March Newsletter
The Race to Second Place!
With Barnet looking like they’re on a roll, the battle for second place is hotting up with both FGR and York on 71 points although York have a better Goal Difference and a game in hand. After a tough defeat at The Shay against Halifax, Rovers pulled back from potential defeat against York with a draw. Neither team wanted this, but it was a fair result on the day. Tuesday’s victory against Sutton has put us in a good place and we move on for the business end of the season. Barnet could still mess up, but if they don’t, we’re all hoping for a great day at Wembley on the 1st June and scenes like this.
Although as they always say, “there’s a long way to go yet! “
Save the Date
The Supporters Club Spring Quiz Night Friday 21st March
Doors open 6.30 pm for a 7pm start. £15 adults. £7.50 aged 16 and under. Hot food included. Pay bar.
Book now through the FGR website – Events. Click here
https://www.fgrsc.com/news/home
#hergametoo
Founded in May 2021, Her Game Too is a passionate movement dedicated to tackling sexism and promoting gender equality within the world of sport. Recognising the pervasive challenges faced by women and girls in sport, Her Game Too strives to create an inclusive environment where everyone, regardless of gender, can enjoy and participate in sports without fear of discrimination or harassment.
Their mission is to raise awareness of the issues women face in football, to celebrate female fans, players, and professionals, and to work alongside clubs, organisations, and governing bodies to foster a supportive and equitable atmosphere. Through powerful campaigns, community engagement, and educational initiatives, Her Game Too aims to inspire change and ensure football remains a game for all.
Come and meet our #hergametoo team on Saturday in the fan zone we have stickers, badges & flags. Have your photo taken with the selfie board.
Renew your Supporters Club Membership.
We have over 300 members. We previously had 400 members when in League One. Let’s get back to 400 in season 25/26.
Adult membership remains £10. A family membership (2 adults plus any under 18’s at the same address) is £15. Under 18’s are just £1.
To rejoin now, go to the SC website www.fgrsc.com
Help Raise Funds for Charity, by supporting Hattie Jones
Top FGR Women’s goal scorer and previous Supporters Club Player of the Year, in achieving her aspiration to run in the London Marathon.
Hattie is currently taking some time out of playing for FGR women, and is training for the London Marathon. We are pleased as FGR Supporters Club to help her raise the £2000 she needs for her chosen charity Phab to enable her to enter. Phab inspires and supports disabled and non-disabled young children, young people and adults to make more of life together. Phab works to break down community barriers, reducing social isolation, and creating opportunities for all to enjoy the same activities and challenges side by side.
Visit her Just Giving page to pledge your support.
Would you believe it?
Stroud FC v Wrexham in the Welsh Cup.
Yes, a route into Europe beckoned for Stroud FC.
And here is the programme from the match on Tuesday 19th February 1991 to prove it. Wrexham were then in League Division Four. Does anyone know what the score was?
Although Brian Flynn the Welsh International and player/manager turned out for Wrexham, the team who played at The Lawn, must have been the reserves as Wrexham lost 2 days later away at Brentford in the Leyland Daf Cup.
Bizarrely, the Welsh Cup Final was once played between two English Clubs!
Interesting to see the league table and what clubs Stroud FC were then playing in the Midland Division of the Southern Football League. Gloucester City and Gravesend & Northfleet (now Ebbsfleet) were then playing in the Premier Division.
At the close of the 1991-92 season Stroud FC reverted to its previous name of Forest Green Rovers.
The club won successive Southern League Southern Division and Premier Division titles in 1996–97 and 1997–98, winning promotion into the Conference (now called the Vanarama National League), where we are playing this season.
The Regulation of Football revisited.
Will today be any different from the early years of the Blair New Labour Government when the Premier League and the FA successfully fought off the Government’s proposals for regulation?
Having just read, ‘Broken Dreams’ by Tom Bower, subtitled, Vanity, Greed and the Souring of British Football, and first published in 2003, I was reminded that nothing, or very little, changes.
In June 1993, The Premier League were forced through the emergence of evidence of football corruption in press articles and television programmes (BBC’s Panorama and ITV’s Dispatches) to set up a panel to enquire into all the financial arrangements between Premier League clubs, players and agents with the power to demand documents and the attendance for interview of those under the FA’s control. The panel’s conclusion that there was malpractice and action was required was undermined by Steve Coppell, the former Liverpool player and Crystal Palace manager, one of the three panel members, refusing to sign the final report.
