As sellers of Rovers match-day programme “The Pirate” we were delighted to hear that theprogramme has picked up another award – winning the best programme in Sky Bet League One in the Programme Monthly and Football Collectable awards.
The publication picked up an impressive score of 18/20 from the judges, the joint highest score awarded in the top four divisions.
It’s the second award The Pirate has picked up this summer, after ‘Premier Progs’ also ranked the Rovers programme as the best in the third-tier.
“Very unusually, the history features right from the start with ‘Think of a Title’ about the 1989/90 season, quickly followed by ‘From the Archives’, ‘It’s a Funny Old Game’ and ‘History and My Rovers’. There’s more and it’s even better, with ‘During the War’ and ‘Doing the 92’, both of which are high quality.
“Seven pages on the visitors more than do them justice, then ‘Progs Rock’, a page about other League One programmes before we hit the manager’s column on page 31. There are two match reports and whether you were at the match or not, these are worth a read. The second half can’t quite match the first but still plenty to read, including two player interviews, a short Q+A, a roving reporter’s feature, a debate page, four pages for the youngsters and an excellent double pager about the next away game. Top notch. 18/20.”
On picking up the award, Rovers Programme Editor, Rob McNichol added, “It is great to receive further recognition for The Pirate. I consider the football programme to still be a vital part of match-days, and we make a huge effort to keep ours relevant, interesting, informative and original.
“Two years ago, I inherited a great squad of contributors, and a tradition of excellent programmes at Rovers. It’s a pleasure to keep this going, with a superb team from a variety of backgrounds, dealing with a wide spectrum of subjects. I am very proud of them.
“Our design team at Curtis Sport are excellent partners; they are easy to work with, and provide superb creations to complement our editorial.
“Work has already begun on programmes for 2020/21 – Covid will not stop The Pirate!”