It is the hottest ticket in town. Sold out earlier in the week, requests for a place at the Mem far exceeded capacity and when a fresh batch of 500 tickets were released for today's concluding fixture to the regular season against Scunthorpe United, Bristol Rovers claim they were snapped up in just over a minute.
The way this team wins games - as was the case last week at Rochdale - is making them must-watch material, and a scintillating run since January has put the Gas within touching distance of League One and fulfilling Joey Barton’s pre-season prophecy.
They also require results, specifically Barrow against Northampton, to fall in their favour but with play-offs secure, the atmosphere at the Mem and on Gloucester Road should be befitting of the occasion with supporters nervous, but also excited, with memories of Lee Brown and 2016 eternally in the mind.
But it won’t be just that corner of BS7 buzzing with anticipation and excitement, as the Gas’ global fanbase will be tuning in from all corners of the world, hoping for the right result to propel the blue and white quarters into League One.
Bristol Live spoke to seven Gasheads on four different continents to hear how they’ll be taking in events thousands of miles away…
Argentina
Francisco Perez, 23, lives in Santa Fe where he is studying at university. He started supporting Rovers after managing them on FIFA and his love affair with the club has increased steadily over the years. He visited Bristol in 2019 taking in a game at the Mem, after fans clubbed together to pay for his ticket and put him up in the city; a trip he describes as a “dream”.
On Friday, I travelled to the city of Villa Elisa, in the province of Entre Ríos. It is a three-hour road trip, but I want to be in my hometown, where my family and friends are, so that I can share this weekend and the game with them.
Saturday is a special day. Here the game is at 11am and I plan to meet friends, eat an Argentinean barbecue and enjoy the match. Early Saturday morning, I will share my time with my family, and drink some 'mates' (a traditional South American caffeine drink). I will take a walk in the park to ease the tension and two hours before the match, I will meet friends to go shopping for meat and everything I need to enjoy the game.
For sure I'll be checking social media to look at photos and videos of the surroundings of the Mem and the party that is going to take place. Being able to enjoy the pictures and videos uploaded by my friends from Bristol makes me feel, despite the distance, very close to the club I love.
I'm very nervous and I'm looking forward to the day. I want the Mem to be a party, for the fans to enjoy with family and friends. It's exciting to see support around the club, at the Mem and away from home. The fan base is a source of real pride.
Before Christmas, my friends in Argentina asked me what was going on with the team and I couldn't find the answers to explain the sad situation we were in. Those were really difficult months where I couldn't understand what was happening, and I was looking to talk to my friends in Bristol to understand how we were coping with this bad time.
When I look at a league table before December, I can't stop laughing and asking myself, how is it possible for us to be here, in a week where all we have to do is enjoy ourselves and the minimum objective we had at the beginning of the season is fulfilled.
Once again, all credit goes to the boys and Joey Barton and his staff. They gave us hope back and we are very grateful, whatever happens at the end of the season, that they are part of this beautiful club.
Australia
Rhiannon Goodfield, 28, and Dan Wigston-Richards, 31, are originally from Southmead and went travelling to Australia seven years ago before eventually settling in Geelong, Victoria. Dan ran the Melbourne half-marathon last year in a Rovers shirt alongside his cousin and City fan Stephen. They have a number of friends and family who will be at the Mem today.
When we got promoted in 2016 with the Lee Brown goal we were in Hong Kong, trying to watch the games on our phones and the connection was terrible. All we could hear was the commentary and everyone going mad. We were on the phone to my sister in the Thatchers' End and all we could hear was cheering, without seeing what was happening.
So it will be great, through iFollow, to be able to watch it properly. Although last week against Rochdale it froze when the fourth goal went in! My mum and sister were then calling me from the ground, sending videos of the celebrations.
We get up at 12am or 2am, depending on when the clocks change, to watch Rovers every week. Obviously, it’s a Saturday night here so even if we go out to a nightclub, Dan will have the game streaming on his phone.
Luckily we have a detached house so we don’t have to worry too much about the noise at that time at night.
We haven’t met any other Rovers fans in Geelong, but when you’re wearing the shirt you do sometimes hear random shouts of “Up the Gas”, so who knows.
Everyone over here is Manchester United, fans of other Premier League clubs or, mainly AFL, we’ll be honest not too many of our friends in Geelong are too keen to watch Bristol Rovers at two in the morning!
This season, I reckon we’ve missed one or two games. When we played Exeter earlier in the season we were 4-0 down and the camera panned to my mum and sister who were leaving the game. We turned to each other and said, ‘are we doing the right thing here?’ You could see the talent was there but it just needed time to gel.
Germany
Hardy Grüne, from Göttingen, became a Geashead in 1993 while on holiday in the south west, watching Rovers beat Port Vale 2-0 at Twerton Park and he was captivated by the atmosphere. He tries to get over to the Mem at least twice a year to watch the Gas.
I fell in love with Rovers back in the 90s when they were playing at Bath. I travelled around the UK always looking for football. I liked the atmosphere, the quartered jerseys, Goodnight Irene and the spirit of the supporters. I came back the following year, bought a shirt, made friends and that was that.
I will be watching the game at home with my partner on iFollow. There is no kind of a routine. It’s nice that I can actually watch as I remember in 2007 when Rovers played at Hartlepool and I only had a live ticker and very slow internet), but of course I would prefer being at the Mem.
The season really has been a season of two halves. I was desperate on so many occasions before Christmas; I was happy when we got out of the relegation zone and then a bit doubtful but happy when the team finally clicked.
