Kit man will be sadly missed by everyone connected to the club The club are very sad to announce that kit man Roger Harding has passed away. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this very sad time. Roger was a very important part of Bristol Rovers and he will be sorely missed by everyone connected to the club. More comment from the club will be available tomorrow
Very sad to read this, a great servant to your club, my thoughts are with his family and friends, true blue football fan.. RIP mate, from a Bristol City fan...
According to the OS Forum Roger is alive as his daughter has posted on facebook saying its not true I read it on the clubs official site so not sure where they got this information from very bad on there part. http://www.brfcforum.co.uk/index.php?/topic/110190-roger-the-kit-man/page-6
The club has apologise for getting it wrong concerning Roger http://www.bristolrovers.co.uk/news/article/roger-harding2-858626.aspx
not clubs fault really. they were informed he passed. he is terminally ill and is just a matter of time really so why wouldnt the club believe he had passed if told so? the club wouldnt question if it was true or not because why would someone make it up that he passed. its just sick whoever that was. maybe the club should have checked but maybe they didnt want to bother family and friends just to confirm he had passed. the club will get a lot of stick for this but i cant see how they can be at fault though. i have mixed feelings on this. happy that he is still fighting but sad for his family and other loved ones for what they are going through right now.
Bristol Rovers football club has apologised after stating on its website its kit man had died. The message incorrectly said Roger Harding had died. The mistake led to anger on fans' forums and the Bristol Rovers appreciation group on Facebook. A club spokesman said it was told Roger had passed away on Friday "but it turns out this information was not correct". "Although Roger is very ill, he is still bravely fighting for his life," he said. "Roger is a very important part of Bristol Rovers and our thoughts are with his family and friends as he continues his battle." He added: "We apologise again for any hurt our previous statement has caused." Mr Harding has been the club's kit man for more than 10 years.
What a total balls up. Not too clever if any of his friends and family saw that announcement whilst he's still fighting for his life. His wife Pam knows about the cock-up - not really the kind of distraction that she wants at this terrible time. The club should have checked.
More importantly we should be cursing the moron who maliciously contacted the club to say that Roger had passed away. What sort of person would do such a thing??
Although, as I said above, it was a terrible mistake I'd like to think that it was a genuine error. I'm sure that whoever made it feels awful about it. I'm sure lessons have been learnt! The important thing is to keep Roger and his family in our thoughts and prayers.
