[Archived] Supportersclubs

[Ewood Mc Ewans]

Hi mates, I'm a newbie here.

Thank you for accepting me in this beautiful forum of BRFC Supporters.

But my question is: are you, or does exist an organization that gathers all the Supportersclubs?

With a small bunch of fans we'd like to set up a fansclub, and so, as we haven't found any info on the official site, I wonder if someone of you guys could tell me if there is a club's policy with regard to the supportersclubs, if it's provided a form of recognition, which are the requirements that must be fulfilled, if exists and who is the person of the club that we have to apply to, etc.

Thank you in advance for your answer.

[Hughesy]

Welcome - where you from fella?

We have a few supporters clubs I believe but I think most set up there own, happy to be corrected if wrong?

[Ewood Mc Ewans]

Welcome - where you from fella?

We have a few supporters clubs I believe but I think most set up there own, happy to be corrected if wrong?

Thank you mate, we are a small bunch of friends from Italy. We are very keen on English football and we fell in love for Blackburn in 1994-95, that team was fantastic, only one outstanding player, but all played as a team, and Hendry and Sherwood gave their contribute in defence and in the midfield.

I'm glad that the club launched that retro shirt, it is my favourite Rovers outfit.

[Hughesy]

A few more supporters clubs....

London Branch

North Lancs

Republic of Ireland Rovers club

Northern Ireland Rovers club

Norway Rovers club

[incy wincy little spider]

Good topic,

I'm wondering if there is a list of supporters clubs somewhere? Any in Germany??

[Glenn]

I'm not sure how many of those are still "official". I know around 2004-ish the club binned support of all supporters groups (bar the disabled supporters association), whether they've gone back on this since, I don't know.

Thankfully many of the continued as unofficial groups (and there are quite a lot of unofficial groups now).

[only2garners]

I am not sure there is a definition of "official" supporters clubs but the club will do their best to support any group of fans wanting to get more involved, wanting tickets together for games etc. You only have to look at the support they have been giving to the Blue Brigade in the Darwen End lately.

The Fans Forum have been encouraging the club to do more to support fans' groups outside the north west for some time now. My impression is that they want to do something but that with the very small marketing budgets they have had until recently they have not been able to justify spending any of it on groups that will earn little or no immediate revenue for the club. If Venkys are going to increase marketing budgets and be more pro-active in encouraging overseas fans thius may well change.

[Ewood Mc Ewans]

It's very strange though that the club don't have a system for the recognition of the fansclubs. It could help the fans to enter in contact, to find tickets for the home and away games , to organize events with the players like the player of the season's award, and it'd be a way for the fans to feel part of the club. Not only the top teams but also the medium and small have official supportersclubs, so I wonder if there's a person at BRFC that deals with this matter.

[alexanders]

The Norwegian Supporterclub is very much alive with around 300 members. We have our own supporters magazine which are named Uncle Jack's and it goes out to all the members three times a year I think.

Welcome on board.

I love the input from fans all around the world.

[Ewood Mc Ewans]

As far as I am concerned, Norwegians are always the biggest and most organized fansclubs, even for the other English clubs, don't know why. You are great, chapeau!

[alexanders]

We are very Anglofile.

British football is HUGE in Norway!

Not so much Rovers though. Mostly Glory hunters from United and Liverpool.

Where in Italy are you guys from?

[S15]

British football is HUGE in England!

What a crazy world we live in.

[alexanders]

What a crazy world we live in.

Edited.

[Ben-2000]

I am not sure there is a definition of "official" supporters clubs but the club will do their best to support any group of fans wanting to get more involved, wanting tickets together for games etc. You only have to look at the support they have been giving to the Blue Brigade in the Darwen End lately.

The Fans Forum have been encouraging the club to do more to support fans' groups outside the north west for some time now. My impression is that they want to do something but that with the very small marketing budgets they have had until recently they have not been able to justify spending any of it on groups that will earn little or no immediate revenue for the club. If Venkys are going to increase marketing budgets and be more pro-active in encouraging overseas fans thius may well change.

Just to following on from O2G's comments...

I'm part of Blue Brigade, the club have been nothing short of fantastic with us. They met with us at length one evening and it's gone from there. We remain in touch to iron out any issues that may arise, and I feel it's good for both parties.

For those of you who don't know who we are, we are based in the Darwen End of the ground and our aim is to make as much noise as possible to back the team! We're not interested in causing trouble, just good vocal backing to the boys in Blue (and white!). We have plans to make it even better by adding large flags etc although this has taken a while to get off the ground so far.

Everything we plan to do, we consult the club about. Working with them (although we are independent) can only be a good thing all round.

Ben.

[Roost]

Just to following on from O2G's comments...

I'm part of Blue Brigade, the club have been nothing short of fantastic with us. They met with us at length one evening and it's gone from there. We remain in touch to iron out any issues that may arise, and I feel it's good for both parties.

For those of you who don't know who we are, we are based in the Darwen End of the ground and our aim is to make as much noise as possible to back the team! We're not interested in causing trouble, just good vocal backing to the boys in Blue (and white!). We have plans to make it even better by adding large flags etc although this has taken a while to get off the ground so far.

