Bristol Rovers F.C.

The Black Arabs in February 1884

The club was formed following a meeting at the Eastville Restaurant in Bristol in September 1883. It was initially called Black Arabs F.C., after the Arabs rugby team and the predominantly black kits in which they played. This name only lasted for the 1883–84 season, and in a bid to draw more fans from the local area the club was renamed Eastville Rovers in 1884.[4]

The club played only friendly games until the 1887–88 season, when it took part in the Gloucestershire Cup for the first time. In 1892 the club became a founder member of the Bristol and District League, which three years later was renamed the Western League. In 1897 Eastville Rovers joined the Birmingham and District League, and for two seasons played in both this league and the Western League.[6] At the beginning of the 1897–98 season, the club turned professional and changed its name to Bristol Eastville Rovers,[6] and on 17 February 1899 the name was officially changed to Bristol Rovers.[7] In 1899 Bristol Rovers joined the newly formed Southern League, where they remained until 1920, winning the league title along the way in 1905.[8]

For the 1920–21 season, the Southern League teams were moved into the new Division Three of the Football League, which became Division Three (South) the following season. They remained in this division for over 30 years, before winning the league, and promotion in the 1952–53 season.[9]

Chart of yearly table positions in the Football League.

The team has won promotion on five other occasions: in 1973–74 from the Third Division to the Second Division, again in 1989–90 as Division Three champions, in 2006–07 to the Football League One, in 2014–15 to League Two from the Conference Premier, and then in 2015–16 to League One. The club has been relegated six times—in 1961–62, 1980–81, 1992–93, 2000–01, 2010–11 and most recently at the end of the 2013–14 season.[10]

The highest position in the football ladder achieved by Rovers at the end of season is sixth place in the second tier, which they did twice; once in 1955–56, and again in 1958–59.[8] The closest they came to the top flight was in 1955–56, when they ended the season just four points below the promotion positions.[11] The lowest league position achieved by the club is twenty-third out of twenty-four teams in the fourth tier, which has occurred twice. In the 2001–02 season,[8] relegation from the Football League was narrowly avoided on two counts; firstly they ended just one league position above the relegation zone, and secondly the rules were changed the following season to increase the number of relegation places to two, meaning that if Rovers had finished in that position one year later they would have been relegated.[12] This position was matched at the end of the 2013–14 season, which this time saw Rovers relegated to the Conference for the first time.[13] They returned to the league at the end of their first Conference season, with a penalty shootout victory over Grimsby Town in the play-off final.[14] In February 2016 it was announced that a 92% stake in the club had been bought by the Jordanian al-Qadi family and that Wael al-Qadi, a member of the Jordan Football Association, would become the president.[15] The club is now owned by Dwane Sports Ltd with 92.6% of the shares[16] with Bristol Rovers Supporters Club owning the remaining 7.4%.[17] In May 2016 the club recorded a second consecutive promotion in dramatic fashion finishing third in League Two after a 92nd-minute goal secured victory over Dagenham and Redbridge and Accrington Stanley failed to beat Stevenage on the last day of the season.[18] It marked the first time Rovers had reached the third tier of English Football since relegation in 2011. In June 2020 it was announced that president Wael al-Qadi had obtained a 90% stake in Dwane Sports Ltd[19][20] after buying the shares of other members of his family it was also announced that the club's debt would be capitalised and a new training facility would begin construction at Hortham Lane, Almondsbury which is close to the M5 motorway.[21] Rovers have owned the site known as 'The Colony' since 2017[22] and in June 2020 the club announced that it would be ready for the start of the 2020–21 season.[23]

Rovers first used Bukta as an official kit supplier in 1977, and Great Mills as the first kit sponsor followed 1981. Rovers' longest running kit supplier is Errea who supplied the club kits for eleven years (2005–16).[44][45] The club's longest running kit sponsorship was from local company Cowlin Construction who sponsored the club for 11 years before ending the deal in 2009.[46] Following the end of the Cowlin deal, sponsors were chosen by raffle, via the 1883 Club.[47] This process lasted nine seasons before the club announced Football INDEX as new sponsors for both home and away kits.[48] In 2019 Utilita become the main shirt sponsors of both the home and away kits for the 2019-2020 season,[49] the deal was then extended in July 2020 to cover the 2020-2021 season[50] marking the first time a shirt sponsor had lasted for more than one season since the end of the Cowlin sponsorship in 2009.

