Wednesday 11th March 2009.

Fulham 1 - 2 Blackburn Rovers

Saturday 6th December 2008.

Blackburn Rovers 1 - 3 Liverpool

Wednesday 3rd December 2008.

Manchester United 5 - 3 Blackburn Rovers

Sunday 30th November 2008.

Portsmouth 3 - 2 Blackburn Rovers

More disappointment for Rovers, this time down in Portsmouth.

Sunday 23rd November 2008.

Welcome Home Matt Jansen!

The former Irish Rovers President is back training with Blackburn Rovers, and on behalf of us all I'd like to wish him all the very best on his quest to get back scoring goals for Rovers!

Well Done Keith Andrews!

What a way to celibrate your first cap for The Republic!

Sunday 23rd November 2008.

Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 0 Blackburn Rovers

More disappointment for Rovers, this time on the road. Rovers did well with 10 for most of the match but same result.

Saturday 15th November 2008.

Blackburn Rovers 1 - 2 Sunderland

More disappointment for Rovers.

Sunday 19th October 2008.

Bolton 0 - 0 Blackburn Rovers

Unfortunately Rovers' local derby ended in stalemate in The Reebok yesterday despite coming close on a couple of occasions.

Sunday 5th October 2008.

Blackburn Rovers 0 - 2 Man United

Hard luck to Rovers after going down 2-0 to a very strong United side yesterday in an extremely wet Ewood Park. With the International break, Rovers will take stock and hopefully put this behind them before the trip to Bolton.

Sunday 28th September 2008.

Newcastle 1 - 2 Blackburn Rovers

Well done to Rovers who traveled up to Newcastle on Saturday and came home with 3 points!

Thursday 25th September 2008.

Blackburn Rovers 1 - 0 Everton

Well done to Rovers who took on Everton in the third round of the Carling Cup in Ewood Park and beat them by a single goal. There were 7 changes to the team that beat Fulham 1-0 at the weekend which makes the victory even more pleasing and Robbie Fowler made his first start in a Rovers shirt getting an assist in the goal, so over all a very good display from Rovers.

Fantastic start for Paul Ince and Rovers!

David Dunn opened the scoring on 42 mins.

Paul Gallagher made it 2 just seconds after the restart.

The new era for Rovers begins! Paul Ince returned to Macclesfield Town's Moss Rose this evening and started his career as a Premiership manager with another success story.

This was his first game in charge of Rovers and even though it was only a preseason friendly, there were many things to prove. He fielded a very strong team in the first half and introduced some very promising talent in the second.

Overall, it was a very pleasing start to the 2008/2009 campaign.

See match report www.rovers.co.uk

More photos to follow

Well done to Rovers, who, despite loosing on the last day, managed to finish the 2007/2008 Premiership Season in 7th Place with a total of 58 points - higher placed and with more points than we finished with last season.

Unfortunately it wasn't enough to get us into Europe, not even through the back door via the Intertoto Cup.

Lets all hope that the improvement continues next season and we start off where we finished and continue to push into that top 5 bracket and be a force to reckon with.

To all the players - have a good and well deserved rest and keep safe. We're looking forward to seeing you in Ewood Park next season.

To Irish Rovers everywhere - have a great summer where ever you go BUT PLEASE keep in touch!

Slán, Mitchell.

Please note - Membership for 2008 - 2009 Season is now open!

The annual 5-a-side competition this year took place in The JJB Arena, just outside Blackburn on Friday 2nd May.

A great time was had by all and we, Rovers supporters from all over the world must say a BIG "Well Done" to Simon Gray, Chairman of The Northern Ireland Supporters Association who organised the event.

So far, the competition has raised in excess of £1,600.00 for The Jason Roberts Foundation.

Unfortunately, no Irish Rovers Team entered as no members attended.

Next year, with ALL your help, we shall enter a team and win!

Good Luck to Rovers who have to travel to Birmingham for the last match of the season this Sunday 11th May.

Rovers need to win and we need West Ham to beat Aston Villa in order to finish in 6th position and gain the European spot via the Inter Toto Cup.

Kick off in St Andrew's is at 3.00pm.

CALLING ALL IRISH ROVERS!

The annual 5-a-side competition this year will take place in The JJB Arena, just outside Blackburn on

Friday 2nd May.

It is being organised to coincide with the last home match of the season and all monies raised this year will go to The Jason Roberts Foundation.

This really is the highlight of the year for all of us supporters - a certain Matt Derbyshire played in this very competition a couple of seasons ago!

For those of you who are interested in playing for The Irish Rovers, please contact mitch@theirishrovers.com

More details to follow - please keep an eye out!

Rovers V Wrexham Click here to view Rovers pre season friendly in Wrexham.

