150th Anniversary kit/celebrations

[...]

46 minutes ago, Herbie6590 said:

We really should have got a group of enthusiastic fans together to suggest ideas to the club in a sort of…consultation type format…an opportunity missed…👀

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*waits for @Miller11* 😆

I know I can't believe we hadn't thought of it earlier. Stupid fans fault.

[arbitro]

Supporters will be able to drink alcohol in their seats for the Legends match. Has anyone seen this announced by the club yet?

https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/blackburn-rovers-ewood-park-alcohol-32730810

[Herbie6590]

58 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Supporters will be able to drink alcohol in their seats for the Legends match. Has anyone seen this announced by the club yet?

https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/blackburn-rovers-ewood-park-alcohol-32730810

This is madness…if the away fans get tanked up on Pimm’s there could well be carnage…an Eton Mess even…

[AAK]

Just now, Herbie6590 said:

This is madness…if the away fans get tanked up on Pimm’s there could well be carnage…an Eton Mess even…

Bypassing all known English football laws, in a pro men’s competitive game, yeh sounds legit.

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

25 minutes ago, Herbie6590 said:

This is madness…if the away fans get tanked up on Pimm’s there could well be carnage…an Eton Mess even…

All five of them take the BBE to the shout of HUZZAH,TALLY-HO!

Edited yesterday at 15:09 by SIMON GARNERS 194

[Rogerb]

1 hour ago, Herbie6590 said:

This is madness…if the away fans get tanked up on Pimm’s there could well be carnage…an Eton Mess even…

Tad chilli for Pimm's need a hot toddie don't you know o er misses!

[GHD]

On 23/10/2025 at 22:39, had.e.nuff said:

is there a list of who are getting the caps i was just wondering if one of my relatives Harry Heallass was on the list i would have thought 360 games and captaining the cup winning side would warrant one , I was out with his grandson last year so he has relations around.

Sent you a pm

[...]

2 hours ago, GHD said:

Sent you a pm

You know the full list? Be grateful of a pm also

[GHD]

9 hours ago, ... said:

You know the full list? Be grateful of a pm also

No sorry. Just sent a pm to had.e.nuff as he’s a relative of Harry Healless

[oneandycrawford]

20 hours ago, SIMON GARNERS 194 said:

All five of them take the BBE to the shout of HUZZAH,TALLY-HO!

While the tannoy plays 'Eton Rifles' I presume

[Crimpshrine]

On 24/10/2025 at 19:41, Parsonblue said:

See my point above Rev.  History evolves.

 

Thanks, I've read this book and its a very good work.  

As for the year - that's a whole other debate.  In the late 19 and early 20th Centuries it fluctuated between 1874 and 1875.  The debate finally ended - from the club's point of view - in 1924 when they stated 1875 was the date they recognized. 

In October 1924, the Blackburn Times began a weekly series of articles on the history of the club to celebrate its 50th Anniversary.  Those articles had 1874 as the date of founding.  After three weeks they included a footnote that the club would recognize 1875 as the date.

Charles Francis, who was involved with the articles in the Blackburn Times that quoted 1874 as the date,  was then asked the write the book to celebrate the 50th Anniversary and he in that book he went along with the club and stated the founding date was 1875.

It may be that informal talks took place in 1874 but the actual formation was in 1875.  Certainly, the minutes that I've referred to in earlier posts quote 1875.

The Blackburn Standard reported on the game between Rovers and Cob Wall in January 1876 and that quoted the 1875-76 season as being the first season for the club.

 

It's all a bit confusing.  From this it looks like the 50th season was 1924/25 and the centenary season was definitely 1974/75. So the 150th season was 2024/25.

So we have switched from celebrating the number of seasons played to the number of years since formation ?

Presumably the club played a season before its 1st birthday and we are now in season 151 ? 

[StHelensRover]

21 minutes ago, Crimpshrine said:

It's all a bit confusing.  From this it looks like the 50th season was 1924/25 and the centenary season was definitely 1974/75. So the 150th season was 2024/25.

So we have switched from celebrating the number of seasons played to the number of years since formation ?

Presumably the club played a season before its 1st birthday and we are now in season 151 ? 

I'm pretty sure the 125th anniversary was also commemorated the 2000/01 season. I can't speak to the earlier ones as I wasn't born. If we were formed in November 1875 then that would have been during the 1875/76 season which would mean that celebrating 00/01 and 25/26 makes the most sense. Thought I don't know whether they had official 'seasons' at that point as there was only exhibition games and the cup which was annual. We only formally existed for ~2 months of 1875, so it makes less sense to celebrate in the 10 months prior. 

