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MELBOURNE-based Coventry City fan Tony Hinchcliffe has become Australia's 50th member of Sky Blues International.
A 48-year-old senior loans administrator, Tony's passion for City was prompted by a Coventry friend, Peter Robson, who used to live in Australia.
Tony also follows Australian Rules Football side Geelong Football Club and is quite useful on the bowling green.
And he will have been particularly pleased with City's win at Portman Road recently.
"My mate and I have a bet each year (a slab of beer) on who finishes higher, Coventry or Ipswich. Sadly, I am a few behind. It keeps us interested though," he said.
Tony has yet to watch the Sky Blues in action, being a born-and-bred Aussie, but he said he was ready to grab an opportunity with both hands to see City should he ever be in the UK.
"I've never watched Coventry live but it's something I would really love to do and I've made a mental note to make sure any trip to England coincides with the football season so I can watch the boys in action."
Sky Blues International is a supporters club for City fans based outside the UK and began taking on members in October 2009.
The organisation now has over 200 members across the world in countries such as Belgium, South Africa, Ireland, the United States of America and many more.
Membership down under has grown rapidly during Sky Blues International's first year with 16 members in New Zealand too.
The addition of Tony means there are now two members in Tasmania, three in South Australia, 10 in Victoria, 11 in Queensland, 11 in New South Wales and 13 in Western Australia.
LIFELONG Sky Blues supporter Ray Green's passion for Coventry City remains as strong as ever despite him living on the other side of the world.
A Coventry lad born and bred, born in Swan Street, has been a supporter of the Sky Blues for more than 75 years since joining the bandwagon in 1947.
So began a 17-year period where he never missed a first or reserve team match.
"I'll always be a Coventry kid and my best team from all them years ago would have to have been Wood, Timmins, Mason, Barratt, McDonnell, Simpson, Warner, Allen, Roberts, Chisholm and Lockhart," he said.
"I think Timmins was the best fullback I have seen and Warner was a joy to watch."
Ray, a fully fledged member of the club's international supporters' club Sky Blues International, also hit a milestone for the club by becoming it's 100th member.
SBI is not the only club Ray is a member of though, also being involved in the Sky Blues' prestigious Diamond Club for supporters of over 50 years.
And although he now lives in Australia he has been back to watch the Sky Blues at the Ricoh Arena, most recently in 2008 although he always keeps up to date with City's fortunes from afar.
IRELAND-based Sky Blues supporter Ray O'Mahony has become the 150th overseas fan to become a member of our global supporters' club Sky Blues International.
The 35-year-old, born in Dublin but now living in Cork, has no link to the city of Coventry except his love for the Sky Blues which started as an 11-year-old while watching legendary City 'keeper Steve Ogrizovic on Match of the Day on a Saturday.
"I suppose for most Coventry supporters living in Ireland they either lived there at some point in time, have family or relatives there," Ray said.
"For me though, the reason I started supporting them was I was a huge fan of Oggy and used to love watching him on Match of the Day every Saturday night.
"I also had the privilege of presenting him a Coventry City Supporters Club Irish Branch award in 1998."
Despite living on the other side of the Irish Sea, Ray is a 2009/10 season ticket holder.
"I go over to the Ricoh arena once a month (I have a very understanding wife!) It's now got to the stage now that friends of mine come over with me for the day out and the great value for money to be had and the bit of craic."
As well as being a staunch City supporter, Ray is also a fan of the shotstoppers, listing Oggy as his all-time favourite player but naming Keiren Westwood as his pick of the current crop.
He also reserved a comment for former City legend and manager Roland Nilsson and named the 1987 FA Cup win as his best memory as a Sky Blues supporter.
"It has to be the 1987 cup final as the day that sticks out but the best game I've ever been to was the 4-1 win over Blackburn in the FA Cup in 2008. That was something else, especially since my brother is a Blackburn Rovers fan. He got some stick after that game."
As the 2009/10 season steadily draws along the final stretch, Ray also had a kind word for his namesake and Coventry chairman Ray Ranson, commending his work since taking the helm at the Ricoh Arena.
