Ross County Supporters' Club delighted with uptake for buses to Pittodrie as Staggies fans turn out in force for crunch match against Aberdeen
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Ross County fans will be coming out in force for the return of Dark Blue Saturday at Aberdeen next week.
Supporters will be encouraged to wear dark blue at Pittodrie in the event's return after a decade, which seems to have captured the imagination of Staggies fans.
It has been confirmed by Ross County that its initial allocation for their away match against Aberdeen on Saturday, March 30 is now sold out.
But the club have secured a further allocation from Aberdeen and will update once these are on sale.
One bus from the official Ross County Supporters' Club has already been filled, and a second is well on its way – adding to the regular on by the Black Isle Supporters Club.
Sending multiple buses of County fans on the road was a founding goal of the official supporters' club, and to have achieved it so quickly has delighted organisers.
"The demand seems to be there – people are certainly jumping off of Dark Blue Saturday as a theme as well, so I'm pleasantly surprised," supporters' liaison officer Shaun Campbell, who believes the last time multiple buses went to a match from Dingwall was the 2016 League Cup final, said.
"On paper, Aberdeen looks like the biggest game of the season for us, so we want to make it accessible to everybody and get as much dark blue in to back the boys.
"It's a little bit different from 2014, because we're looking to get out of a relegation play-off instead of into the top six, but it's got a similar feel about it going into what we all know is a huge game.
"We've had a few messages from people saying they haven't been to an away game in years, but because there are two buses going, because it's accessible and because it's not the longest of journeys, they want to go.
"I'm pinching myself every day. Ticket allocations are getting tight now, but if Aberdeen give us more tickets and we can fill it there's no reason we can't get a third bus.
"It looks like we're heading towards a sell-out, which is mad to say."
Buses to away games are not the only project the supporters' club has been working on.
Earlier this week they announced a quiz to be held at the Staggies Bar on Thursday, March 28. Tickets will be £5 for adults and £1 for children, with proceeds going towards the supporters' club.
First team players will be in attendance, and there will also be a raffle in memory of Gary Bisset – one of the creators of Dark Blue Saturday – with proceeds from that going towards funding travel for the club's under-13s trip to Ireland.
"People wanted something to do as fans but away from football, so this is something that will be interlinked," Campbell added.
"Everything we can do to help the club, in any sort of fundraising they're doing for the academy, will be good. That's the next step for the supporters' club once we get enough funds in the bag to be able to do those things.
"A big thing we talked about a few months back was just trying to get the fans feeling more engaged with the club and vice-versa, so this is one little step.
"Everything seems to be going in the right direction at the moment, so hopefully the guys can do the business on the pitch and continue that push to stay up."