Everything we plan to do, we consult the club about. Working with them (although we are independent) can only be a good thing all round.

Ben.

And a great job you are doing too Ben.

Ewood McEwan - welcome on board!

One Love - BRFC

Just to following on from O2G's comments...

I'm part of Blue Brigade, the club have been nothing short of fantastic with us. They met with us at length one evening and it's gone from there. We remain in touch to iron out any issues that may arise, and I feel it's good for both parties.

For those of you who don't know who we are, we are based in the Darwen End of the ground and our aim is to make as much noise as possible to back the team! We're not interested in causing trouble, just good vocal backing to the boys in Blue (and white!). We have plans to make it even better by adding large flags etc although this has taken a while to get off the ground so far.

Everything we plan to do, we consult the club about. Working with them (although we are independent) can only be a good thing all round.

Ben.

And a great job you are doing too Ben.

Ewood McEwan - welcome on board!

One Love - BRFC

[mhead]

Ewood MacEwans....welcome into the family!

Can we form a SouthEast Europe group for Italy and the Balkans.

I can provide names in Rome and the Balkans(especially Bulgaria)

[Glenn]

I should clarify what I meant. There used to be official supporters club branches (North Lancs, London and Ireland being the three most prominent), now I'm pretty sure that in the early 2000s the club decided to drop "official" support for all bar the BDSA. They seem to still be as helpful as ever with things like organising tickets etc, but dropped the expensive/faffy bits (like player meet and greets at supporters events). True to form, the club staff themselves continued to be as helpful as ever, it was just a shift from official to unofficial. I'm 99% sure one of the Irish lads that came over to an early BRISA meeting was up in arms about it at the time.

But yeah, official, unofficial, the end result is the same, so who cares

.... and if you count BRFCS as a supporters group, we're bigger than the Norwegian lads

[CaliRoverNYC]

When I was first trying to put together a NYC/East Coast USA supporters group. the club was actually very open. The main concern of theirs was that I wasn't trying to make a profit off of selling travel packages to ewood. But the club was very helpful and very quick to respond to my questions and demands.

[Hughesy]

When I was first trying to put together a NYC/East Coast USA supporters group. the club was actually very open. The main concern of theirs was that I wasn't trying to make a profit off of selling travel packages to ewood. But the club was very helpful and very quick to respond to my questions and demands.

So did you set it up? How many members you got over there?

[Torgeir]

.... and if you count BRFCS as a supporters group, we're bigger than the Norwegian lads

Hey! Some of us contribute in both places

I've been a member of the Norwegian club for a number of years with the exception of one, and it's developed into a very solid organisation. We get contributions from old players, as well as regularly from our great chairman John Williams, and I'm pretty sure it has an official status after some great work from Bjarte (who used to study in Manchester and hold a season ticket for a couple of years).

I remember being a part of the mailing list in connection with this site. brfc@indiana.edu I have a few emails from 98 still in my inbox.

Thanks to the people putting down the hard work!

[Glenn]

Hey! Some of us contribute in both places

I've been a member of the Norwegian club for a number of years with the exception of one, and it's developed into a very solid organisation. We get contributions from old players, as well as regularly from our great chairman John Williams, and I'm pretty sure it has an official status after some great work from Bjarte (who used to study in Manchester and hold a season ticket for a couple of years).

I remember being a part of the mailing list in connection with this site. brfc@indiana.edu I have a few emails from 98 still in my inbox.

Thanks to the people putting down the hard work!

brfc@indiana.edu or "The List" as it's known is nothing to do with BRFCS (other than a few on us being subscribers) but it's is still going strong, It reminds me of this site many years ago, with a small, pleasant user base that know how to behave without moderation.

But I have to admit, I've always been very impressed with the organisation (and size) of the Norwegian Branch, many of you may remember Bjarte as being PennyDuff on here and being a regular phone in caller of Radio Rovers. I bumped into in him Blues a few months ago for the first time in years (probably the first time since he finished Uni and moved back to Norway), he looked just the same, just much much older (don't we all).

[Ben-2000]

Further to my post below, I hope it's OK to mention that we are currently fundraising for a large flag. If anyone in the Darwen End (or anyone else for that matter) would like to contribute the link is here. We're currently at around £100.00 so far!

Also, we've been very kindly offered help with a website and registering Blue Brigade as a 'not for profit' organisation to enable us to open a bank account. Many thanks for all the support people are offering out there - you know who you are

Just to following on from O2G's comments...

I'm part of Blue Brigade, the club have been nothing short of fantastic with us. They met with us at length one evening and it's gone from there. We remain in touch to iron out any issues that may arise, and I feel it's good for both parties.

For those of you who don't know who we are, we are based in the Darwen End of the ground and our aim is to make as much noise as possible to back the team! We're not interested in causing trouble, just good vocal backing to the boys in Blue (and white!). We have plans to make it even better by adding large flags etc although this has taken a while to get off the ground so far.

Everything we plan to do, we consult the club about. Working with them (although we are independent) can only be a good thing all round.

Ben.