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>> August 12th, 2009 - Letter to BEP - World Cup Bid

In response to an article publiched by the Bristol Evening Post on August 7th, GIFT have written to the editor to correct a number of inaccuracies and to outline the current position with regards the World Cup bid. The letter can be downloaded from the link below:

>> July 6th, 2009 - World Cup Briefing Meeting

GIFT members attended a meeting with the Bristol World Cup bid team in Bristol on the evening of Monday 6th July. Members of the Bristol City Supporters Trust were present as well. As with the majority of Rovers supporters, at least judging from forum feedback, the members approached the evening with some degree of scepticism about the bid.

In order to ensure that Rovers’ fans views were adequately represented, GIFT had prepared a document in advance capturing a selection of comments from the two main Rovers message boards in order to highlight the issues that Rovers fans had with the bid. In short, we felt that there was a three-way split in what our supporters were saying:

1. Those that supported the bid because they believed it would be good for Bristol and because City will get their new stadium anyway.

2. Those who were against the bid because it would only be of benefit to BCFC and they didn’t see anything in it for Rovers.

3. Those who didn’t really care either way.

We stated that the majority of supporters were currently in the number 2 camp, with it being viewed by Gasheads as a Bristol City bid for the 2018 World Cup rather than a Bristol bid. However, many things were said during the session that corrected some of these opinions.

Firstly, the Bid is about providing a football festival for 31 Days in Bristol during the World Cup in 2018, not just the 6 or so hours of matches at Ashton Vale. The fan parks, associated music and football events are a key element of this.

Secondly, both the bid period for Bristol as part of the England bid and the England bid to FIFA is meant to promote football within the community of Bristol and surrounding areas. If the England/Bristol bid is successful this community involvement will continue for the whole time period up until 2018.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the Bristol bid team see Bristol Rovers and the support base as an integral part of the bid. Some of the ideas discussed were the community involvement of both Football in the Community and Study Centre at Rovers, potential use of the redeveloped Memorial Stadium for both fan accommodation (500 student beds available for the period of the tournament) and as a training centre (security of training centres is vital and a stadium provides this) and siting of fan parks in what might be perceived as Rovers "territory".

The question is do football supporters want to see a 31 day football festival in Milton Keynes or Bristol? Yes, it is going to be difficult to ignore the fact it would be City's stadium being used but think of the 31 day versus 6 hour opportunity in 2018 and the chance to develop football in the Bristol community over the next nine years to the benefit of both clubs.

One real concern at the meeting was raised by the bid team and that was the apparent lack of involvement from the Football Club. Unless there has been a breakdown in communication and messaging, there has been no interaction between the bid team and the board of Rovers. This contrasts with support for the bid from Bristol Rugby and Gloucestershire CC. There is an attempt to rectify this before the outline bid is submitted this week and I am sure this will happen.

So, in summary, GIFT’s view is that perhaps Rovers fans should re-look at the bid and the opportunity it has to lift the profile of football within Bristol for the next nine years. We should also welcome the opportunity to put Bristol on the World Cup map. But that support needs to be qualified with the bid team building the inclusivity for Rovers supporters in some of the ways outlined above.

>> March 27th 2009 - GIFT Press Release - Tranmere Match Pricing

The Gas Independent Fans’ Trust (GIFT) wrote to Tranmere Rovers chairman Lorraine Rogers on Friday 27th March asking her to reconsider the club's decision to charge gasheads almost four times as much as home fans to get into the upcoming match at Prenton Park. The full press release outlining the content of the letter is available for download below.

>> February 26th 2009 - GIFT Press Release

The Gas Independent Fans’ Trust (GIFT) is calling for strong and concerted action by Bristol Rovers to stamp out the racist element within the club’s support. The Trust press release is available for download via the link below.

>> Ian Muir Dies

The Gas Independent Fans’ Trust is saddened

to learn of the death of former Bristol Rovers

centre-half, Ian Muir, at the age of 79. Ian had

been suffering from ill-health for some time and

passed away on Sunday 22nd February at the

Bristol care home where he lived.

Ian, pictured attending the recent GIFT skittles

event, was brought to Rovers in 1953 by Bert Tann,

from his home town club Motherwell. He went on

to make twenty six appearances for the Gas, before

being transferred to Oldham Athletic in 1957.

