Roy of the Rovers Roy of the Rovers Roy of the Rovers is a British comic strip about the life and times of a fictional footballer named Roy Race, who played for Melchester Rovers. The strip first appeared in the "Tiger" in 1954, before giving its name to a weekly (and later monthly) comic magazine, published by IPC and Fleetway from 1976 until 1995, in which it was the main feature. The weekly strip ran until 1993, following Roy's playing career until its conclusion after he lost his left foot in a helicopter crash. When the monthly comic was launched later that year the
Roy of the Rovers that were more realistic". There has been no new material since 2001, but reprints of the strip have appeared online and in print. The "Roy of the Rovers" website has archived all of the "Match of the Day" years' material, in addition to excerpts from other classic strips. In October 2007, Setanta bought the original strips, which they featured on their web site. Then-rights holder, Egmont, published a 64-page "collectors edition" of the comic strip in April 2009, gathering together a number of 1980's era Roy of the Rovers stories in addition to other backup strips from the comic. Two