The announcement that the Supporters Club had decided to organise the selling of 50/50 tickets online was welcomed, I’m sure, by the club’s Academy staff, for it is their branch of the football club that benefits from funds raised by the selling of these matchday tickets.
Seeing the article announcing the resumption of sales reminded me of how the 50/50 draw began in the first place and how it enabled the Supporters Club to contribute £50,000 to covering what was an open terrace behind one goal when we moved to the ground in 1996 and what, thanks to sponsorship, became the Blackthorn terrace.
It’s as well to remember that supporters actually purchased season tickets to stand on that terrace and they went without a roof over their heads until 27th November 1999.
The selling of matchday tickets under the banner of ‘Raise the Roof’ was an incredibly successful campaign to raise funds to cover that open terrace and so many members of the Supporters Club many of whom, sadly, are no longer with us put in the hours, in all weathers, to sell tickets.
The campaign to raise enough cash to cover the terrace began in October 1997 and costs were kept to a minimum thanks, in no small part, to a sponsorship deal with Keith’s School of Motoring.
In just over two years the £50,000 target was achieved and, with Blackthorn stumping up the remaining costs of the build, the roof was in place for the game against Luton Town on the aforementioned November date.
There was no time to rest on their laurels, though, as the tickets continued to be sold with the aim of covering the family terrace as soon as possible and we’ll return to that subject at a later date!
As already mentioned, tickets are still being sold to raise funds, now known as 50/50 draw tickets of course, for our Academy. Hopefully, it won’t be an online draw for very long as we all hope that we can get back to selling in and around the Mem on matchdays. Until that happens, though, please get back into the habit of buying a ticket to help our stars of the future and, maybe, win yourself a decent cash prize.
In case you’re wondering, or don’t remember, Rovers beat Luton 3-0 on that grey November day 21 years ago, thanks to goals from Andy Thomson, Mark Walters and Jamie Cureton. The attendance was 7,805, many of whom appreciated the fact that they had a roof over their heads at last!
Keith Brookman