Roy Race club he had ever wanted to play for. At sixteen, Roy made his first appearance for Melchester Rovers. This was no ordinary debut. An injury to Rovers regular striker meant that the young apprentice was drafted into the side for the 1959 European Cup final. It was a dream, a fantasy, a fairy tale. Roy twisted and turned his big Spanish marker, leading the line like a man twice his age. With 10 minutes left, and the game goalless, he broke free on the edge of the area and let fly with the shot that made his name: "Racey's Rocket".
Roy of the Rovers framed around themes "remarkably similar to those at the center of the Roy Race fiction and ideology ... there was a clear sense of mourning for the loss of an age". "Roy of the Rovers Annual"s were produced every year from 1958 until 1994, and again in 2000. A number of tie-in books were also published, including a handful of paperback prose storybooks in 1977 and 1993, and two football quiz books in 1978 and 1979. Roy of the Rovers never made the leap from page to screen, although he did make an appearance on the BBC comedy sports quiz