History

A meeting of five young schoolteachers at a restaurant in the Eastville district of Bristol in September 1883 led to the founding of Bristol Rovers. However, the newly formed club initially went by Black Arabs FC and wore black shirts with a yellow sash.

The club’s first competitive game, a friendly fixture against Wotton under Edge, was played on December 1 1883, a few months after that inaugural meeting, eventually playing ten games by the end of the season.

The club became Eastville Rovers in November 1884 and were a founding member of the Bristol and District League in 1892. They participated in the FA Cup for the first time in 1895 and purchased Eastville Stadium, which was to be their home until 1986, two years later.

Adopting the name Bristol Eastville Rovers at the beginning of the 1897/98 season, they became Bristol Rovers in February 1899, a name ratified by the Board of Trade in October of that year.

That same year, they competed in the Southern League for the first time and were crowned Champions in 1904/05.

First-class football was suspended in July 1915 for the First World War, though Rovers played several games during the hostilities. Southern League fixtures resumed in 1919, and one year later, Rovers, along with their fellow Southern League clubs, were elected to the newly formed Division Three of the Football League.

The club’s first-ever Football League match, against Millwall on August 28 1920, ended in a 2-0 defeat, and the club finished in tenth position come the end of the season.

Rovers remained in Division Three throughout the 1920s and 1930s and were forced to seek re-electionto the Third Division in 1938/39, though they were comfortably re-elected at the Football League’s AGM.

Three games into the 1939/40 campaign, though, the season was aborted following the outbreak of the Second World War. While Rovers continued to play friendly fixtures until the end of that season, they did not play competitive football again until 1945/46.

With no revenue being generated, the club was forced to sell its Eastville home to the Bristol Greyhound Racing Association, though they were granted a 21-year lease to continue playing there.

League football resumed in 1946/47, and the dawn of the 1950s saw Rovers, under the guidance of manager Bert Tann, heralded a decade of relative success.

Tann guided the club to a first FA Cup quarter-final in 1950/51, which his side lost to Newcastle United after a replay and led them to promotion to the Second Division in 1952/53.

Rovers reached another quarter-final in 1957/58 when they were beaten by Fulham. The Gas then twice went tantalisingly close to gaining promotion to the First Division, finishing sixth in the 1955/56 and 1958/59 season.

The goalscoring exploits of Geoff Bradford were crucial to the club’s relative success during this decade. He remains the only player to have been capped for England whilst playing for Rovers and ended his career with a record haul of 242 league goals.

While the 1950s could be described as a golden era for the club, the 1960s saw Rovers struggle to make an impact. Although, there were signs towards the end of that decade that things were on the up. A third-place finish in Division Three in 1969/70 was followed by successive quarter-final appearances in the Football League Cup.

Don Megson’s appointment as manager saw him guide the club to success in the short-lived Watney Cup competition in 1972, and in 1974, he led them to second place and promotion to the Second Division.

Following relegation in 1981, it was former England captain Gerry Francis who built the next promotion-winning side, and Rovers finished as Third Division champions in 1990 and played at Wembley for the first time in what was then known as the Leyland DAF Cup. By that time, the club was playing home games at Bath City’s Twerton Park, having left Eastville for the last time in 1986.

Relegated again in 1993, Rovers were beaten playoff finalists in 1994/95. Local hero Ian Holloway began his third stint at the club as player/manager in 1996. He was in charge when Rovers returned to Bristol to play at The Memorial Stadium, just a few months after his appointment.

In 2001, Rovers were relegated to the basement division for the first time in their history. It took the appointment of Lennie Lawrence as Director of Football and Paul Trollope as first-team coach to once more bring success to the blue half of Bristol.

The duo guided Rovers to the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy Final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, where they lost out to Doncaster Rovers. Nevertheless, promotion was achieved a few weeks later with a playoff final win against Shrewsbury Town at Wembley Stadium and one year later to a third FA Cup quarter-final, which ended in defeat by West Bromwich Albion at the Memorial Stadium.

Lawrence and Trollope departed, and Rovers were again relegated at the end of the 2010/11 campaign. Worse was to follow, though, as a few weeks after Darrell Clarke was appointed manager in 2014, Rovers were relegated out of the league after a last-day home defeat by Mansfield Town.

Clarke was devastated but built a squad during pre-season capable of challenging for an immediate return to the Football League. Not only did they challenge, but they beat Grimsby Town in the Conference playoff final at Wembley to achieve promotion at the first attempt.

The following season, Clarke became the first manager to achieve back-to-back promotions with Rovers, as a final-day win against Dagenham and Redbridge ensured a third-place finish and automatic promotion to League One.

In the build-up to that promotion, on February 19 2015, Rovers were acquired by the Jordanian Al-Qadi family, with Wael Al-Qadi becoming club president.

June 2020 saw Wael, with the consent of his family, acquire a controlling stake in Dwayne Sports, which gave him full control over Bristol Rovers (1883) Limited and Bristol Rovers Football Club Limited.

Joe Barton presided over another relegation in 2020/21 but built a side capable of challenging for promotion from League Two and saw them succeed in another dramatic last-day finale. Rovers beat Scunthorpe United 7-0 at the Memorial Stadium to finish in third to clinch a return to League One.

On August 3 2023, Kuwaiti businessman Hussain AlSaeed bought a controlling 55 per cent share in Dwane Sports, the holding company for the Football Club, thus becoming chairman.

With Matt Taylor now at the helm and a major revamp of the Memorial Stadium planned, the aim will be to build a squad capable of challenging for the Championship, a level the club has not played at since 1993.