Bolton Wanderers F.C. - Supporters' Association

Supporters' Association

Bolton Wanderers Supporters' Association (or BWSA for short) is the official supporters' association of Bolton Wanderers Football Club. The Supporters' Association was formed in 1992, following an initiative by a fan, Peter Entwistle, who advertised in the Bolton Evening News, inviting all fans interested in forming a supporters' group to meet in the King William pub on Manchester Road, Bolton, opposite Burnden Park.

From the forty or so fans who turned up, a Committee of eleven was formed, with Peter Entwistle as Chairman, and the association was born. It was decided that the organisation would be a non-profit making and that all committee work would be undertaken on a completely voluntary basis. The first members' meeting was held in the Executive Suite at Burnden Park on Thursday 7 May 1992. Later that year the Directors of the football club, satisfied that the Association had proven itself to be organised and responsible, officially recognised Bolton Wanderers Supporters' Association as the club's supporters' group.

In 1997, shortly after the move from Burnden Park to the Reebok Stadium, the supporters association accepted the invitation from the football club to hold its monthly meetings at the new stadium. The Reebok Stadium has continued to be their venue ever since. They now have a membership numbering hundreds. Whilst the majority live locally in and around the town of Bolton, membership has spread across Europe and around the world.

In the year 2000, the Association expanded even further when its invitation to affiliate was accepted, not only by Bolton Wanderers supporters groups in other parts of Britain, but also by groups around the world. All of these foreign groups have come on board to become independent, but integral, parts of the official Bolton Wanderers supporters' family. Indeed, requests for affiliated status continue to be received regularly from other places around the world where Wanderers fans find themselves gathered together.