I believe it’s a kind of a miracle how Joey and the team have improved and what fantastic football they are playing. The last few months it has been brilliant being a Gashead and sporting the famous quarters here in Germany.
Obviously, the winter transfers changed a lot, especially Elliot Anderson. But the whole team is so much more settled. There is a strong kind of belief in the team. Last weekend I was always optimistic that we still could get a point at Rochdale. Well, I was happy with three as well. My player of the season is James Belshaw as I believe he saved us this season so many times and he is a great guy as well.
My prediction? Well my hope is, we score early, make it two within ten minutes and then wait what happens at Barrow. To be honest, I don't believe Northampton will give away anything. But I want us to be ready if they do. It will be a great day anyway.
Slovakia
Richard Bright, 44, is from Colerne, Wiltshire and started supporting Rovers in the 1990s during the Twerton Park days. He moved to Slovakia four years ago and is based in Bratislava.
I’ll be watching the game but will also be all over Facebook and other social media channels plus will have mates at the game sending me messages.
It’s been a season of two halves; the first half was pretty dire and it was hard to watch, performances and results weren’t great but, now it’s really enjoyable - we play nice football, pass it around and we dominate teams. The first half of the season, I was getting a bit twitchy that we might even drop down again into the National League. But, I guess, you could see the elements were there, the team wanted to play the ball but just weren’t getting the results but now it’s all clicked.
Football is different here in Slovakia; the national team are quite good but the domestic game isn’t at a great level. There are beautiful stadiums but they get very, very small crowds. The main sport is ice hockey.
I have my Rovers screensaver and key fob at work which causes intrigue and when I get asked what team I support, obviously everyone is expecting me to say Chelsea, Man United or whatever, so when I say ‘Bristol Rovers’ I get an odd look at first but then I have to explain it.
I try to put some scale on it, linking it with Slovak football, but they are amazed that a team can get crowds of 7,000-10,000 in the fourth tier. That level over here is basically a pub league. It’s night and day, but they’re also really intrigued that a team playing at this level has so much interest and level of support.
There’s a lot of optimism for today, I’m nervous and confident they’ll win but I just think Northampton will do well and I can’t see them not getting a result. So the chance of us putting six or seven past Scunthorpe is possible but unlikely. I think we’ll get a good score but maybe not the margin that we need. Then again, you never know.
United States
Dave Harries grew up in Horfield, watching Rovers throughout the 1960s and 70s and moved to Long Beach, California in 1980. Now retired and settled in Boise, Idaho, he will be watching the game at 7am from his daughter’s house in Oregon as it’s Mothers’ Day this weekend in America.
When I moved to America you could only watch games in Spanish, so now it’s completely different - you get all the matches. My dad used to send me copies of the Green’Un but it wasn’t until the internet came along that I was able to follow Rovers properly and keep track of them but, I’ll be honest, iFollow is one of the best things that has ever happened.
I’ve sat here first thing in the morning and watched some terrible games - I’m a glutton for punishment in that regard - but this season has been mostly great to watch.
My friends back in Bristol keep me posted during most games. We were back in the UK in December but obviously because of Covid I didn’t get the chance to see any games, although I was at the Crawley game in September.
Sometimes I just listen to the games on the radio as I’m walking the dogs but these last few games, you can’t take your eyes off it. So I tell my dogs, ‘you ain’t going for a walk until this is over!’ Last Saturday against Rochdale, my wife, who’s from San Diego, couldn’t believe how excited I was getting.
Everyone was giving Joey Barton a rough do at the start of the season and, yes, they started terribly. I remember watching Exeter cream us and I thought, ‘this is going to be a long season.’ Then, nobody would have thought we’d be in the play-offs.
My daughter’s husband is a Liverpool fan so I think he’ll watch it with me, just because he loves football. I hope their internet works okay.
Once you’ve supported someone like I did in the early days, you never lose it.
Noah Hughes, 22, is from Indianapolis and having grown up on Premier League football, started supporting Rovers last year due to being a kit collector and taken with the blue and white quarters and the club crest (his pride and joy is a 2011/12 home shirt signed by the squad bought for him by his dad). He is a qualified referee but, as if by magic, torrential rain has meant the game he was supposed to officiate has been postponed so he is free to watch the Gas.
As a first time watcher of this level of a league, it’s amazing to watch compared to what we see over here for, say, our second division who are still professional clubs. I think there are teams in League Two who could easily beat some of the lower level MLS teams.
It’s the style of football; playing through the midfield or from the back. Often our lower level teams just try and hoof it up front to a guy who once played at a higher level, but doesn’t anymore.
It’s just so much fun to watch Rovers play and the difference from the first match of the season to now is night and day. Antony Evans - absolute baller; Luca Hoole - phenomenal. I remember him standing out from the start of the season and he’s had a brilliant season; Elliot Anderson - absolute player. It’s just great to see the trust placed in these young guys.
I work in football retail and lots of the coaches out here are from the UK, so when people come in and ask what team I support, and I - an American - say, ‘Bristol Rovers’, the faces that they make are pretty funny. I’m yet to meet a Rovers fan over here. I’ve met a couple of guys who support Southend United and Macclesfield but no Gasheads yet.
I’ll be getting up early, will be wearing this bad boy (the 2011/12 shirt) and putting the game on and being all over Twitter.
I think that even though Scunthorpe are relegated they have something to play for with players wanting to prove themselves heading into the National League. We need some help from Barrow but you never know!
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