A DARWEN man has helped put Blackburn Rovers on the map by showing off a flag at one of the world’s historic sporting events.

Dean Jones enjoyed a chance-of-a-lifetime trip to America to watch Wrestlemania 35 and took his Rovers flag to the showpiece event.

He said: “My passions are Blackburn Rovers and wrestling and I thought Rovers needed some exposure.

“There were Kean Out signs but that was negative but I wanted something people would recognise in 20 years time.

“A few people were tagging me in photographs of the event holding my flag. It was quite expensive as we went for five days but it was amazing.

“The closest thing I came to something like that with Rovers was when they won the Worthington Cup in Cardiff.”

The trip meant that the 30-year-old had to miss Saturday’s loss to Stoke City and also Tuesday’s 2-0 victory against Derby County.

He said: “It was hard to miss the games but they were the only two I missed for 10 years.

“It was a sacrifice I had to take and I was told Tuesday’s game was the best performance of the season so hopefully we can kick on with good performances until the end of the season.

Dean says his personal highlight of the event was Kofi Kingston winning the WWE Championship.

“When Kofi became the first African American in history to win the title it was a historical night.

“It was a quality match to see him beat Daniel Bryant.”