Doing the 92 is Daniel Storey’s odyssey to every English football league club in a single season. The best way to follow his journey is by subscribing here.
As Holker Street’s stands start to gradually fill up, Russ Rawley begins his familiar walk. Russ is the life president of the Bluebirds Trust, Barrow AFC’s Supporters’ Trust, and he has been selling raffle tickets here for more than 50 years.
It started as a draw for a bottle of whisky back in the 1970s. In its latest iteration, a week before I arrive the total sales have ticked over £250,000.
During Covid-19 lockdowns, when no football could be played, the Bluebirds Trust had the bright idea to create a website for Russ’s Raffle and sales went up significantly. Supporters wanted to keep in touch with him and with their club. It reaffirmed his local celebrity.
Russ is a legend at Holker Street. Someone always waits to make the draw, supposedly at half-time, but by the time Russ has chatted to everyone on his way round, it’s often long into the second half. He has a catchphrase, uttered on repeat with a winning smile: “I only sell winners.”
I have never been to Barrow AFC before and, ahead of my trip, spoke to several supporters about how best to cover their club.
There were two requests: don’t go on and on about how our club is in the middle of nowhere and don’t go on and on about how our training ground is in Manchester.
That is the irony of national coverage as a League Two club: the pieces tend to all be the same. I sheepishly crossed a couple of ideas off my own shortlist.
Instead, spending some time at this club forced something else to the surface. It’s something that they probably don’t notice much themselves, because it has always been this way.
Lots of clubs in Leagues One and Two have an army of volunteers, but I don’t think that there’s anywhere where people offer their time for free quite like at Barrow. The club readily accepts that it wouldn’t exist without them.
Helping Russ with the raffle sales is a group of other volunteers. They include Phil, who came to Barrow after having a life-changing car accident four years ago.
It left him with such serious body and head injuries that he can no longer work, but was desperate to volunteer and loves football. A community organisation introduced him to the Bluebirds Trust. Now Phil sits on a seat at every home game, chatting to supporters and selling tickets.
My hosts during my time at Barrow are Richard Ingham, the vice-chairman of the Trust, and Frazer Stewart, a board member and director. Richard describes himself as a general dogsbody but in effect runs the social media account, mans a kiosk on matchday and busies himself with various other duties. He lives 100 miles away from Barrow and comes to every home game.
Frazer is a project manager on engineering projects by day, thus making him an ideal candidate for volunteer work here. When a stand needs a roof, or a new toilet block needs building, it is Frazer who helps create the designs and oversee the work.
I ask him whether he spends more time at work or on Barrow volunteering and he laughs: “It depends.”
There are many others, far too many to name individually. Steve Herbert was the former Trust chairman and a headmaster by day. Steve made a monumental impact during Covid because he had expertise in safety protocols within a school environment.
Barrow AFC 1-3 Doncaster Rovers (Wednesday 29 January)
- Game no.: 62/92
- Miles: 261
- Cumulative miles: 10,492
- Total goals seen: 178
- The one thing I’ll remember in May: The sun setting behind Holker Street as I walked to it for the first time, truly putting on a show
He also helps run the Give ‘Em Beans fanzine, organises Tifos and banners and runs the organisation of summer fundraising projects. Another Steven, Belcher, helps organise the away coaches that are put on at non-profit for supporters.
Behind one goal, I meet Ryan Sutherland, aka Bahamas Bluebird (he used to live there, you see), another volunteer who helps around the first-team squad – arrangements for the warm-up, assisting the kit man etc – but for years he volunteered doing similar tasks for the Bluebirds Development Fund (the forerunner to the Trust).
Most memorable of all, to this impressed outsider at least, are Barrow’s Ground Maintenance Volunteers (GMV). It started when one volunteer thought that it might be useful to have a workshop at Holker Street to enable repairs and quick fixes. When other supporters started offering tools and their own time, an army was formed of DIY helpers.
The GMV have saved Barrow AFC tens of thousands of pounds over the years with their work to improve facilities for supporters, players, staff and directors.
