‘We look really good,’ said one of the lads behind me with a notable tone of pleasant surprise as half-time approached. He wasn’t wrong. From the off Rovers took the game to Wanderers, dominating possession and pitch; indeed all they lacked was a decent cross and a goal – the two not mutually exclusive. Continue reading “Doncaster Rovers 3-0 Wycombe Wanderers: 250 word match report”
Is it really a new season, without a bloke standing under a statue with a bag of paper at his feet, cursing the ice-cream van that’s parked up on his patch? Course it isn’t, so whilst we might’ve all had a lovely time at the Southend seaside, we all know things don’t get properly underway until this Saturday, when you get to turn back the cover on an August edition of popular STAND fanzine. Continue reading “popular STAND fanzine issue 95”
Yorkshire has a national football team, no really. Formed last summer, with the aim of becoming part of CONIFA – the international governing body for Non-FIFA affiliated Associations for association football – its existence has already split opinion, including here at popular STAND fanzine. Here, first printed in issue 93 of the fanzine, Jack Peat and Glen Wilson argue the cases for and against Yorkshire’s national side. Continue reading “County Boundaries – the case for and against Yorkshire’s national football team”
Technology was supposed to make things easier, less stressful. Supposed to. I spent a good few hours this week printing out humorous Yorkshire dialect team descriptors of all the competing nations for our draw, cutting them out, setting up a make-shift filming rig to video the draw, videoing our two draws, downloading Ra-Ra-Rasputin to put over the top. And then just as I was putting it all online… the video files disappeared off into the irretrievable ether. And I had to start all over again.
Continue reading “popular STAND 2018 World Cup charity sweepstake draw”
There’s a World Cup coming up. No, really. England may be playing down their chances, Wales haven’t even bothered qualifying, but there is still much fun to be had. Nigeria and Colombia battling it out for the hearts of the kit hipsters, France and Belgium vying to see who can implode the most spectacularly despite an embarrassment of playing riches; Vladimir Putin contemplating joining in a Mexican Wave. And, of course, the World Cup sweepstake. Continue reading “popular STAND 2018 World Cup charity sweepstake”
‘What the hell are you doing here watching this?’
I was asked that question by an assistant referee on a freezing late February afternoon at Holmesdale. I couldn’t answer it then. I’m still not sure I can. What possesses me to get on a bus and travel for the best part of an hour to the fringes of Bromley, the outskirts of the outskirts, to watch twenty-two men really test the boundaries of what can be defined as a game of football? Continue reading “How I watched football: 2017-18”
Yep. Another fanzine. Already. Less than a month after our 20th birthday issue we’re back again with the difficult follow-up edition, popular STAND fanzine number 94. The perfect accompaniment to the afternoon, and something to read during those quiet moments, you know, like Rovers attacks. Continue reading “popular STAND fanzine issue 94”
‘As Danny said, We’re not dead, we’re still alive. But in football terms, you know, we are dead really.’
Lee Warren, April 1998
There have been many things said about Doncaster Rovers’ worst ever season. Insightful things; erudite things even, but even a thousand Shakespeare’s hammering away eternally on a thousand typewriters couldn’t have nailed better than Lee Warren. This was our captain, interviewed on the way to a must-win away game, trying so hard to say captainly things, but ultimately unable to suspend belief long enough to see out a sentence. Continue reading “Death of a club: Doncaster Rovers 1997-98”
August. That was the last time I saw Rovers score a goal away from home. Eight whole months since I last had cause to lift myself from an unfamiliar stadium seat for anything other than a fellow fan going for a piss. Continue reading “Oldham Athletic 0-0 Doncaster Rovers: 250 word match report”
With Bury already relegated, and Rovers on a five-match unbeaten run, the opening half hour of this match played out to collective expectation. Continue reading “Doncaster Rovers 3-3 Bury: 250 word match report”
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