Doncaster Rovers F.C.

Did You Know?

• Doncaster Rovers were involved in the longest ever competitive football match, against Stockport County on 30 March 1946, which lasted 203 minutes before being stopped due to darkness.
• In 1904–05, Doncaster finished bottom of Division 2 with only 8 points (W3 D2 L29), a record that still stands.
• Harry Gregg, sold to Manchester United in December 1957 for £23,500, was the most expensive goalkeeper in the world at the time and later helped save lives in the Munich air disaster.
• Tom Keetley is the club's highest scorer with 186 goals in 241 appearances.
• In 1946–47, Doncaster set a record for the most games won in a league season (33) when they won the Third Division North title.

History

Doncaster Rovers began in 1879 when Albert Jenkins, a fitter at the town’s Great Northern Railway works, got some friends together for a game against the Yorkshire Institute for the Deaf. That September, the institute side raced to a 4–0 lead, but the match finished 4–4. On the walk home, the group stopped at the Hall Cross pub, talked things over, and decided to keep playing, naming themselves Doncaster Rovers. Their first official match under that name came on 3 October 1879, a draw away to Rawmarsh.

The club went professional in 1885, and by the 1887–88 season they had their first paid players. They entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1888–89, losing 9–1 at home to Rotherham Town. The 1890–91 season marked a big step forward: they became a founder member of the Midland Alliance League and finished second. The next year they won the Sheffield and Hallamshire FA Challenge Cup, beating Sheffield United 2–1 at Bramall Lane, and also moved up to the Midland League, where they were champions in 1896–97 and 1898–99.

In 1901 they were elected to the Football League, replacing New Brighton Tower. Their debut season gave them their highest ever league finish, 7th in the Second Division, but they lasted only two years before being voted out in favour of Bradford City. After a season back in the Midland League, they were re-elected to Division 2, only to finish bottom in 1904–05 with just 8 points—a record that still stands—and were voted out again. They spent several seasons in the Midland League, mostly midtable, until a stronger spell between 1910 and 1913.

By August 1914, mounting debts forced voluntary liquidation, but a new club was formed in time for the 1914–15 season and was accepted into the Midland League. The outbreak of the First World War shut the club down, and the army took over the ground for use as a depot.

Stadium

For the first six years the club played on fields at Town Moor and the Racecourse. A permanent ground was gained in 1885 near the Institute for the Deaf and Dumb, known as the Deaf and Dumb Ground. A year later it was officially named the Intake Ground. Shortly after completion the roof blew off the stand, and the same happened in 1894 on the press and team officials stand.

The club played there until August 1914 when it went into liquidation. A new company took over, but league competition was suspended in 1915 due to the First World War, and the ground became an Army depot. When the club re-formed in summer 1919, the Army still occupied the Intake Ground. A move to Low Pastures was blocked by the local council.

As a temporary solution, a field was found on the south side of Bennetthorpe, given a two-year lease. In the 1921–22 season at the Bennetthorpe Ground, 7,219 people watched a Midland League match against Gainsborough Trinity. The ground had a small stand on one side and small organised terraces.

Crests

Doncaster Rovers originally used the town's coat of arms as their crest. That emblem featured two lions holding Yorkshire roses and a red shield with medieval Doncaster Castle. The red and white of the coat of arms led the club to adopt those same colours. The club dropped the coat of arms in 1972 when a new Viking crest appeared.

The change was prompted by the local council refusing permission for the coat of arms in the 1960s, which led to a design competition. A group of local students won with a design called "the Viking." It showed a monochrome Viking figure on a red and white circle, the year 1879, a shield with the initials D.R.F.C., and a Yorkshire white rose. This Viking image became known as "The Turk's Head."

In the early 1990s, the crest was changed: the red and white circle was removed, and the Viking was coloured gold. Another update came in 2006, lasting until 2012, with a new Yorkshire rose on the shield and a dark yellow Viking. In 2012, the club went back to the earlier design, now with a two-tone gold background, which remains the current crest.

Kits and sponsorship

Doncaster Rovers initially wore blue and white from 1879 until 1885, when they switched to red and white. Their very first kit featured a navy blue and white shirt with a yellow diagonal cross, paired with a blue Tam o' Shanter cap topped with a red toorie. When the club joined the English Football League in 1901, they adopted a solid red shirt with a black collar. Since 2001, the home shirt has been red and white hoops.

Over the club's history, the home shirts have been red and white hooped for 44 seasons, solid red for 37, solid white for 18, and red and white striped for 10. In more recent years, a third kit has been used each season to promote the mental health charity Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). LNER extended their sponsorship for two more years after the 2018–2019 season, while Stoneacre signed a new contract running until the end of the 2021–2022 season, bringing their partnership to 13 years.