Many supporters may know John as a local referee but he spends much of his spare time researching the history of local football clubs including our own.

His findings provide a fascinating insight into the club's history. To give a few examples: -

1) He has found an article from the Bristol Mercury that reveals Rovers were in fact founded in 1890 and not 1881 as previously thought and which was in fact due to a misprint in the Somerset FA handbook! You can download the article from the site now but you will need to enlarge it to find details of the very first AGM held at the Red Lion. It sounds much more fun than the current format!

2) If you think the loss of the last two festive fixtures is disappointing it seems it is nothing new! Take a look at this: -

12 Dec 1903 FA Am Cup H v Devizes Town – abandoned due to the weather

19 Dec 1903 Senior League H v Wells City – abandoned due to bad light

26 Dec 1903 Western League A v Trowbridge Town – abandoned as Paulton walked off after 60 minutes due to disliking the Referee’s decisions!

3) In 1948 Rovers hosted Glastonbury Town on Good Friday with the reverse fixture taking place the day after! Match day programmes for both games are online together with two photos of the first game and we believe the Rogers shown on the PRFC team sheets is the club President, Lar Rogers.

Data can be downloaded below.

We hope to add further information as and when it is available but on behalf of the we extend a big thank you to John for all his hard work.