SPOTLIGHT ON : BRISTOL ROVERS SUPPORTER - CAZ MAY

⚽ Her Game Too: Visiting Fan Q&A

This week, we spoke to Caz May – a proud Bristol Rovers supporter and Founder of Her Game Too – ahead of their visit to Boundary Park. Here's what she had to say about football, fandom, and favourite memories.

🔵 Name:

Caz May

🟠 Club:

Bristol Rovers

📍 Hometown:

Bristol

🗣️ Q&A

Tell us an interesting or unusual fact about your hometown or city.


Bristol has a history with piracy with the well known pirate Blackbeard being born here, which is why we all sound like pirates and we have a pirate on the Bristol Rovers badge 😆. Many pubs around the city are pirate-themed because of this.

What got you into football – and do you remember your first match?


I was born into a football obsessed family, although we were split down the middle with half of the family being Rovers and the other half City. My mum and Uncle Steve recruited me to the blue side and I attended my first game at the millennium stadium for the JPT Final against Doncaster Rovers in 2007. We lost the game but I never looked back 💙

Why did you choose to support your club?


I grew up in north Bristol, so it made the most sense to me, but I instantly felt like I belonged there when I attended my first game. The community and the positive vibes got me hooked really quickly.

Who was your footballing hero growing up?

When I first got into football, I was only Bristol Rovers focussed so didn’t take much interest in Premier League or International. So my hero growing up was Richard Walker. He scored 20+ goals in our promotion season, plus twice at Wembley to get us promoted. I was in awe!

What's your favourite football memory as a fan? 
I’ve been lucky to witness a few promotions but I have to say winning promotion in the 92nd minute under Darrell Clarke was insane. It was our second promotion on the bounce and the feeling around the club was the best it had ever been. We had a ridiculous amount of shots but the ball didn’t seem to go in, then it happened right at the very death and it was euphoric. We went up automatically and the celebrations down Gloucester Road carried on long into the night!

Do you travel to away games often? What’s been your favourite ground to visit?

Yes, although less often recently because lots of games have been miles away! One of my favourite grounds was (away in the FA Cup) Craven Cottage. We took 8,000 and the atmosphere in the away end was so loud. I love the historical charm to Craven Cottage.

What’s the best chant or song your fans sing?
Goodnight Irene can be bellowing under the roof of the stand and it’s so powerful. We often sing it when going 1-0 down to show we are rallying behind the team and picking them back up to go again. 💪

Have you noticed attitudes toward female fans or the women’s game changing?


Yes, absolutely. There’s certain chants that I haven’t heard for a couple of years now, and it’s great to see more men calling out sexism in the stands. We have a way to go, particularly when you read comments about women in sport online, but things are definitely on the up in the stands.

Matchday traditions – any lucky charms on rituals?
I don’t have any lucky charms but I make the conscious effort to avoid standing on 3 drains every time I walk to the ground. It’s apparently bad luck and it’s got into my head so badly now!

If your club were a film or song, what would it be and why?


There’s a brilliant song called Tote End Boys by Ben Gunstone who sadly passed away very recently. The song encapsulates everything our club is about, and how our fans feel about Bristol Rovers. We play it after the final whistle and will continue to play it for many years to come.

Rovers seem to have been on a roller coaster this season, things starting to look up?

The roller coaster being mostly downwards! 🥲. It’s been a terrible 2 seasons, we have just got so much wrong in the last 2 years and are paying the price for it. Things have got slightly better since the January window but we are still seeing the same old problems creeping back in. We need a full reset, but we need to try and stay up first!

Where do you see rovers finishing this season?

I think we will stay up, purely based on the fact there are probably two worse teams than us in this league. We could not win a game for the rest of the season and I genuinely still think we’ll be alright! I’ll go with finishing 18th… purely because we have some players returning from injury which should help keep us afloat.

⚡ Quick Fire Round

🏟️ Favourite stadium?
 Craven Cottage

🥧 Top matchday snack?
Cheese and onion pasty 🥧

🚌 Home or away days?
 Away

📺 VAR – yes or no?
 No

👕 Dream player to sign for your club?
 Ollie Watkins - he used to play for Weston-super-Mare which is where I live so you never know, he may want to roll back the tapes 🤣

HER GAME TOO 💛

For those who may not know you founded HGT, what made you start?

HGT was born out of frustration being a woman in football and not feeling heard or supported, and having to be subjected to multiple sexist comments in person and online. I felt there wasn’t a support network for women who experience discrimination in the game, and I wanted to create that. There was an incident in lockdown, where I received tons of unwarranted sexism online for talking about a football rivalry. It was the straw that broke the camels back, and HGT was formed!

How does it feel seeing how much it has grown in nearly the last 5 years?

It’s amazing to see. We were so grateful for the support initially and since then the movement has snowballed! We have 80 professional clubs signed up, with more outside of the UK! It’s great to see so many get behind the movement and slowly but surely we are seeing positive change.

Where do you see the campaign in the next 5 years?

HGT must keep going and keep fighting against misogyny surrounding the game, whether it’s online or in person. Education is crucial to make sure we intervene in early stages and build a culture where women are seen as equal in sports. We are hoping that one day this will no longer be voluntary, giving us the chance to take it to the next level in the UK and beyond!

💬 Final thoughts?

We may be rivals for the game tonight but best of luck to Oldham Athletic for the rest of the season! The Club have been so supportive of HGT since the early days, and it doesn’t go unnoticed from us all. Thank you for playing a vital part in this movement and for making the pledge to improve the future for women and girls in football!

Thanks to Caz for chatting with us and all the work you do with Her Game Too! We wouldn’t have this blog if it wasn’t for you! We wish the gasheads a safe journey and hope to see you back at Boundary park next season!

Look out for more fan voices every matchday as part of our Her Game Too series.