4,000 Holes

Yep, on Kidder Street from 11:30am. Over 250 copies sold already - thanks to everyone who has grabbed one so far

All orders up to the end of Friday have been posted - should have received a dispatch email. Any probs, just get in touch. Cheers.

This was a past fanzine XI... probably needs some improvement. Bob Crompton surely should be a starter and captain!

The bumper Issue 114 of 4,000 Holes is now on sale for just £2.00 and can be purchased ONLINE HERE or via EBAY HERE. It will also be available to buy on Kidder Street before the forthcoming home matches. Thanks for your interest! Includes... The Origins of Rovers, Strange Strange Game, Donald Trump or Blackburn Rovers, Let’s Parler Franglais with Rudy et Valérien, A Doctor Writes, 101 Great Goals, Mick McGrath tribute, Don't You Forget About Me, Great one-off kits, Fanzine Culture, Over the Wall Boys Rule, Rovers' Titanic Charity Shield, Many Miles From Home, The Jigsaw Man, Who Were You?, Crossword, Greatest Rovers XI and much more...

A few fanzines actually sneaked out into the wild last night. There's a cheeky link HERE if you're keen to order the "150th" Anniversary Special before proper publicising starts...

Indeed! From the centrespread of 4,000 Holes Issue 1

Planning to put together Issue 114 of the only Rovers one still running over the international break – please email roversfanzine@gmail.com with any submissions before the end of next weekend. Cheers

Have recently been in touch with Peter Slater, creator of a fantastic new website about fanzine culture. He has been developing a comprehensive catalogue of all the British football fanzines that have ever existed (1723 and counting!) Helped by giving him a couple of extra Rovers names to make a current total of seven (PNE have 15😐) Any extra information would be great to help the project! Anyone know anything about the 'Blue and White Telegraph' which Peter has listed? · 4,000 Holes (1989– ) – Name from John Lennon’s lyric ‘4,000 Holes in Blackburn, Lancashire’ in the song ‘A Day In The Life’ by The Beatles; currently up to Issue 113. · Beamo! (1990) – Refers to the Ken Beamish chant about skyward shots which is still heard at Ewood 50 years later. A spin-off from 4,000 Holes with content deemed risky (i.e. ‘just over the top’) in the early days when it was harder to judge tone. · Many Miles From Home (1990-1997) – A fanzine primarily for London-based Rovers fans which started in Autumn 1990. · M5 M6 Ewood Heaven (early 1990s) – About 40 fans from the south-west were on the mailing list for this one which was posted from Bristol – the name refers to the two motorways on the journey back to Ewood. · Loadsamoney (1993-1997) – Name made reference to Jack Walker’s investment in the club and 30 issues were published in just a few years. · Colin’s Cheeky Bits (1998-1999) – “Colin, Colin, show us your arse!” was a regular terrace chant at Braveheart defender Hendry. The fanzine was a late incarnation of Loadsamoney. · Blue and White Telegraph

After, would you believe!😅

There were some really incredible quizzers in the competition (and some terrible ones!) and very strong teams like Middlesbrough, West Brom and Burton Albion didn’t even make the semis. The others semi-finalists, Leicester and Plymouth, would most likely have beaten us too. Bolton were deserved winners, although we wish we could have made it a tighter finish! Niall in particular was phenomenal – the first season he remembers is 2000/01 when Rovers and Bolton were promoted, but he knew so much niche stuff from before then too. Perhaps our ‘Expected Round’ was the quarters and we got a decent draw against Man City, so we were delighted to make the semis and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience showing off the Rovers colours.

Nice one! Yeah, it was basically a Yorkshire project, especially with Bradford's exceptional 'City Gent' featured (the oldest surviving football fanzine), but really glad they asked us and others further afield to contribute something. Nice story too about Derek Fazackerley's niece (and Yorkshire cricketer) Rebecca Duckworth seeing Faz in the mag when she visited!

About 20 of 32 first-round ties have been shown so far (they're releasing one episode per day). Might be mid-July until the next Rovers one then!

Fittingly, £95 has been donated to Diabetes UK and £95 is going to the Bone Cancer Research Trust, after Glenn Entwistle and Jen Bellamy inspired the Anfield '95 feature in Issue 113. Thanks to everyone who bought a copy to help raise the funds! Jen's 'Team Clyde Trophy Walk' from Liverpool to Ewood is this Sunday - more details and the fundraising page is here. And don't forget the latest podcast - Remembering 1995!

Huge thanks to everyone who has bought a copy of Issue 113 this month – £160 raised for Diabetes UK and the Bone Cancer Research Trust so far. Still have copies available to add to the total. Order here: https://www.brfcs.com/store/product/25-uk-4000-holes-issue-113/ https://roversfanzine.bigcartel.com/product/4-000-holes-issue-113

No worries! You can get Issue 113 posted by ordering on BRFCS HERE or on our CARTEL SITE. No long-term subscriptions are currently on offer, but some back issues are still available via the second link. Thanks.