Total Tranmere Celebrates its First Birthday!!!
By Deadly Submarine
November 22 2006
Total Tranmere celebrates its first birthday today so we felt that we should take a look back at what the site has covered and what it has achieved in its first twelve months. We’re sure you’ll be surprised by what the site has achieved as well as the events it has covered in the last year.
www.totaltranmere.co.uk – One Year and Counting!!!!
Twelve Months Ago…
People often say that a year is long time in football and the past twelve months have been no exception. The difference for myself this year however has been my involvement in something special, something I could never have foreseen twelve months ago that if anything has increased my enthusiasm for Tranmere Rovers if any more was needed.
On November 26th 2004, I came across a new Tranmere website that appeared to have been going for only a matter of days so I thought I would introduce myself on the Message Board and congratulate them on a great site. Having only before been a ‘lurker’ and occasional poster on other Tranmere sites, I somehow felt within a few days of my first post on Total Tranmere that things were different here. For one thing it was more friendly……….
A Brief History….
On November 24th 2004 Ross Quayle launched his site Total Tranmere via the Sportnetwork of websites after much preparation and thought had been put into the idea over the preceding weeks.
Within a few weeks, after an appeal on the site’s message board Quayle had enlisted the help of Deadly Submarine who having never written any articles before for any publication was initially reluctant to have a go. However he was soon to take on the task of reporting on all of Tranmere’s matches both home and away leaving Quayle free to continue his even more important tasks of keeping the site ticking with up-to-date news and features.
In the meantime, the message board had picked up a few early regular posters with Jonesmusic (still with us but now known as Matthew the Rover) and a little later SuperWhite Soldier (also still posting with us) helping to keep the board ticking over in addition to Quayle and Sub.
Even in those early few months, it seemed hard to think that this new site would have such an impact in its first year but as we run through the last twelve months in brief here it becomes clear that much has been achieved.
Click Here to view the first ever messages posted on the Total Tranmere Message Board!!
Articles and Features
One of Quayle’s first ideas for a Total Tranmere feature proved extremely popular and ran for a total of thirteen weeks. Through the website’s poll facility we asked Tranmere fans to vote for their all time Tranmere Dream Team with a different playing position being contested each week from the manager right through to the strike partnership. Each vote was followed up at the end of the week by a feature article on the player who had earned the most votes and therefore a place in the Dream Team.
Another feature was soon introduced by Sub called Classic Rovers which began with a two-part look back at Tranmere’s memorable visit to Wembley in February 2000 in the Worthington Cup Final and has since gone on to look back at the semi-final second leg that got them to Wembley when they beat Bolton 3-0 on the night at Prenton Park (4-0 on aggregate). A third article in this series is coming soon – probably in the New Year!
Without doubt Total Tranmere’s biggest success of its first twelve months was the online Calvin Zola Petition set up by Quayle to try to help the Rovers striker gain the visa he needed to be able to play for the Club again. Sub recalls saying to Quayle just after it had been set up; “Do you realise how big this could become?” and sure enough as news of the petition spread around football fans across the worldwide web, the local press and radio had got hold of the story and Quayle and his website achieved great publicity.
It wasn’t long before the number of signatures passed the 2000 mark and beyond, with the TRSA (Tranmere Rovers Supporters Association) and then local MP’s becoming involved in Calvin’s plight.
Eventually, Calvin returned to his native Congo and got the visa he needed in time for the start of this current season. There can be no doubt that credit must go to Quayle for sparking off a chain reaction that I’m sure even he could not have imagined. It had the desired effect though and Calvin is back playing for Rovers this season.
Total Tranmere FC
When fellow Tranmere website Rovers Rearguard asked Quayle if he could raise a Total Tranmere team to play against the established team from Rearguard, the difficult task began of finding the fittest and most able Total Tranmere members to play together for the first time.
Eventually a team was put together and we descended on Neston Recreation Centre to face Rearguard having met each other for the first time just half an hour before. After going 1-0 ahead, we went on to lose 10-1 but a good time was had by all.
A few months later a handful of Total Tranmere members teamed up with other players to beat Rearguard 7-6 at Arrowe Park on a memorable day. Total Tranmere and Rearguard met once more at Shaftesbury (behind the Kop at Prenton Park) and once again went 1-0 ahead before going on to concede thirteen without reply!
Another game against Rearguard is currently in the planning stages and hopefully games against other teams may follow in the future.
Other Activities…
So what else has Total Tranmere done over the past twelve months? It has seen its creator and webmaster Quayle appear in Four-Four-Two Magazine giving his thoughts on the up-coming 2005-06 season and therefore more publicity for the site.
At Easter, we covered the build-up to and brought a match report from the Tsunami Soccer Aid Charity game tha took place at Anfield on Easter Sunday between a Liverpool All-Star XI and a Celebrity XI. The event raised thousands of pounds for charity.
In July, Total Tranmere was also represented on the top of Wales’ highest mountain Snowdon as posters Ravin Rover and Deadly Submarine proudly carried a Tranmere Flag to the summit and submitted the photo for all to see on the Message Board.
Ravin_Rover and Deadly Submarine on Summit of Snowdon - July 2005
The start of the 2005-06 season saw 12 Total Tranmere members hire a minibus driven by site regular REME to take them down to the opening game of the season at Swansea’s new Stadium. Despite the 1-0 defeat that followed it was a great day out and hopefully it can be repeated in the future.
The Future?
For me personally, the last twelve months of being involved with Total Tranmere have been excellent. I’ve made numerous good friends who all share at least one common interest in their love of the Rovers and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed helping Quayle out with the website.
As regulars will know, Quayle has been absent from the site for over two months due to internet problems at home but I for one would like to say a huge thanks to him for setting up the site in the first place and enabling everything you’ve just read about to actually happen. I’d also like to thank him for trusting me to help out with the site and help input into its development. I hope in turn I have paid him back for that trust by looking after the site in his absence.
Thanks to Quayle and to everyone out there who helps the site continue, whether it be by reading articles, voting in the polls or posting on the Message Board.
Here’s to the next twelve months!!