In spite of being at the club for only a relatively short period of time, Bristol Rovers retained a special place in Ian’s heart, and his room was decorated with Rovers memorabilia.

GIFT would like to offer our condolences and best wishes to Ian’s family and friends at this time.

>> PO Box Issue Corrected

If you have sent correspondence to GIFT via the PO Box address, as listed on the website, you may have had that correspondence returned to you as "no such address". We have raised this with the Post Office, who have admitted that they made a mistake in setting up the PO Box. They have assured us that this has now been rectified. If you re-send the correspondence, it should hopefully reach us this time.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

>> November 26th 2008 - Skittles Evening

The Gas Independent Fans’ Trust hosted a skittles evening in the Bristol Room at the Memorial Stadium. Eight teams battled it out for the honour of being the first ever GIFT skittles champions. These included teams led by Gas legend David ‘Boris’ Mehew and Evening Post reporter Chris Swift. Those in attendance had the added bonus of being able to watch the Rovers youth beat Brighton 3-1 in the FA Youth Cup, through the Bristol room window. Well done lads!

The skittles competition itself culminated in a three-way final between Ginger’s Gladiators (Boris’s team), Generation Gas and the GIFT team. GIFT’s form sadly deserted them at this point and, in a closely-contested battle between the other two, Ginger’s Gladiators took the honours!

The event was also attended by Ian Muir, a former Rovers centre half, who played under the management of Bert Tann in the 1950’s. Sadly, Ian is not in the best of health these days and currently resides in a care home, where his room is decorated with Rovers memorabilia. He was thrilled to be invited to the evening, and was presented with a 125th Anniversary polo shirt, to add to his collection.

In total, the event raised over £100, which will go to the BRFC Community department. GIFT would like to offer our thanks to all those who attended, and hope that you will continue to support our events. We are considering making the skittles night an annual event.

>> Report on GIFT meeting with Board representatives available now

Download the full report here:

>> October 13th 2008 -

PLANS are under way to launch a new supporters group at Bristol Rovers. The Gas Independent Fans Trust (GIFT) has around 50 members but is looking to mount a major recruitment drive over the next few weeks, including handing out leaflets at selected home games. Organisers stress they will be looking to work alongside the existing Supporters Club, while offering an alternative voice, and believe the two groups can compliment each other. GIFT representatives have already scheduled a meeting with directors Ken Masters and David Brain – the two Supporters Club representatives on the board – before the forthcoming game against Oldham. Spokesman Gary Marks said: "We believe it's vital that GIFT and the Rovers board work together."

"To help us develop a working relationship we have sent the board a copy of our manifesto and we are very encouraged that two directors have agreed to meet with us before the Oldham game. This will give us an excellent opportunity to explain how we think we can help the board and, as a result benefit Bristol Rovers."

"You only have to look at what has happened at Bristol City to see that it can work – their Supporters Trust has a very good relationship with their chairman Steve Lansdown and works alongside their Supporters Club. It shows the two groups can work in tandem."

GIFT's manifesto is available through their website – www.gas-trust.org – and their aims include:

Establishing a framework whereby fans are effectively informed on all key matters affecting the club and have a major input into the club's key decision making processes.

Campaigning for improvements in the marketing of the club and offering to provide practical assistance in order to deliver them.

Campaigning to ensure that youth development and scouting remains a top priority at the club and helping Rovers develop a programme that aids its long-term success, based on a blend of youth and experience, local and non-local.

Raising the profile and reputation of the club in the local community, thereby helping it to attract the next generation of supporters and finding future talent for the Rovers first team. Celebrating the club's traditions and key events in its history, using them to promote the club in the local area and attracting new and lapsed supporters to matches.

A Supporters Trust – the Gas Trust – was previously set up in 2002 with limited success but Marks said: "This isn't the Gas Trust in new clothes. We have a lot of new faces involved, including many supporters who have never been officially involved with the club before. There is a lot of fresh blood expressing an interest, and that can only be a good thing."

>> October 9th 2008

To help us to develop a working relationship we have sent the board a copy of our manifesto and we are very encouraged that representatives from the Board have agreed to meet with us before the Oldham game. This will give us an excellent opportunity to explain how we think we can help the board and, as a result benefit Bristol Rovers Football Club.