• Purdown – 1883–1884
• Three Acres – 1884–1891
• Schoolmasters Cricket Ground – 1891–1892
• Durdham Down – 1892–1894
• Ridgeway – 1894–1897
• Eastville Stadium – 1897–1986
• Twerton Park – 1986–1996
• The Memorial Stadium – 1996–present

Rovers play their home games at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, a ground they formerly shared with Bristol Rugby. The team moved to The Mem, as it is known informally, at the beginning of the 1996–97 season, initially as tenants but purchased it two years later.[51]

When Bristol Rovers were known as Black Arabs F.C. in 1883, they played their home games at Purdown, Stapleton. The following year they moved to Three Acres, the precise location of which is not known, but is believed to have been in the Ashley Down area of Bristol, where they remained for seven years. This was followed by brief stays at the Schoolmasters Cricket Ground, Durdham Down and Ridgeway.

For the majority of their history, Bristol Rovers have played their home games at the Eastville Stadium, where they remained for a period of 89 years from 1897 to 1986. Financial problems led to the team being forced to leave Eastville, and they found a temporary home at Twerton Park, the home of Bath City. They stayed in Bath for 10 seasons, leading to the chant that there really is only 1 team in Bristol, before returning to Bristol in 1996.

Aftermath of the fire at Eastville Stadium, August 1980

Rovers also played five home games at Ashton Gate Stadium, home of rivals Bristol City, following a fire which destroyed the South Stand of the Eastville Stadium on the night of the 16–17 August 1980. Rovers returned to Eastville in October 1980. During World War II, some friendly matches were played in Kingswood, and in their early history some games were played at Parson Street, Bedminster[4]

In January 2007 planning permission was granted for a new 18,500 capacity all-seater stadium to be built on the site of the Memorial Stadium.[52] The project was abandoned after a series of delays.[53][54][55] In June 2011, the club announced its intention to relocate the club to a new 21,700 all-seater stadium on the University of the West of England's Frenchay campus.[56] The planned UWE Stadium was shelved in August 2017 due to disputes between the club and the university, and attention returned to redeveloping the Memorial Stadium.[57]

In 2017 there was a crowd recording for the 2018 Aardman film Early Man at the Memorial Stadium.[58]

In June 2020 the club began construction of a new training facility at a site on Hortham Lane, Almondsbury near the M5 motorway.[21] The site is set to include two full size pitches, a goalkeeping area, a gym and a clubhouse building.[21] Having owned the land since 2017,[22] no work had previously been carried out before the club moved into the training ground for the start in October 2020.[59]

The song which is synonymous with Rovers is "Goodnight, Irene", which was written by Lead Belly.[73]

Opinions differ as to how this came about but it is thought to have become popular in the 1950s when a version of the song was in the British charts—the line "sometimes I have a great notion to jump in the river and drown"—seemed to be particularly apt when Rovers lost as the Bristol Frome flows alongside the old Eastville ground. It is believed that John Clapham is responsible for the song as he used to work at Eastville stadium for the greyhound racing and the last record he would play at the end of the night was "Goodnight Irene" also having a daughter called Irene, the record would then be left in the player and was played at the football.[37] Another theory is that it was sung at a fireworks display at the Stadium the night before a home game against Plymouth Argyle in the 1950s. During the game the following day, Rovers were winning quite comfortably and the few Argyle supporters present began to leave early prompting a chorus of "Goodnight Argyle" from the Rovers supporters—the tune stuck and "Irene" became the club song.[74]

Another popular Bristol Rovers song is "Tote End Boys", which was written and sung by Ben Gunstone. The name derives from the section of Gasheads who stood in the Tote End terrace at Rovers' old home, Eastville Stadium.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ENG James Belshaw 2 DF  WAL James Connolly 3 DF  SCO Lewis Gordon 4 MF  ENG Josh Grant 5 DF  ENG Alfie Kilgour 6 MF  ENG Sam Finley (vice captain) 7 MF  ENG Scott Sinclair 8 MF  ENG Zain Westbrooke 9 FW  ENG John Marquis 10 FW  WAL Aaron Collins 14 MF  ENG Jordan Rossiter 15 MF  SCO Paul Coutts (captain) 16 DF  ENG Nick Anderton 17 DF  ENG Lewis Gibson (on loan from Everton)

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW  ENG Ryan Loft 19 MF  ENG Harry Anderson 20 DF  IRL Trevor Clarke 21 MF  ENG Antony Evans 22 FW  ENG Harvey Saunders 23 MF  ENG Luke McCormick 25 MF  IRL Glenn Whelan 28 DF  ENG James Gibbons 30 DF  WAL Luca Hoole 32 GK  FIN Anssi Jaakkola 33 MF  ENG Alex Rodman 34 MF  ENG Jerry Lawrence 37 DF  ENG Bobby Thomas (on loan from Burnley) 40 FW  ENG Josh Coburn (on loan from Middlesbrough)