Annual Supporters Association 5-A-Side.

Good Luck to Rovers who play St. Pat's this evening in Richmond Park.

Vs

This is a great opportunity for all Rovers fans to come down and get behind YOUR team!

Glynn Hodges, manager of Blackburn Reserves has announced a 15 man squad for Friday night’s friendly. It'll be a youthful Rovers team sprinkled with Irish Internationals who'll face the Supersaints.

Included in the squad are a number of Irish youth internationals including Edward Nolan from Waterford, Dubliner Alan Judge as well as local lads and former Crumlin United players Gavin Gunning and Aaron Doran.

The full squad is as follows:

• Gunnar Nielsen
• Anthony Kane
• Edward Nolan
• Joshua O'Keefe
• Dean Winnard
• Gavin Gunning
• Aaron Doran
• Alan Judge
• Jamie Clarke
• Raffaele De Vita
• Jonathan Flynn
• Maceo Rigters
• Alexander Marrow
• Marcus Marshall
• Kris Paterson

St Patrick’s Athletic FC Versus Blackburn Rovers on Friday 29th February.

Kick off at Richmond Park is at 7.45pm.

Admission €10.00
Concession €5.00

For the latest information please check

St Patrick's Athletic FC

As the new season approaches, I trust that everyone is fit and well for the big kick off!

Portsmouth are first up and we would like to wish Rovers Good Luck for today and the season ahead - the European matches are eagerly awaited!

Well done to our own Steven Reid who captained The Republic of Ireland on Wednesday night and picked up a knock on the ankle for his troubles. Unfortunately, the match will be easily forgotten as the result was a bit of a disaster, to put it politely!

This web site is due for an update and as I have just been recently married, I ask you to please bear with me as I get this done. If there is any queries in the mean time, please don't hesitate to get in touch!

Looking forward to another exciting season ahead and meeting up with you either in Ewood Park or on the European trail!

Slán.

Mitchell

mitch@theirishrovers.com

Matt Jansen

Picture courtesy of www.rovers.co.uk

For more see www.rovers.co.uk and Matt says Thanks

Good luck to Matt Jansen for his future career on his release from Bolton Wanderers.

Good Luck to Rovers who take on Manchester City in Ewood Park, on the last day of the season tomorrow, 7th May with the kick off time at 3.00pm.

There is a 5-a-side football tournament being organised for today with all the proceeds going to charity.

T O U R N A M E N T D E T A I L S : -

DATE:
Saturday 6th May 2006

VENUE:
JJB SoccerDome

TIME:
Teams are meet up between 2:00pm-2:30pm for registration, hand outs of the
fixture-list as well as a brief introduction to the rules of play. The
competition will kick-off at 3:00pm and a presentation will follow in the
Blues Bar.

FORMAT:
x2 Groups (top 2 teams from each group will qualify for the Semi Finals)
x10 minutes for each game

OTHER NOTES:
- Referee's will be arranged for each game.
- £15 per team entry fee.
- Trophies to be presented to the Winners (awards will be given out to 3
other prized categories after the competition)
- A post Match raffle will be organised in the Blue's Bar for signed
memorabilia etc etc
- As all proceeds will be going to the 'Scope' charity, it would be great if
we could all dig deep as donations of any amount would be very much
appreciated.

FURTHER LINKS:
www.jjbsoccerdome.co.uk www.jjbsoccerdome.co.uk
www.scope.org.uk www.scope.org.uk

IF YOU ARE IN BLACKBURN, COME DOWN AND SUPPORT YOUR TEAM!

This is going to be the highlight of the season for all Rovers' Supporters Associations, with teams entering the competition from London, North and South Lancs, ourselves and from Northern Ireland (whose Chairman Simon Gray has gone to a lot of trouble to organise this), to name but a few. It is a very fitting way to end this fantastic and most successful season we've had in years.

Tickets for all games are for members only. This is the policy of Blackburn Rovers FC. If you are not a member for the 2005/2006 season you can not get a ticket for any game. To join The Irish Rovers now contact mitch@theirishrovers.com

Tickets for all games are supplied on the understanding of the recipient that match times and dates are subject to change. We advise all members to make allowances for this fact when making travel arrangements.

The meeting points for The Irish Rovers to watch televised matches are;

DUBLIN: The 51 Pub, Haddington Road, Dublin 4.

CORK: To be confirmed

Membership of The Irish Rovers is now open.

The subscription this season is ONLY € 5.00

It's very easy to join The Irish Rovers - you can join on line HERE!

New members are always welcome!

