Bath fans hope to end 29 year wait for glory

Rob Jones recalled his time as a ballboy "when the team was nearly unbeatable", running on to the pitch with the sand for Stuart Barnes' kicks at goal. "Many times I had to retrieve the ball from the River Avon with a telescopic net."Those who responded seemed to fall into two camps; supporters now in their twenties and thirties who just missed out on Bath's glory days, and those who were around at the time and never imagined the club's barren run in the Premiership would last this long.

Tim Firkins first watched Bath when he was 11 in 1990, sometimes from the clubhouse roof if he could not get hold of a ticket."I still to this day remember after winning the double in 1996 turning to my Dad and saying 'surely this can't go on forever Dad?'. Neither of us would ever have dreamt that 29 years later, we'd still be waiting for the next one!"

Three generations of the Firkins family, ranging in age from 14 to 75, will be at Twickenham with their fingers crossed. "I can't put into words what it would mean for me to see Bath win and share the moment with my boys, my wife and my parents.

"There will be many in attendance, including Sean Hawkins and Luke Matthews, whose loved ones first took them to matches but are now too old to make the trip. Matthews adds that winning the final would belong not just to the club, but the entire town."

Many people don't understand the extent to which Bath is a rugby town, it's so central to our identity. There are daft notions about this place, that we're all posh, but we're full of the same range of people as anywhere else, and this community comes together around the rugby."None of our contributors could top Robert Lloyd Williams for longevity, having attended his first game at the age of two back in 1969, and who is still a season ticket holder now along with his mother, who is 85. "The club means the world to us having supported them for 56 years. It’s not cheap, but brings us so much joy. We were proud that even when at our lowest, fans turned up and still supported the team."

Williams' father died last year, shortly before the final defeat against Northampton Saints. "He would be very proud of the way Johann van Graan has transformed the club from the bottom up, and the manner in which he has done it including his deep faith."Bath now have a team to feel proud of whatever the result, as noted by Lawrence Taylor. "Since Johann has come in he has made the club feel like a family again."

A favourite email came from Matthew Lavender with two photos attached; of Matthews as a one-year-old at the end of double-winning 1995/96 season being held by his mother, and another of the pair watching Bath recently win the Challenge Cup in Cardiff. They lost his "beloved step-dad" to cancer last year.

When the family car broke down en route to the 2015 Premiership final, it was left abandoned to rush to Twickenham. "We couldn’t miss kick-off! Rugby for us has never been primarily about the winning – it’s about being together as a family. But winning on Saturday would mean the world to us."

Finally, there was a message from Matt, otherwise known as BathBytes on X/Twitter. His daughter died with neuroblastoma, a rare cancer, at the age of four. After years "of trying to learn to process and deal with things", he dove into his passion for the club and set up a Twitter account "dedicated to all things Bath".The 13 years since then have featured "some highs and some incredible lows". Now this season, after winning the Premiership Rugby Cup and Challenge Cup already, Bath could finish with a treble. "The possibility of great success and a reward for all of the fans who have been there through the darkness, and to be able to celebrate it with a great bunch of players and coaches, is priceless."Even if Bath fall short again in the final, they have already given their supporters so much to cherish and celebrate.

Photos from Getty Images/Matthew Lavender