Township Rollers
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| Full name | Township Rollers Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) |
Tse Tala, The Blues, Popa-Popa founded = 1965 (as Mighty Tigers) |
| Ground |
Botswana National Stadium Gaborone, Botswana and other venues, like University of Botswana Stadium |
| Capacity | 22,000 |
| Chairman | Walter Kgabung |
| League | Botswana Premier League |
| 2015–16 | 1st |
| Website | Club home page |
Tse Tala, The Blues, Popa-Popa
Township Rollers Football Club is a football club based in Gaborone, Botswana. Rollers are also known as Popa, The Blues or Tse Tala, the official nicknames of the club. The club is also often referred to as Mapalastina, a nickname that developed in the 1990s but has never been officially adopted by the club. Rollers is most successful club in Botswana football history, with more league titles and cup competitions won than any other local side and enjoys the largest support base of any sports team in the country.
The club was founded in 1965 as Mighty Tigers, later to adopt the name Township Rollers in 1965. Rollers has an old rivalry with cross town club Gaborone United, the match between the two sides called the Gaborone Derby. Rollers also have a bitter rivalry with Mochudi Centre Chiefs, and matches between the two sides over time eclipsed the Gaborone Derby as the biggest football encounter in Botswana due to both clubs' following and success.
Club financier Jagdish Shah has been the most influential figure at the club since 2013. The team is owned by its supporters, whose membership of the club qualifies them to be a part of the Township Rollers society. The society membership elects the Rollers executive committee at annual general meetings (AGM).
The club is currently administered by an executive committee comprising Walter Kgabung (chairman), Jagdish Shah (president), Khumo Masonya (secretary general), Kebadile Mosiakgabo (deputy secretary), Phempheretlhe Bafana Pheto (public relations officer), Minkie Molatlhegi (Treasurer), and additional member Baatweng Motladiile. Other senior officials are Sydney Magagane (general manager), Ajay Shah (finance manager) and Motshegetsi Mafa (team manager). The club's official website is rollersfc.com, which also feeds the club's social media network pages Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Instagram with club news. Rollers has over 180 000 followers on Facebook, the largest of any sporting institution in Botswana.
Rollers has a large support base all over the country. With most of its fan base scattered across Botswana, Rollers can be called the most supported football team in the country.
The club was formed by the Public Works Department (PWD) workers of the Bechuanaland Protectorate (colonial-era Botswana) government in 1961. They called the team Mighty Tigers FC and in 1965, the name was changed to Township Rollers Football Club. The PWD workers had been charged with building the first internal roads of the new capital, Gaborone ahead of independence in 1966.
Since Gaborone was then a small town (a Township) and the PWD workers used compacting equipment called Rollers, the club adopted the name Township Rollers, with the club logo having an outlaying design of a map of the early Gaborone roads the club founders built- Queens, Khama Crescent, Botswana Road, Independence Avenue, Kaunda Road, South Ring Road. The logo also contained the rollers compacting equipment, a football and soccer boot. (.
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