RAVENS HAVE THE PURR-FECT ARMCHAIR FAN
SUPPORTERS may currently be banned but Bromley can’t stop a single-minded cat from attending their matches.
Nor would they want to as Gareth, the ginger Tom has made the Hayes Lane ground his home. He took up residence about eight years ago and has been there ever since.
Gareth, named after club legend Gareth Williams –who played 161 games for the Ravens in two spells, scoring 55 goals – has, according to Bromley secretary, Matt Hall “become quite a cult hero.”
Hall, who doubles up as communications manager, matchday commentator and stadium announcer, must share his padded red chair at the top of the stand with the club’s adopted pet.
“I usually have to wipe his ginger hairs off my seat,” he says. “Apparently he turned up in 2012 and decided he quite liked the place. He stuck it out for two weeks until one of the kids at one of our Saturday soccer schools told his Mum, ‘that’s our cat, Ginger’.”
The upshot was that the boy took the cat back home only for it to return to Bromley FC within a fortnight. “I think the family sort of gave up then, resigning themselves to the fact
that he was here to stay,” explained Hall. “This is where he wants to be. He has his own Twitter account and has been on television when BT Sport did a programme on NonLeague managers, including our own Neil Smith.”
Gareth who livens up meetings when he wanders in, is doubtless missing the fans with whom he has a tremendous rapport. He is less fond of animals.
“Nothing phases him. He’ll chase rats, dogs, pheasants and he’s even tried to run after a horse,” said Hall, who once found a big dead rat under his desk, left there as a gift by the moggie who never goes hungry.
“We all feed him,” added Hall, who once had to prise a mouse from the cat’s jaws while it was still alive. Equally fortunate was Bromley’s former winger, Dave Martin who was scratched on his torso when he picked up Gareth who had invaded the pitch during a 1-0 win over Torquay four years ago. But the club are happy to point out that Martin did not blame his subsequent substitution on the incident.