Remembering Bill Powrie
The Raith Supporters Trust were saddened to learn last year of the death of long-standing member Bill Powrie, who passed away following a prolonged illness. Bill had followed the Rovers for most of his life, and had been a member of the Trust since the Reclaim The Rovers campaign in 2005.
Bill started coming along to Starks Park in the early seventies with his friends from Kinghorn and Kirkcaldy High School. Bill was a junior season ticket holder in those early days and on more than one occasion he was lucky enough to get his ticket pulled out of the hat to win a trip on the team bus to away matches. George Farm’s team, in particular the scoring exploits of Joe Baker (34 goals in 49 appearances), cemented Bill’s affection for ‘all things Raith’ and he listed Joe, Bobby Reid, Roddy Georgeson, Malcolm Robertson, Gordon Wallace (mark 1) and Murray McDermott amongst his favourites. Even when Bill moved away from the Kirkcaldy area, he never wavered in his support of the club and would still make the effort to come back for games when he could.
In his estate, Bill kindly made a generous bequest to the Raith Supporters Trust. After consulting with Bill’s family, we decided to use Bill’s legacy to help grow the next generation of Raith Rovers supporters. Fans are the lifeblood of any football club, and with so many other things competing for their attention, it is often a challenge to attract younger fans through the turnstiles. Due to Bill’s generosity, the Raith Supporters Trust were able to subsidise the cost of more than 200 season tickets for young supporters this season, making it easier for them to support their local club. We were delighted to learn last week that almost all of the reduced priced tickets had been sold and we hope that the young supporters go on to develop the same affection for the club that Bill felt during his life.
We would like to express our sincere condolences again to Bill’s family and thank Bill for his generosity towards both the Raith Supporters Trust and Raith Rovers in his will.