Edited 6 hours ago by StHelensRover

[Parsonblue]

2 hours ago, Crimpshrine said:

It's all a bit confusing.  From this it looks like the 50th season was 1924/25 and the centenary season was definitely 1974/75. So the 150th season was 2024/25.

So we have switched from celebrating the number of seasons played to the number of years since formation ?

Presumably the club played a season before its 1st birthday and we are now in season 151 ? 

The club have recognised 1875 as the founding date.  Thus the 2025-26 season is the 150th Anniversary.  The Centenary game was in November 1975 against Bolton Wanderers. (1975-76 was the Centenary season).  The 50th Anniversary was celebrated in 1925-26 season and the club produced a book to celebrate that anniversary.  The 125th Anniversary was celebrated in 2000-01 with the Anniversary game being against Wolves on 18th November 2000.

The newspaper report in January 1876 reported the 1875-76 season as the club's first season.  Reproduced minutes of the first meetings are dated November 1875.  

Anything else is just speculation.  

[StHelensRover]

I just got the latest 4000 Holes in the post today and there is a great article on the ins and outs of this debate in there that I just read on my lunch break.

What seems most likely is that a group of mates/associates/etc were playing football together in 1874 and 1875 and that they officially announced/codified their team name, colours and players in November 1875. So when people asked these former players, founders et al, many years later about the history of Rovers, some of them inevitably conflated or misremembered different events. All the evidence for 1874 or early 1875 is anecdotal,  I believe this the likely explanation for the confusion. They might even have been calling themselves "Rovers" but it wasn't official or codified anywhere. I don't think it's a good idea to have an official record of when we were founded based on something which isn't official or a record, as opposed to just what someone roughly remembers or reckons. For that reason I think we must stick with Nov 1875.

Would be like having loads of kickarounds with your mates and eventually deciding to enter a 5-a-side league, you might forget exactly when you officially became a team and misreport that years later, assuming you became a famous five-a-side team 😄

I've been doing a load of genealogy research in the last few years, looking at old census records and all sorts of things. You'd be surprised how often people forgot, misremembered or incorrectly recorded pretty important information back then (we're lucky that so much is digital now in some ways).

Edited 1 hour ago by StHelensRover

[Crimpshrine]

1 hour ago, Parsonblue said:

The club have recognised 1875 as the founding date.  Thus the 2025-26 season is the 150th Anniversary.  The Centenary game was in November 1975 against Bolton Wanderers. (1975-76 was the Centenary season).  The 50th Anniversary was celebrated in 1925-26 season and the club produced a book to celebrate that anniversary.  The 125th Anniversary was celebrated in 2000-01 with the Anniversary game being against Wolves on 18th November 2000.

The newspaper report in January 1876 reported the 1875-76 season as the club's first season.  Reproduced minutes of the first meetings are dated November 1875.  

Anything else is just speculation.  

Yes. You are right.

I have an old souvenir print that states "BLACKBURN ROVERS DIVISION 3 CHAMPIONS 1974/75 In their centenary year."

I see it is referring the the calendar year 1975 rather than the season 74/75

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Crimpshrine

[RevidgeBlue]

I dont really see the need for handwringing about whether we were formed in 1874 or 1875. At best it seems the first meeting of any sort took place between Christmas and New Year 1874 so there's only a few days difference.

Just theorising here, could the initial meeting have led to an informal group gathering/playing together initially with the first formal meeting leading to Incorporation etc only taking place in November 1875?

[StHelensRover]

11 minutes ago, RevidgeBlue said:

Just theorising here, could the initial meeting have led to an informal group gathering/playing together initially with the first formal meeting leading to Incorporation etc only taking place in November 1875?

That's what I think is most likely.

Ed:

I just checked and according two Wiki we're the probably 11th oldest club in England, we could be 10th but it's not clearly exactly when Big Club Birmingham were formed. So even if it became end of 1874, it would only make us the tenth oldest. 

We appear to have the 6th longest longevity in terms of names. We've only ever been Blackburn Rovers. Several of the 'older clubs' had completely different names or were repurposed cricket teams or shinney teams. We've always been BRFC, always been a football club. 

Edited 1 hour ago by StHelensRover

[SIMON GARNERS 194]

Again,so many early references to our formation being 1874...they cant all be wrong.We started playing  our first recorded matches in 1875

The article in 4000 Holes certainly does nothing to solve this mystery!

What baffles me is why this has never,to the best of my knowledge,been challenged before..

One thing I do know for sure is the shysters and non- supporters ruining our club couldn't give a sniff either way.

Edited 1 hour ago by SIMON GARNERS 194