This season, we're asking the fans of visiting clubs to give their thoughts ahead of each game at The Fully Charged New Lawn. What better way is there to get an insight than from the people who travel the country following their team each week?

We spoke to Bristol Rovers fan and Co-Founder of #HerGameToo, Lucy Ford, to find out a little more about Saturday's opponents:

Tell us a bit about yourself and your journey as a Bristol Rovers fan.

I have been a Bristol Rovers fan all my life, attending games for 15 years. My first Rovers game was at the age of 10 in August 2006 with my Dad where we beat Shrewsbury Town 1-0.

In that same season I was very lucky to go to both the Millennium Stadium and Wembley Stadium to watch Rovers. Following that first season, I started to attend games more regularly with my dad and my grandparents, both home and away.

My grandad supported Rovers from March 1950 and the memories we made watching Rovers home and away are something I treasure very much.

My grandparents bought me my first season ticket for my 16th birthday and after sadly losing my grandad in April this year, and following a move home back to Bristol, I bought a season ticket in his honour to ensure the support for our club will continue.

How have you found the 2021/22 season so far?

This season has definitely been a bit up and down so far, to say the least. We have suffered with a bit of inconsistency at times, winning one and then losing the next two, which is something we experienced a lot last season.

After not winning for almost year away from home, our away form seems to be a little bit better than our home form and recently we have gone on small an unbeaten run in the league, which I hope we can continue on Saturday (although we have dropped points from winning positions against both Tranmere Rovers and Salford City in the last week). 

What are your views on Joey Barton and his time in charge?

When we appointed Joey Barton, I was definitely surprised as I thought it was a bold decision given his well documented history.

I took the decision when he came in that I will judge him on how he is as a football manager, so I was obviously disappointed when we were relegated, however I did appreciate that it wasn’t his players.

This season however, it felt like the same issues were arising, with the inconsistency and a whole new squad, with 15 new players coming in.

With his off the field issues, he has certainly divided the fan base, with some choosing not to attend whilst he is in charge.  

Who is your key player and why? Tell us a bit about him?

Antony Evans. He is an attacking midfielder, sometimes he feels like a striker with the goals he has scored.

We signed him on Deadline Day and I have to admit, I didn’t know too much about him other than he was relatively young and he had been playing in Germany.

However, he has impressed in pretty much every game I have watched (and I go to as many games as possible) and arguably, his performances have been above a player who is playing in League Two. 

As a Co-Founder of #HerGameToo, tell us a bit about the campaign and what it means to you?

Caz May, a fellow Bristol Rovers fan, founded this campaign alongside 11 other female football fans (including myself) from all around the country and we decided to do a video to highlight some of the sexist abuse we have received, either online or in person, just for being female football fans.

Our first video was released at 10am on Saturday, 15th May 2021 on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, which coincided with FA Cup Final Day. After the first 24 hours, we had amassed one million views on Twitter and were the second highest trend on Twitter.

The aims of #HerGameToo are to:

• Create awareness.

• Educate.

• Research.

• Develop a strong sense of community.

• Create regular content to champion women in football (players, staff AND fans).

• Create strong relationships with clubs.

• Create strong relationships with club trusts and communities.

• Have a presence at football grounds and sports bars to build a more welcoming environment for young girls and women.

• Continue to campaign against sexism in football.

• Continue to campaign against online abuse.

I am extremely proud to have co-founded the campaign because I believe that we should all be allowed to enjoy the game of football and express our opinions on it.

It is a universal game with universal rules that anyone can understand. 

I would also like to thank both Forest Green Rovers and Forest Green Rovers Women for supporting our campaign and being partnered with us, and I am very much looking forward to seeing the LED Boards with our hashtag in person.

Have you seen a shift since the launch of the campaign?

I definitely have noticed a shift in the sense that there are more allies on social media in terms of men supporting women who have received sexism online for their football opinions.

It is still an issue and I feel like we are just scratching the surface in what we can do in terms of tackling sexism in football, we want to raise awareness and spread the message as far as possible across all levels of football in both the men and the women’s game, but also educate in schools as well.

We're also really keen to support grassroots women’s and girls clubs and the money raised from our merchandise is donated to these clubs to support them.