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 26 DF  IRL Jamie Egan 39 DF  ENG Malik Sesay 43 MF  ENG Lene Burden — DF  ENG Zak Ford — DF  ENG Niall Lovelock

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  ENG Tyron Mbuenimo — MF  ENG Owen Brain — MF  WAL Max Edwards-Stryjewski — FW  ENG Jarmani Langlais — FW  ENG Lucas Vaughan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 24 DF  ENG Sam Heal (on loan at North Leigh) 27 FW  ENG Harvey Greenslade (on loan at Chippenham Town) 31 GK  ENG Jed Ward (on loan at Hungerford Town) 44 MF  ENG Ryan Jones (on loan at Hungerford Town)

The football club launched its official Hall of Fame in 2021 in partnership with Retro Rovers podcast with the purpose of recognising the players and managers who had had the greatest impact. It was announced that ten people would be inducted in the Hall at a rate of one per week in the first half of 2021, with three added per year thereafter.[76] The first inductee was the club's all-time record goalscorer Geoff Bradford.

This is a list of the other most noted former players at Bristol Rovers Football Club (excluding those listed in the Hall of Fame above) stating the period that each player spent at the club, their nationality and their reason for being listed. To be included in this list a player must have made over 400 league appearances for the club, scored over 100 league goals or hold a club record.

Note: all details from Byrne & Jay (2003) unless otherwise stated

Years	Nation	Player	Achievement	Notes
1928–1932	England	Ronnie Dix	The club's youngest ever player, at 15 years 173 days. The Football League's youngest ever goalscorer, at 15 years 180 days.	[87]
1945–1955	England	Vic Lambden	Scored 117 goals in 268 league appearances.
1945–1962	England	George Petherbridge	Played 457 league games.
1953–1962	Kenya	Peter Hooper	Scored 101 goals in 297 league games.
1956–1973	England	Bobby Jones	Played 421 league games and scored 101 goals.
1959–1973	England	Harold Jarman	Played 452 league games and scored 127 goals.
1981–1999	England	Ian Holloway	Named the fans' Cult Hero in a BBC poll.	[88]
1987–1989	England	Nigel Martyn	Became the first goalkeeper to command a million pound transfer fee when he was sold to Crystal Palace.	[89]
1992–2000	England	Andy Tillson	Record signing, and former club captain.	[90]
1997–1999	Jamaica	Barry Hayles	Club record sale when he moved to Fulham for £2,100,000.
2000–2003	Latvia	Vitālijs Astafjevs	Most internationally capped Bristol Rovers player, with 31 appearances for Latvia while playing with Rovers 158 times.	[90]
2016–2018	England	Byron Moore	Scorer of Rovers' fastest ever league goal	[91]

As of 21 September 2022[92]

The first manager of Bristol Rovers, Alfred Homer

36 men have been appointed as a manager of Bristol Rovers Football Club, excluding caretaker managers.[93][94] Bobby Gould, Gerry Francis and John Ward are the only men to have been given the job on a permanent basis twice, although Garry Thompson had a spell as caretaker manager before later being appointed permanently, and Phil Bater was caretaker manager on two occasions.

Bristol Rovers record goalscorer, Geoff Bradford. Picture taken in 1988, when he was 61 years old.

• Biggest League Win:[101]
  • 7–0 (v Brighton & Hove Albion, Division Three (South), 29 November 1952)
  • 7–0 (v Swansea City, Division Two, 2 October 1954)
  • 7–0 (v Shrewsbury Town, Division Three, 21 March 1964)
  • 7–0 (v Alfreton Town, Conference Premier, 25 April 2015)
  • 7–0 (v Scunthorpe United, League Two, 7 May 2022)
    • Biggest Cup Win:
  • Competition proper:
    • 6–0 (v Merthyr Tydfil, FA Cup Round 1, 14 November 1987)[101]
    • 6–0 (v Darlington, FA Cup Round 2, 29 November 2020)[102]
  • Qualifying: 15–1 (v Weymouth, FA Cup Third Qualifying Round, 17 November 1900)[101]
• Biggest League Defeat: 0–12 (v Luton Town, Division Three South, 13 April 1936)[103]

• Most League Appearances: 546 – Stuart Taylor, 1966–1980[104]
• Most Goals for club: 242 – Geoff Bradford, 1949–1964[104]
• Most Goals in a season: 33 – Geoff Bradford, 1952–53[104]
• Highest Transfer Fee Paid: £375,000 – Andy Tillson from Queens Park Rangers, November 1992[104]
• Highest Transfer Fee Received: £2,600,000 – Barry Hayles to Fulham, November 1998

• Record Home Attendance: 38,472 (v Preston North End, FA Cup, 30 January 1960[105]