At the back of one stand, they recently redecorated a corridor and directors’ office and family matchday lounge to provide somewhere the young children of players can be kept entertained.
The volunteers generally do their work on a Sunday. Marian, the daughter-in-law of Barrow (and Preston and Blackburn) goalkeeping legend Fred Else, often comes in to bring them refreshments.
There is a tangible reason for Barrow supporters to exist, emotionally and literally when their help is required, so close to their club. The Bluebirds Trust was established in 2014 when Barrow AFC was taken into private ownership, having previously operated on a membership model.
In 2019, a supporters’ trust was given the chance to purchase a 10 per cent stake in the club if it could raise £60,000. They did so, and thus both a vital organisation was formed and a reason to do more than just buy your tickets and watch the match was created.
But supporters’ groups have a stake at multiple clubs who don’t seem to rely upon such a volunteer army. It took off here because of the uniqueness of Barrow’s situation.
Firstly, this is a town that inherently feels a long way from most places. It is stark and industrial and coastal and mountainous and green and grey all in one, and I love it. But it is a town where, if you really want something doing, you might get sick of waiting for outside help and so get together and do it yourselves.
Then, in 2020, Barrow were promoted to the Football League for the first time in almost 50 years. This was unexpected: Barrow had finished mid-table in the National League North in 2014 and finished 20th in the National League in 2018.
Ian Evatt came in that year and everything went supersonic. Barrow hadn’t even finished in the top six of the fifth tier since 1991 – they won the title.
But 2020 was non-normal for other reasons too.
Not only did surprise promotion leave Barrow with a daunting checklist – building toilets, covered away end, adding 2,000 seats, a referee’s room, movable goalframes for warm-ups and so many other headaches – it all had to happen during national lockdowns and an uncertainty of when football would actually recommence.
Everyone needed to help out and everybody wanted to help out.
This work obviously makes a tangible difference. I walk around Holker Street with Richard and Frazer and they point out recent work in almost every corner of the ground, pitchside and in the club buildings.
But it’s as much about the emotional heft of this commitment. The club relies upon them. They rely upon the club. Both parties appreciate each other and so bonds are reinforced.
“Here at Barrow AFC, we’re incredibly fortunate to have a dedicated group of volunteers who give their time and energy to assist the club’s daily operations at the stadium,” says Alisha Henry, Barrow’s chief operating officer.
“As a community-driven club, our people are the heartbeat of everything we do, and it’s thanks to the tireless efforts of our volunteers that we continue to grow and succeed. Without their unwavering support, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
As someone who supports a Premier League club, it gets under your skin. This feels like a hyper-real alternative version of a computer game, where you get to play your part in how a football club grows and see the difference you make.
There are roughly 3,000 Barrow supporters at every home game and a third of them are members of the Bluebirds Trust, a higher percentage than almost anywhere else. I can’t work out why the other 2,000 wouldn’t be.
Five years on from promotion, Richard explains that the Bluebirds Trust are now entering a new era.
It’s nothing groundbreaking: the buses still need organising, the GMV will keep painting, Russ will keep selling his tickets and promising winners. But with the legwork largely done, the Bluebirds Trust can turn their focus to what they want to do rather than what needs doing. It’s a lovely place to arrive at.
Barrow could be perceived as in a difficult position. This is a small town where for too long kids grew up choosing a Premier League club to support; that takes time to shift.
For most clubs promotion is the aim, but this club isn’t ready for League One because to be at that level would be unsustainable. In those circumstances, when getting bigger quickly is not a viable option, things can go a little stagnant.
Some Barrow supporters may feel that risk weigh heavy upon them, but none of the many volunteers I speak to and hear about consider it as anything other than a possibility.
They don’t just support this football club; they live it. How could anything feel stagnant when you’ve got walls to paint, projects to design and more raffle tickets to sell?
Daniel Storey has set himself the goal of visiting all 92 grounds across the Premier League and EFL this season. You can follow his progress via our interactive map and find every article (so far) here
