Roy Race is the main character of the comic strip, Roy of the Rovers, which first appeared in Tiger in 1954 where it appeared for 22 years before getting its own title in 1976. The Roy of the Rovers weekly title lasted untill 1993 before it became a monthly title. Roy of the Rovers monthly focused on Roy’s troubled son, Rocky.
Roy Race
Roy is a striker for the football team, Melchester Rovers, which is based in the fictional town of Melchester. Has a teenager, Roy and his friend, Blackie Gray, was spotted playing for a local youth side and were signed up to Melchester Rovers. 8 months later he made his debut scoring 2 goals and becoming an instant star. In 1975 he was made player-manager, a position he retained for the next 20 years. In 1981 Roy was shot and left in a coma for several months. In his absence Melchester was managed by the England manager Sir Alf Ramsey. Roy’s playing career finally ended in 1993 when he lost a foot in a helicopter crash.
Despite Roy Race playing 40 seasons with Melchester Rovers he didn’t age at the same rate. By the time he retired in 1993 he was only in his late-30’s.
Melchester Rovers
To keep the strip exciting for the readers Melchester Rovers were always either involved in a title challenge, a relegation battle or making the final of various cup competitions. To avoid confusion or possible bias Melchester’s kit was red, yellow and blue (later just red and yellow), a colour combination which no other real English football club shared.