Over the next month we are planning several membership recruitment drives. The first was to involve volunteers handing out leaflets before the Leyton Orient match. Whilst we had originally planned to hand out leaflets outside the ground, we were also in discussions with the Board about the possibility of handing out leaflets inside the stadium as well. However, a representative of the Board has asked that we postpone our leafleting (both inside and outside the ground) until after the planned meeting scheduled for the week after next. Whilst this is somewhat frustrating, in the interests of maintaining good relations with the club we have agreed to this request. We felt that, to create a confrontational situation by going ahead with the leafleting would be counter-productive at this stage. We hope that the meeting between GIFT and Board representatives will provide a number of positives and create an atmosphere of trust between the two parties which we do not wish to jeopardise at this early point in the proceedings.

However, in addition to the postponed flyer, a newsletter is being prepared which we hope will be ready in time for the Oldham game. It will include information about GIFT and our objectives, details on how to join, pen pictures of Rovers supporters, details of forthcoming events and hopefully it will also include content from the local media and club officials. We are also planning on writing to members of the old Gas Trust who have not renewed their membership, asking them to join.

We are also in the process of planning a number of fundraisers.

Meeting Report

Chris Swift prepares to launch!

The winners, pictured with skittles organiser Sharon Pike

Ian Muir is presented with his 125th anniversary shirt

GIFT Press Release

Letter to BEP.doc

>> October 22nd, 2009 - Kick It Out advert rejected by BRFC

Below is a press release from the Gas Independent Fans Trust regarding the Kick It Out advert. The advert itself can be seen on the front page of this website.

This week GIFT (Gas Independent Fans’ Trust) submitted an advertisement for inclusion in the Bristol Rovers’ matchday magazine “The Pirate”. The timing of the advertisement had been planned for some time and a quote for the full page ad had been received from the club. The idea was to coincide with the Kick it Out Campaign’s “One Game, One Community” weeks of action and highlighted players of all nationalities and races who have turned out for the club, in a quartered design with the caption “The United Colours of Rovers”.

Unfortunately, GIFT has been informed by Bristol Rovers’ Financial Director, Toni Watola, that the club is “unable to accept [the advert] in its current guise.” The reason behind this is the inclusion, in small print, of the name and contact details of GIFT, the organisation that came up with the idea and design for the advertisement and was proposing to pay for its inclusion in the programme.

Watola went on to say: “Should you wish to place the advert under the name of Bristol Rovers Supporters Club, the advert would be accepted” and further explained that “the Club recognises Bristol Rovers Supporters Club as its partner and as such this is the route that we would expect to receive the promotion of fans objectives.”

While GIFT recognises the special relationship that BRFC and the Supporters’ Club enjoy, the Trust does not believe that this should be to the exclusion of other groups and it stands to reason GIFT would not pay for an advert to be placed in the name of another organisation. That the club’s stance should be taken over a cause that GIFT feels incredibly strongly about, the Kick It Out Campaign, during times when far-right groups are increasingly in the news is particularly galling.

GIFT Chair Gary Marks commented: “To say we are disappointed in the reaction of Bristol Rovers is an understatement

“GIFT has put a huge amount of time and effort into what we believe is a really eye-catching advert that highlights ‘The United Colours of Rovers’ and we felt its inclusion in the programme would be a positive statement for both BRFC and the Kick it Out Campaign.

“The suggestion that GIFT pay for an ad in the Supporters’ Club’s name is a non-starter for me; if Pepsi approached the club with an ad would they be asked to put it in Coca Cola’s name as they sponsor the League? I don’t think so, but this is no different.

“We’d also point out that other supporters groups and initiatives like the Presidents’ Club and Helpline are allowed programme space which makes this reaction even more astonishing.”

Gary also noted that: “In Rovers’ own publicity for ‘One Game, One Community’ the club has stated that “Bristol Rovers have a philosophy of inclusiveness, equality of opportunity and promotion of harmony” but, sadly, it appears this does not extend as far as some of the club’s own supporters.”

GIFT is still hoping to highlight the Kick it Out Campaign and is now looking for other ways in which the design may be used as a way of showing fans just why the “One Game, One Community” weeks of action should be supported.