"I think Ray Ranson has a good vision for the club and as chairman he has definitely helped the club make progress. We need to remember the club would be in nowhere near as good shape now if he had not come in.
"That being said, having had a progressive season this season I hope we can raise the bar next season and go for the top six!"
LIFELONG Sky Blues fan Mark Murphy could not get much further away from Coventry without getting closer again but he insists his support for City has not waned despite the distance he lives from the Ricoh Arena.
The 44-year-old currently calls Melbourne, Australia as 'home' after moving to the Antipodean nation in 1991 but Mark says he follows City with the same ferocity as he did when he was a fiv-year-old going to his first ever game at Highfield Road.
"My father worked on the buses and at Chrysler in Stoke and he took me to my first game in 1970," he said.
"From that day on I was hooked on Highfield Road, the sky blue shirts, the elephant crest, growing up and going to school my thoughts were always Sky Blue."
The father-of-two also says he can remember the club's earlier days when some of City's much loved cult figures graced the pitch.
"I loved Saturdays going to the game with my old man. In the early years Bill Glazier, Willie Carr, Colin Stein and Tommy Hutchison were my heroes, moving through to Ian Wallace, Danny Thomas and Gary Gillespie etc.
"I followed City home and away for many years funded by a part time job, my parents not knowing that i had been up and down the country following City when they thought I was in town at Tiffany's with mates.
"Yes like all City supporters we know about the thrashings and the miserable times but now and again those Sky Blues pull a result out of the bag and your whole world turns around."
Mark, who was also at the Wembley for City's historic 1987 FA Cup final victory over Tottenham Hotspur, says he has had to adjust his methods of support since moving to the southern hemisphere but his quest for info has remained as staunch as ever.
"When I first moved to Australia I would ring the soccer hotline every Sunday morning praying for a good result because news was hard to get in the early days but now with the internet, the club website and TV coverage things are a lot better."
Despite moving to Oz 19 years ago though, Mark still managed to pay a visit to the Ricoh Arena in August last year, using his brother's weeding in the UK as an excuse to 'swing by'.
"When my brother gave me his date the first thing I thought of was hopefully getting to a game or two.
"I was fortunate to watch City beat Ipswich in the season opener and was at the Hartlepool game and I have to say I was very impressed with the Ricoh Arena.
"I support Melbourne Victory back in Australia in the A League and we have good support, averaging about 20,000 per home game, although I get some funny looks because I insist on wearing my City shirt to games.
"Even my two daughters and my missus appreciate how much I love the Sky Blues."
Mark is also a first for Sky Blues fans, becoming the first veer member of the club's Sky Blues International scheme.
"There are so many great memories of the club, the players, the managers, the people you meet on your travels to games, that's what makes our club a club we love and that's all that matters."
BELGIUM-based Coventry City fan Rob Francis recently became the 60th member of our new Sky Blues International scheme!
The 28-year-old political lobbyist currently makes a home for himself in Belgian capital Brussels but the former Lawrence Sheriff School pupil said despite traveling and living all across Europe, his heart still stayed with the Sky Blues.
"I've lived in Brussels for four-and-a-half years, and before that lived in Maastricht in the Netherlands and studied in Oxford and Munich," he said.
"Because of that I've acquired a liking for all my local teams and still watch them home and away whenever feasible (Oxford Utd, 1860 Munich, MVV Maastricht, Union Saint Gilloise, and the Belgian national team) but it is the Sky Blues with whom I grew up and which will always be my number one team!"
Rob has also become something of a hardcore groundhopper, having visited around 250 different stadia in the UK and on the continent including all the Belgian First Division and the Bundesliga grounds and virtually all the Dutch and French grounds.
But the former season ticket holder said events around the Ricoh Arena would always be where his interest would be focused.
"I was a season ticket holder in the family stand with my dad and sister at Highfield Road and I was always at the games in the holidays when I was back home from university and also traveled to some of our greatest games.
"Villa in 2001? I was there!"
Rob also said he took great pride from being able to talk to fans from all over the world about the Sky Blues.
