a shootout after that if they are still tied. Then, there is the Championship Game, which does move every year. This year, it's in the nation's capitol, Washington, D.C.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Revelian
Why would you prefer Rovers to win the Prem over the Champions League?

This is the way I feel, and part of it could be because I am still new to this "footy" thing. I believe that the greatest honor is to be the best in your country. It's a long road. It's hard. You go through injuries. I also feel that if you are the best in England, you have a very good chance at the Champions League.

ArteEtLabore

13 Dec 2007, 11:13 PM

2 - Who ever is playing Mexico

Well, here's hoping that Canada can help you with that, seeing as we'll likely end up in the CONCACAF group of death with Mexico.

and as for the original question on this thread - I'll answer it tomorrow.

Parrothead FC

14 Dec 2007, 01:06 AM

I chose Rovers because of the great, long history (founding members of both Football League and Premier League), the awesome name, crest and colors (sounds silly, but when you have no physical connection to the place anything is fair game), the fact that they're not in London, the fact that they're not a powerhouse but HAVE won things (through arte et labore!), the fact that their best days are still ahead (never won a trophy in Europe, I want to be there for that), the great story of how they won the Premiership, and of course the longstanding presence of that American legend, Big Brad Friedel.

BlackburnRover

14 Dec 2007, 04:26 AM

I thought it might have been done before, I should've checked but was too lazy.

Foxhill ... I'm gald you're here, I feel young! I can't remember much until the the Jim Smith days but I remember promotion to the 2nd Division the year before. To be honest, even the first game's a blur, it might have been Plymouth, can't remember which was first or second between them and Wolves. Either way it was 0-0, I remember because my grandad was pissed off.

I watched a few games from the riverside hill, mainly when they were building the new stand and it was difficult to get in. Didn't always have a season ticket. I remember there were a couple of thousand up there, singing our heads off.

I'm shedding a nostalgic tear.

Thanks for the posts, I was interested especially how all you overseas got into it. Thought Brad might have something to do with it. Good that you're all not glory hunters too.

BlackburnRover

14 Dec 2007, 04:28 AM

Or it might have been a couple of hundred on the Riverside hill ... memory's a wonderful thing. Everything was so rosey back then :rolleyes:

ArteEtLabore

14 Dec 2007, 11:14 PM

OK so here goes.

When you're born in this part of the world, your parents are born in this part of the world and you've never been to England, your choice of EPL team to support is usually somewhat arbitrary.

It's only been recently that I've started following the EPL. When I first started watching it and decided to choose a team to follow, I knew ManU wasn't going to be it, because a buddy of mine was into ManU big time. In fact I didn't want to support any of the big clubs, because that's not really 'me'. I tend to go for underdogs. Years of supporting Toronto teams will do that to you I guess.

Anyway, one of my interests (outside of footy of course) is genealogy and one part of my family comes from Blackburn, and other part comes from the Fulham part of London. So it came down to the choice of those two teams - either an underdog with some past history of success or....uh... ...well....uh...Fulham. So it was an easy choice.

Jilleen

16 Dec 2007, 11:23 AM

We did have a thread a while ago, where we were convincing Parrothead to become a Rovers' supporter. BTW mission accomplished! It has most of our stories and support arguments. Maybe you will find it interesting.

Here it is (http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=474853).

BlackburnRover

17 Dec 2007, 07:47 AM

Thanks for that .. saved me searching for it;)

And you found out about the Burnley rivalry too, which is a pleasant good humoured one:rolleyes:

seahawkdad

22 Dec 2007, 11:37 PM

Thanks for the link, for here was mine:

Me and Rovers had nothing to do with Friedel, interestingly.

On my mother's side, one great grandmother was a Topping from Leyland and a great grandfather was a Tattersall from Preston. Both came to the US in the 1870s as, of course, Tattersalls. So, when I decided that I wanted a team to support to go along with DC United, I looked for a Premiership team in Lancashire. The only one at the time was Blackburn.

Of course, my timing was a bit off, since at the end of that season Rovers were relegated.

However, things improved, didn't they? So we were back up after only one season.

I was one of the first on the BRFCS boards (http://www.brfcs.co.uk/) to suggest Rovers look at Ryan Nelsen (I'm sure that's not why they did), but his joining was just icing on the cake. I have been seen at DC United games in my Rovers Ryan Nelsen shirt, to the applause of United supporters and the puzzlement of the unaware ("what team is that?").

I, of course, greatly enjoyed the pre-season friendly Rovers and United played a couple of years ago. And Brad kept his string of never having won a game against DC United at RFK.

The nice thing about the reason behind my following Blackburn is that it isn't dependent upon a Yank being on the team, or even an honorary one like Nelsen. In fact, I followed Blackburn before Brad arrived. I even have a 2" high Sutty doll above my computer. I can therefore spread my love to many of the players. Tugay has been a long-time favorite of mine. Savage is another. I was pissed when Duff left, and hated Chelsea for it (hah...Chelsea 2 - 1 DC United). When Brad finally retires I'll still be a Rovers fan.

And why is the English game important to me? Go back to the reason I chose Blackburn. Many of my ancestors came from England and I've always considered it to be the mother country.

cheers, and Go Rovers.

What I found interesting was that when I visited Ewood on August 15th of this year (having been cheated out of seeing Rovers play due to the UEFA play-ins) I realized how deep my love of this team has become. I had a visceral reaction when I did this (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2361/1519076401_61baba2a69_o.jpg).

Jilleen

23 Dec 2007, 07:26 AM

Thanks for that .. saved me searching for it;) [...]

No problem -- it was too easy :) : I knew Parrothead had started the thread about a year ago, so those were my search parameters. Easy peasy, as they say :) . The "Search" functionality on BigSoccer is really quite good.

dring1

23 Dec 2007, 03:17 PM

Thanks for the link, for here was mine:

What I found interesting was that when I visited Ewood on August 15th of this year (having been cheated out of seeing Rovers play due to the UEFA play-ins) I realized how deep my love of this team has become. I had a visceral reaction when I did this (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2361/1519076401_61baba2a69_o.jpg).

thats nearer the tunnel than i have been never once been on a ground tour of ewood since i have been going.