Blue Bald Monday
On 16th January it was Blue Monday, and the blue side of Bristol were commemorating it by having 40 Bristol Rovers players, coaches and staff shave their heads in support of current number 16 Nick Anderton, who was diagnosed with cancer last year.
The club chose the 16th of January to go bald in honour of Anderton's squad number 16 as well as setting up a Gofundme page to raise money for the player and his family which at present has received over £38,000 in donations. Nick Anderton is a left back who started his career in the Preston North End youth team and had a series of loans out to Gateshead, Barrow, Aldershot Town and then Barrow again. Barrow decided he had proved enough on his loan spell, where he played 21 times. that they purchased him on a two year contract. It was here where he started to catch the eye of teams further up the football pyramid with one offer coming in from Bradford City but instead decided to sign for Blackpool. He struggled to cement his place at Blackpool and was sent out on loan to Accrington Stanley and then sold to Carlisle United where he was also made Club Captain. He made 49 appearances for Carlisle over a two year spell before leaving for Bristol Rovers.
Anderton played an important role as he achieved a first career promotion with Rovers' 7–0 victory over Scunthorpe United on the final day of the season seeing them move into third position on goals scored ahead of Northampton. The scenes were extremely dramatic as the final goal was scored in the 85th minute with news trickling through that Northampton were down to 10 men. As long as no more goals were scored in the remaining 5 minutes, Bristol rovers would be celebrating an unlikely promotion despite languishing near the bottom of the table in September, with two wins and five losses from their first eight matches.
The shaved heads of Anderton’s teammates wasn’t the first time that Bristol Rovers illustrated their support. When he was first diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, on the opening day of the 2022–23 season, Rovers hosted Forest Green Rovers and both sets of players wore shirts in the warm-up to show their support for Anderton and there was also applause in the sixteenth minute of the match.
The barber who did the deed for all 40 men is a diehard Bristol City fan and wanted to do it for free on one condition, he wanted to wear his Bristol City shirt whilst doing it. He did however put the number 16 on the back in recognition of Anderton. Following the haircuts, Bristol Rovers posted a team picture with the caption: 'Bristol Razors 2022/23.' All of us at OFFSIDEANDSTUDSUP wish Nick Anderton a speedy recovery and can’t wait to see him back out on the pitch doing what he does best and applaud Bristol Rovers in their fundraising campaign and their support of Anderton. If anyone wanted to donate to the great cause here is the link to their gofundme page.
Comments