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Sporting
Supermen - Brendan Gallagher (Hardcover)(Brand New)
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£14.99
includes UK P&P |
£27.99
includes World Wide P&P |
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'Sporting Supermen'
by
Brendan Gallagher
devotes an entire chapter to
'Roy of the Rovers'.
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The front cover of issue number one
of Tiger comic (11th September
1954) saw the appearance of 'Roy of the Rovers' and its star
Roy Race. 'Roy of the Rovers' not only found a place in the hearts and minds of
British comic readers but also became a national institution and 'Roy of the
Rovers' is the overall enduring legacy of Tiger comic.
Don't forget to visit
www.RoyoftheRovers.info
Some twenty years after joining Melchester Rovers, at a time
when most football careers are coming to an end, Roy Race became player manager
of Melchester Rovers in 1974. The 1970’s were a significant time for Roy who
married Penny Laine and had two children Melinda and Roy Junior also known as
Rocky. The 1970’s also saw another arrival with the appearance of Roy’s own
comic.
Tiger comic had been going strong for over thirty years with the aid of their
front cover hero, Roy Race. It was time for the Roy of the Rovers strip to get
its own comic called unsurprisingly Roy of the Rovers. Roy of the Rovers, like
Scorcher before it was a mixture of football stories, picture and quizzes. Some
of the notable stories in the comic were, Mike’s Mini Men which told the story
of a Subuteo football league, Tommy’s Troubles.
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Tommy's Troubles– the
story of young Tommy Barnes and his friend Ginger Collins who
were trying to set up a football team at a rugby only school. |
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| The Hard Man, The Football and many more including a unique
strip called You are the Star in which a blank space was left for you to fill in
your name. The strip viewed the world through your own eyes making you the
football star. The Roy of the Rovers weekly was a dazzling success and survived
up until 1993. Roy Race like Dan Dare continues to pop up from time to time in
different publications and will no doubt continue to do so in the future. |
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After the launch of Roy of the Rovers comic,
the Roy of the Rovers strip continued to be printed in both
Tiger comic and Roy of the Rovers comic. Tiger comic sadly came
to an end in 1985 with its merger with The Eagle (2). The Roy of
the Rovers strip appeared in the Today newspaper in 1986. The
Roy of the Rovers comic continued until 20th March 1993 when Roy
was involved in a helicopter crash which led to the loss of his
foot and also the end of the Roy of the Rovers weekly comic.
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Left: A
goal in 'Roy of the Rovers' comic requested by a Darren
Davies from Birmingham! |
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Although his playing career was over, he had a future in
management including managing AC Monza in Italy and The England team. A
monthly version of Roy of the Rovers (September 1993 – March 1995) continued
the story but this was short-lived lasting just nineteen issues. The Roy of
the Rovers strip reappeared in the Match of the Day Magazine from May 1997
until April 2001. The April 2001 edition of Match of the Day Magazine has
been the last appearance of Roy of the Rovers.
Recently, the BBC have bid for and won the Premiership
highlights television package. The return of Match of the Day on the BBC
may prompt the reappearance of both the magazine and Roy of the Rovers.
The Irish actor, Colin Farrell, wants to bring Roy of the
Rovers to the big screen. The actor said "I wasn't good enough at football
in real life, and I still don't know if I'm a good enough actor to pull it
off, but it would be great." (May 21, 2003). Who would play Penny? Perhaps
ex girlfriend Britney Spears could play Penny Race and friend Russell Crowe
could play Blackie Gray. |
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'Roy of the Rovers' fans from
all over the World. |
Nowadays the comics are vastly different
and I for one prefer the older style. I wish they would
recommence the stories or else reprint the old ones again.
I went onto the website, Impressive. It would
be nice to have photo's of the issue or else I would like to
know a bit more about the contents within the issue - Nipper
transfers to Melchester, Roy plays for England, Last ever Jack
and Jimmy story type of thing. Thank you for the work in putting
it together.
I collected Roy of the Rovers comic and
Tiger and Roar upon graduating to older comics from Beano when I
was 13. Being a football fanatic I read any comic with a
football story. My favourite was Roy of the Rovers (the story)
and Nipper. My collection of Roy of the Rovers continued until I
migrated to Australia in 1985. I continued to get the comic
posted to Oz from UK by my mum for a few months but the cost was
a bit excessive. I then got the local newsagent to order it for
me, however it came out sea freight and was 3 months out of
date. About the final 2 years of its existence it arrived in Oz
by air freight and I got it from the news agency once a week and
up to date. I also became an avid webpage viewer, and still am.
I remember (and still retain) the first
ROTR that I purchased in 1969 where Rovers signed the west
Indian winger Vernon Elliot from Stanport. My favourite
character in ROTR was Jimmy Slade until his fateful demise in
the Basran disaster, Nat "Granddad" Gosden and in the later
period of it's existence Terry Spring and Kevin Clark. I liked
the stories that started out as their own and then integrated
with Roy of the Rovers - Johnny Dexter (Hard Man), Rapper
Hardisty (Loudmouth), Kevin Clark (Clark's Chance) and also
stories where other stars of their own story line met Rovers in
the cup (Mike Williams, City).
My favourite characters all had a bit of a
rebel streak but were very professional and born winners. They
did not accept second best. I wish real football had more of
these characters rather that the money grabbing type that
personify the game now - not that I wouldn't turn down 60,000
pounds a week! I liked to keep
details of players like their age, family, girlfriend, other
jobs, international caps etc. This made them seem more real
life.
My other favourite was Nipper - Nipper
Lawrence who was of the same character as my favourites in ROTR
and about my age as well. He also came into ROTR when he played
for England under Roy Race in 1978. My only frustration of the
story was I never knew his Christian name - he was always
Nipper. I followed his story line in Score and then Tiger until
his final years when he was player/manager of Blackport Rovers.
When I migrated to Australia I had to give
away my entire collection of comics, which was a terrible shame.
I did stuff into my suitcases one copy of all the different
magazines I read - Eagle, Hurricane, Valiant, Victor, Roy of the
Rovers, Tiger, Shoot, Match. Since I remarried my partner
surprises me at birthdays and Christmases with a Roy of the
Rovers Annual which she purchases through eBay. I have a
collection of about 20 now, which I am very proud of. She has
also purchased the playing strip, a commemorative mug, a
Subbuteo team - all in Melchester Rovers colours. She is
Australian and had never heard of any of it before she met me
but she knows the story line very well now. She even knows Roy
race's wife (now deceased) is Penny!!
As a youngster I used to keep lists of all
the English players from all the stories that where inter linked
and pick my alternate England side. I'm sure they would have
gone well in the world cup if they were real!
Hopefully more and more people will get
involved in the comic scene and we can relive our childhood’s
again!
Patrick Mills, Australia. |
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