The proposal for the shape of the ‘new’ Irish Rovers is the following:

1. Membership fee of € 5.00. (This goes towards the costs of the web site and other administration expenses involved.)
2. Keep the web site updated and email members when any important news and information becomes available.
3. Obtain match tickets for members.
4. Organise trips (tickets and accommodation only) for those members interested.
5. Keep up the close affiliation we have with Blackburn Rovers and the other supporters associations.

These unique Irish Rovers lapel badges are now available. The badges cost €3 each, or 2 badges for €5. To get yours today, contact mitch@theirishrovers.com.

You can see the minutes from the AGM in the 'Old News' section.

Honorary President of The Irish Rovers Matt Jansen

Chairman/ Tickets (Mitchell Sheridan) mitch@theirishrovers.com

Southern Regional Coordinator (John O'Leary) johnnyblackburn1@hotmail.com

Following a Board meeting, Rovers have agreed to release Matt. We would like to pass on our gratitude to Matt and wish him well for the future.

For more on this see www.rovers.co.uk

Well done to Rovers who played one of the strongest Manchester United sides Alex Ferguson has put out this season. It was a strongly contested Semi Final from the first whistle to the last. While both teams had chances for further goals, they never came as both sets of defenders were on top form. Indeed Andy Todd, our Captain Fantastic was the Man of The Match. The atmosphere in Ewood Park was electric!

We would like to send our congratulations and best wishes to our President on this, his 28th Birthday today!

The Annual General Meeting of The Republic of Ireland Blackburn Rovers Supporters’ Association, The Irish Rovers, was held on Sunday 9th October last in The 51 pub, Haddington Road and was chaired by The Chairman, Mitchell Sheridan.

The Chairman started the meeting by apologising to the members for giving just a weeks notice and also for the lack of committee members present. The AGM had been arranged in September previous, however nobody could make that one and it was of the utmost importance that we held an AGM.

The Chairman from the Northern Ireland Blackburn Rovers Supporters Association, Simon Gray, sent us his best wishes for the meeting and for a successful season ahead. www.nibrsa.co.uk

Apologies were received from the following members; John O'Leary, Martin Cook, Richard Conway, Leo McEvitt, Trevor Montgomery, Fintan Bracken, Valerie A. Sheridan, Timothy Sheridan, Ian Sheridan, Ross Barrett, Patrick Flaherty and Jimmy Cully.

The Chairman explained the situation regarding Blackburn Rovers F.C. - their decision to disband the official supporters association and by implication, our affiliation to that association. He also explained that there was a severe drop in membership and a general lack of interest in The Irish Rovers since the last AGM. Unfortunately there was no explanation for this as the committee informed members regularly of meetings and trips etc. The Chairman informed those present that The Secretary, Richard Conway, The Treasurer Jimmy Cully, The Football Coach Martin Cook, Committee members Trevor Montgomery and Leo McEvitt - the majority of the committee had all resigned and stood down from their posts for one reason or another. There were no names put forward seeking election to those vacant Committee positions.

The Chairman expressed his gratitude to the retiring committee members and his disgust and disappointment at the sad state of affairs.

The Chairman explained that as we are an independent supporters association, we are no longer bound by BRFC to have such stringent conditions, i.e. have such a large committee. He proposed that the supporters association The Irish Rovers be disbanded in its present form as this was too ‘top heavy’ (and currently impossible to achieve), but to be continued on in a smaller, more lightweight form. The Chairman envisaged that the ‘new’ Irish Rovers would be looked after by him and that it would carry on in every regard as before, but without the very large and cumbersome committee structure. To this end The Chairman promised to keep The Irish Rovers alive and active and received assurances from John O'Leary that he would endeavor to keep the Munster region active with a location for meetings, televised matches, etc. The Chairman insisted that The Irish Rovers wouldn’t cease to exist as long as he had something to do with it. This proposal was met with general agreement. In fact, the consensus from the floor was that members were only members for the sole reason of being able to obtain match tickets.

The Chairman’s proposal for the shape of the ‘new’ Irish Rovers was the following:

1. Have a token membership fee of € 5.00. (This would go towards the costs of the web site and other administration expenses involved.)
2. Keep the web site updated and email members every week / other week, and or when any important news and information becomes available.
3. Obtain match tickets for members.
4. Organise trips (tickets and accommodation only) for those members interested.
5. Keep up the close affiliation we have with Blackburn Rovers and the other supporters associations.

The formal proposal to disband The Irish Rovers in its current state was proposed by The Chairman, Mitchell Sheridan and seconded by member Arnie Brady.

The formal proposal to continue The Irish Rovers in its more lightweight form was proposed by The Chairman, Mitchell Sheridan and seconded by member John Kinane.

Any Other Business:

Venue: We will continue meeting up for televised matches; however, the choice of venue is under consideration. Alan O’Donnell suggested a number of locations that show Rovers on T.V. via various European satellite stations. Alan will inform The Chairman who will update the web site and email members when he knows of any televised matches.