"I have seen top class matches in Istanbul, Moscow, Belgrade, Rome, Madrid, Zagreb, Lisbon, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, and Montevideo - everywhere I go people ask me who my team is, each time I reply "Coventry City" and each time the person in question has heard of us. Many can even name some of our players.
"Football is a truly global game, and it's great to know that Coventry City is a well-known club!"
SOUTH African-based City fan Mike Monk insists the Sky Blues are still a huge part of his life, despite living on the other side of the world!
The 61-year-old honourary secretary of the Coventry City Cape Town Supporters Club has followed the Ricoh Arena outfit since the days when his father used to take him to the Spion Kop.
Mike, who lives with his wife and fellow City fan Wendy in the South African tourist hotspot, has infact seen Coventry play in almost every division they have featured in including Division Four, Division Three North and South, Division Three, Division Two, Division One and The Premiership.
But the Coca Cola Championship is still on his 'to do' list.
The formation of the Cape Town Supporters' Club was infact almost by accident.
A group of football players in a local amateur side in Cape Town had been playing alongside each other oblivious to the fact a lot of them were born and bred in Coventry.
And so the supporters' club was born.
The club itself currently consists of 12 members with eight coming from Cape Town itself, two from Durban, one from Plettenberg Bay and one in Washington DC, USA (yes we know).
And while meetings are not arranged on a regular basis because of travel distance between members, they still happen and consist of a few drinks and an in-depth discussion about all things Sky Blue!
As for Mike's big move to the Southern Hemisphere, he said: "The big move came about when I was forced to go on strike over a Christmas period and decided I had had enough.
"I made the decision to see if the grass was greener on the other side.
"My wife suggested Canada but we elected to try South Africa first because my parents had just emigrated there, and we have never looked back!"
With the 2010 World Cup also around the corner, Mike and his wife say they are both extremely excited about the prospect of their adopted country playing host to their homeland team.
"The construction of the Green Point Stadium is state-of-the-art and it looks superb at the moment," Mike added.
"We've managed to get tickets for every game at the Green Point, apart from the opening game at the venue, as you can imagine there was a lot of interest in that game!
And lastly a message across the continents from Mike to fellow Coventry City fans to "keep the faith and LET'S ALL SING TOGETHER."
SOLDIER and lifelong Coventry City fan Adam Tyson says he has been using the Sky Blues flag to improve relations with Afghan locals on his tour of duty.
The 20-year-old recently returned from a six-moth tour in the Afghan capital Kabul with the 17 Port Maritime RLC and said he hoped his time in the war-torn region may have turned a few local faces towards the fortunes at the Ricoh Arena.
"We chat with a lot of the locals in Afghanistan and I tell them about Coventry City and they're really interested when I tell them about the club through the Army's translators," he said.
"Football has been great for improving relations with the local communities and we always have regular games with local people as well as the Afghan Army although their style of football seems to be more about kicking you than the ball."
With Afghanistan being a landlocked country, the youngster has spent much of his time on tour with Transport and Force Protection, heading up convoys carrying high ranking members of the British Army including colonels and generals as well as VIPs.
And now he is back in the country, Adam will spend the majority of his time based in Southampton training for his next tour of duty.
"It's great being back in England to catch up with everything that has been going on but all the lads out in theatre try and keep up to date with the football as much as possible.
"I managed to watch the Coventry Ipswich game out there because it was on Sky Sports and when I get the chance I try and listen to the match commentary on Sky Blues Player as much as I can.
"But it's great when I come home because I get to go up to the Ricoh and watch the lads play live so I try and squeeze in as many games as I can when I'm not on duty."
Adam joined the British Army as a 16-year-old and already has a medal to pin to his uniform after his tour in Afghanistan.
And he said, despite the seriousness of the situation in the Greater Middle East, there was always plenty of banter flying between fellow soldiers who also happen to be rival footy fans.
"I got a bit of stick off a sergeant after we lost to Plymouth last season because he supports Plymouth.
"But football has been a great way to relax and keep a smile on your face while you are out there.
"I just hope that while I'm home I can watch Cov climb the league so I've got a bit of ammunition for when I need it!"
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