Radio, Rovers and some really great guys

Gaudi versus Raith

Well hello there from a very chilly Barcelona! To those new to Paella and Bovril, this is a wee blog of the articles I write for the "Rover". Raith Rovers matchday programme. As a Raith fan I am accustomed to rallying round my club when I can and this is how I help. I however have been nothing compared to the guys at "Raith Rovers Abroad". These fabby blokes have taken a whisper round Stark's Park and made it real. 

What is she  talking about I hear you cry, well very soon, if you can not make it to Stark's Park you can listen to every kick of the ball. live, exclusive and direct from San Starko! 

I have been involved in a few test broadcast, and tell you what it is worth it. The quality of sound is fantastic and the guys really make you feel at "home"

I will stop my rambling and let you get on with digesting this serving of "Paella and Bovril"

PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MATCH DAY PROGRAMME AND JOIN RAITH ROVERS ABROAD. 

 

Paella and Bovril

First Published Saturday 11th Feb 2012 

Raith 1 - 1 Ross County

Saturday means something different to everyone, a lie in, a wee trip to the shops, catching up with friends. A few Saturdays ago I was invited out with a bunch of girlfriends for a little shopping (not my thing but hey) and a few cocktails (now you’re talking!) It was going to be Saturday afternoon so there was the small thing of the football to take into consideration, but over the past few weeks international coverage of Raith had been slim-to-none, so maybe taking a Saturday off the football for a cocktail would not be a bad thing. I never made it for those cocktails, I was going to be in an experiment!

Since moving away from Fife over 11 years ago it has been difficult at times to get to Stark’s Parks on a regular basis, and when we moved to Barcelona it turned into a once a year, if I am lucky, trip to Kirkcaldy.  I still try every Saturday to devote 3pm – 4.45pm to finding out how Raith are doing, sometimes getting to hear snippets on BBC Scotland’s open all mics, others times only being kept up to date by the fantastic twitter folks! You can only imagine my excitement that this was on the brink of change!

For a good while a group of wonderful people have been prepping for an experimental service and I was going to be one of the guinea pigs.  My test day was here. Falkirk were coming to town and were getting ready for a semi final and Raith really needed to get some points. Not a bad game to be my first “virtual” match at San Starko.  These wonderful people of whom I speak were the lads at Raith Rovers Abroad! I was not the only mad wee Scot supporting a team with a strange name, in fact, there was a fair few of us, and Raith Rovers Abroad were there to help keep us up to date with live commentary from the match.  These guys have been very busy, getting people onside, tackling the paperwork from the SFL, designing and constructing a web site; just getting the word out there was going to be tough.  As a Raith Rover abroad I was over the moon at the prospect of listening to the match, so when I was asked to take part in the Falkirk match there was no question of missing my Saturday afternoon’s football for cocktails.

As the time of kick off approached I was getting a little excited, I had my scarf out, my strip on and wee local beer to hand! After a simple logging in to the site I was pleasantly surprised to find a chat room.  This was going to allow the fans to have a wee bit of banter amongst themselves and communicate with the guys in the freezing commentary box!  And what a bunch of fans we are, some of  us watching mid afternoon with a beer other watching first thing in the morning with their Cheerios! The experience was highly entertaining, being able to have a giggle with fellow fans, something I had not done in a long time, and most important we got to listen to some Raith goals (although the speakers on the iPad may never recover from the lads cheering into the mics.)

The experiment was a success. I was a season ticket holder for many years, I used to love going to every home game and after the trial of Raith Rovers Abroad I can not think of anything better than joining  everyone involved  on a Saturday for a wee game of football, it had the banter, the fellow fans to discuss incidents with, all I was missing was the freezing feet!  You can take the fan out of Stark's Park but you can't take Stark's Park away from the fan!

The only thing left today is to move away from the experimenting and move onto the real thing and today is the day! As you read this around the world fans will be logging on to listen to the lovely Davie and Brian,  and we hope to hear a good few vocal chords belting out support for the Rovers and of course a few Raith goals!

This is a wonderful service and I know that I and all the users of Raith

Website: www.raithroversabroad.net Radio commentary available to UK and international listeners (subscription charges apply) 

To listen to the matches with an iPad I used an app called iSwifter (this is not a free app a charge will apply depending on your app provider)

To listen in iPhone and iTouch use an app called Puffin web browser (charges will apply) 

Follow me @escocesacarol and @RoversAbroad on twitter

Raith Rovers Abroad