Trip: The Chairman suggested that The Wigan match scheduled for 1st April next would have the potential for a good trip. He also suggested the Man. City match on the last day of the season in Ewood as another possibility. When membership numbers increase, The Chairman will do a poll to see what match members would be interested in going to as a group.

Close of business.

27th April 2005

Rovers picked up another point at the Hawthorns on Tuesday night, in a surprisingly open game. The Baggies, battling for their Premiership lives, took the lead through a superbly struck left-foot free-kick from Kieran Richardson. Rovers fought back, Stead unfortunate to see his fine effort strike the inside of Russell Hoult's post and somehow contrive to stay out of the net, but we went in one down at half-time. After an on-pitch deluge during the interval, and likely a deluge of another sort in the away dressing room, Rovers looked a far better side in the second half. The introduction of Tugay led to an improvement in the passing, and Brett Emerton couldn't miss after finding himself all alone inside the penalty box, 1-1. That's how it stayed until the end, despite fine efforts from Robbie Savage and Steven Reid. The point keeps Rovers recent impressive run going but offers little hope to West Brom in their battle to avoid the drop, it's Arsenal and Man United next for them.

Paul Dickov is again sidelined with a knee injury for the trip to the Hawthorns, so Jonathon Stead will continue to lead the line for Rovers who are expected to be unchanged from the side which started against Man City at Ewood on Saturday. For the Baggies, on loan Manchester United starlet Kieran Richardson makes his return in a must win game for the home side.

Rovers recent good defensive form continued on Saturday as we kept yet another clean sheet. In a game of few chances, David James kept out good efforts from the luckless Jon Stead and from Dominic Matteo, whilst Shaun Wright-Phillips had a good shout for a penalty turned down.

In a display of common sense, the F.A. has cleared Andy Todd of the violent conduct charge he faced after Robin Van Persie decided to try and run through him on Saturday.

Morten Gamst Pedersen's strike on the stroke of half time gave Rovers a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace to all but secure top flight football next year. At the same time Newcastle were losing to Norwich, a result which saw Rovers leapfrog our esteemed ex-manager. The Geordies can take heart in the knowledge that Souness has a proven track record at getting teams promoted from Division 1.

We went to Cardiff last Saturday to see Blackburn Rovers perform in their first F.A. Cup semi-final for 45 years. We saw a spirited Rovers team give every ounce of energy in their bodies to try and fulfill the dreams of the thousands of Rovers fans cheering on the men in blue and white. We saw every single Rovers fan on their feet after the team conceeded the second and third goals while desperately pushing forwards seeking an equaliser, fans with flags waving, hands clapping, voices sounding loud. Why did we seem to celebrate the game more than the supposedly victorious Arsenal fans you ask? Because we had pride, pride in our players, every single one of them had performed in the manner every true fan sitting in the Millenium Stadium on that sunny Saturday afternoon would have if they but got the opportunity. Ewood Park hasn't always been endowed with an atmosphere in the past, Rovers fans have been criticised as a dour lot too fond of remembering the good times Jack brought whilst forgetting the days before his tenure. That was the magnitude of the club's performance in Cardiff, we left the stadium with our heads held high, we proudly showed the badges of our allegiance, even in defeat.

Then came the Sunday papers. Rovers were portrayed as a team of thugs, there were calls for Andy Todd to be banned for life(must avoid these wildly cavorting young Dutch you know), supposedly respectable commentators pontificated on how the result was a victory for football. One hardly knew whether to laugh or cry, had Sky TV and Match of the Day contrived to broadcast a different game into the plush London homes of the journalists? Nope, I looked, there were Sam Allardyce and Peter Reid on the BBC saying Blackburn had put in a great performance. What has gone so wrong with our beloved game that diving, prancing, kicking the ball away and giant men like Patrick Viera falling over as if they've been shot if someone so much as breathes on them, has become a byword for what football should be? Reading some of the comments it seems that English football in the 1960's and 70's was synonymous with the modern day French national team. Someone better hop in a Tardis and tell Don Revie's Leeds United about this.

The facts are these. Blackburn Rovers played the game the way it should be played, hard but fair, like it meant something to them. The decisions of the referee during the game clearly seemed to favour the big London club against the little Northerners, yet Arsenal had 3 bookings against Rovers 4, hardly the stuff of a one-sided massacre. To be fair to Steve Dunn, some of these so called saviours of modern football seem to have perfected the ability to make the most out of any situation(in the park we would have called it cheating).

How soon until football becomes a non-contact sport? How soon until the team with the prettiest players are awarded the victory? How soon until football finally alienates the it's loyal fans? The game is dead, it just doesn't know it yet....