One of the big success stories from the Trust over the years has been the development of the Exiles, who numbered in excess of a hundred last season.
The Exiles started pretty much after noticing that we had more away fans than you’d expect at some of the games down South, and over hearing the odd accent that you wouldn’t normally expect to hear ‘oop North. It transpired that as a football club we had a very healthy number of supporters who lived outside of the town.
To qualify as an exile, all you have to do is live somewhere other than Rochdale. You might be pushing your luck claiming to be an exile if you travel over from Todmorden for games, but since launching the Exiles, we’ve had people signing up from towns up and down the UK and from countries all over the Globe. At times, it’s felt like we’ve had more countries covered than the United Nations.
The highlight of the Exiles’ calendar is the Exiles Day that has been hosted at the club for several seasons now. Usually around Easter, the Exiles sponsor a match at Spotland and are given a VIP day out at Spotland. A full report of last year’s Exiles Day can be found here.
Last season saw the emergence of a growing Dale community in one particular country – Norway. When we hosted Barnsley, two separate groups flew over – coincidentally on the same plane – for our game and despite the result, had a fantastic day out. We now have more members from Norway than we do from any of the home nations. A full report of their visit last season can be read here. Plans are already afoot for a visit over from Norway in September.
Membership of the Exiles is exactly the same price as an Adult member and you can join online.
[maxbutton id=”2″]
Given that we’re all IT savvy at the Trust, we’ve got a little map in which we pinpoint where our members come from. You can view this year’s map at https://www.daletrust.co.uk/exiles-map/
Last season’s Exile Maps
The UK
The World