The context was that in 1991 the twenty-two First Division clubs earned £1.8m for allowing the televised broadcast of their matches. In May 1992 the Premier League of twenty clubs accepted Sky’s offer of £305m for a five-year contract. This sum dramatically expanded in subsequent contracts.
The Labour Government elected in 1997 had committed in its manifesto to create an effective football regulator empowered to investigate any wrongdoing and enforce probity in football. The previous Conservative Government had believed football should regulate itself.
Under pressure from the Government the FA announced an inquiry in September 1997, ‘into the manner in which football regulates its financial affairs’ and to recommend how football could maintain its integrity and accountability. A former police chief was appointed with no staff or budget. The report in January 1998 was a ‘damp squib’.
A single compliance officer was appointed by the FA in November 1998 to investigate corruption amongst the country’s 43,000 football clubs. He had no powers and was solely dependent on clubs being willing to provide evidence.
The Premier League had already successfully challenged and minimised the authority of the Football Association.
The then new Labour Government set up the Football Task Force in 1997 to bring together fifteen interested parties and find a common way forward. However, it was set up with a budget of only £100,000, derisively insufficient to research and produce authoritative plans to meet its objectives of combatting racism, improving access for the disabled, negotiating lower ticket prices and imposing greater supporter involvement.
The FA saw themselves as football’s regulator and the Premier League were adamant that there would be no restrictions on the freedom of individual clubs and the League to act as they wished in their interests.
The clubs saw self-regulation as essential to their continued prosperity. Evidence of this was the number of foreign players. In 1992 there were eleven foreign players employed by English clubs. In 1999 there were 200 foreign players. Twice during 2000, Gianlucca Vialli, Chelsea’s Italian coach, did not field one British footballer. In 2002, over 400 foreign players were registered to Premier League clubs alone. Much has been written about the adverse impact of this on the national team.
Eventually an Independent Football Commission was launched in 2002 under the control of the FA and the Premier League, thereby reinforcing self-regulation. This was replaced by the Independent Football Ombudsman (IFO), established by the football authorities (The Football Association, The Premier League, and The English Football League), to investigate complaints that have not been resolved by these bodies. Its coverage is limited to the 92 English league clubs and to the competitions organised under the umbrella of the three English Football authorities. It still exists today.
So, no independent regulation of football then, or since.
Now we are starting again with a commitment from the Labour Government, elected in July 2024 to establish an Independent Football Regulator. The draft Football Governance Bill originally drawn up under the previous Conservative Government is the subject of heavy lobbying by both the Premier League and the FA. It is intended to establish the Independent Football Regulator; to make provision for the licensing of football clubs; and to make provision about the distribution of revenue received by organisers of football competitions. Will it happen? Your guess is as good as mine.
Football History at Ebbsfleet United.
Probably the oldest football stand still in regular use in the UK. The former main stand, constructed in 1905, provides segregated seating for home and away fans. The original wooden benches remain with plastic seats bolted on them.
The photographs show the stand from the open away terrace, and the interior with FGR fans standing on the terracing in the distance and seated in the front row of the stand.
Where Are They Now?
This month we feature League Two. Of the 24 clubs, 12 employ former FGR players. Most notably three at Tranmere (Regan Hendry, Lule McGee and Josh Davidson), three at Wimbledon (Omar Bugiel, Matty Stevens and Lewis Moore Ward), two at Harrogate (James Belshaw and Josh March), two at Walsall (Jamille Matt and Taylor Allen) and two at Salford (Liam Shepherd and Curtis Tilt). Additionally, Farrend Rawson is at Accrington Stanley, Lewis Thomas in goal for Bromley, Dylan McGeouch at Carlisle, Armani Little at Gillingham, Callum Jones at Morecambe, and Jevani Brown at Notts County.
Jamille Matt at Walsall (78 appearances and 17 goals) and Matty Stevens 109 appearances and 38 goals) continue to be key goal scorers driving the respective club’s promotion challenges.
“The Matt Attack” FGR legends!
We Still Need Your help to maintain the Rovers Raffle!
The Raffle is an important source of funds to subsidise the away travel coach, provide funds to the Women’s Team and support ground improvements at The New Lawn. We need volunteers to give one hour of their time before the game on home matchdays to sell tickets. Contact Ian Crawley on crawleyianx@gmail .com, if you can help or call in at the Supporters Club table in the East Concourse before a game.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, we look forward to seeing you soon…