football photography

How I watched football 2013-14

by glen wilson5 Comments on How I watched football 2013-14
How I watched football 2013-14

Convention tells us that the seasons in which your football team gets relegated are the worst seasons you can ever experience. ‘Despair’ is a word that’s thrown around a lot. ‘Hapless’ is another. This past year I watched Doncaster Rovers fall from the Championship, but neither of those words come close to fitting what I experienced, because, you know what, I really enjoyed it. I know I’m supposed to be in a permanent despondent funk as I mooch about the house toe-ending household pets, but the truth is I can’t look back on the 2013-14 season anything other than fondly. Continue reading “How I watched football 2013-14” →

Rovers managers

Doncaster Rovers Managers | Syd Bycroft and Jack Hodgson

by John CoyleLeave a Comment on Doncaster Rovers Managers | Syd Bycroft and Jack Hodgson
Doncaster Rovers Managers | Syd Bycroft and Jack Hodgson

Back in 1998-99, during Rovers’ first season in non-league the matchday programme was put together by a group of very committed supporters, and an excellent job they did of it too. Among them was long-serving popular STAND contributor John Coyle, with one of his contributions a series looking at the men who have managed the club since re-entering the Football League in 1923. John has very kindly let us reproduce this series here on the popular STAND website, and today we reach the sixth incumbents; Syd Bycroft and Jack Hodgson. Continue reading “Doncaster Rovers Managers | Syd Bycroft and Jack Hodgson” →

football writing

Just a Pub Team

by Jack PeatLeave a Comment on Just a Pub Team
Just a Pub Team

Jack Peat joins the fanzine team to look at social stratification and Doncastrian football fans.

Karl Marx has no place in football. He tried once, replacing Ludwig Wittgenstein in Monty Python’s Philosophers’ Football Match, but did nothing to advance the game. As he retired to the dressing room he decided to write about football stratification in Doncaster instead, and he only went and nailed it. Continue reading “Just a Pub Team” →

popular STAND fanzine

popular STAND fanzine issue 70

by popular STAND fanzineLeave a Comment on popular STAND fanzine issue 70
popular STAND fanzine issue 70

It is the final home game of the season on Saturday, and that of course sadly means the final issue of popular STAND of the season too. Issue 70 of the fanzine will be on sale outside the Keepmoat Stadium from 1:30pm before the Doncaster vs Reading double-header and is, as ever, still only £1.
Continue reading “popular STAND fanzine issue 70” →

football writing

Jack the Miner’s Coalface: Selective Memory

by Alan PatchingLeave a Comment on Jack the Miner’s Coalface: Selective Memory
Jack the Miner’s Coalface: Selective Memory

History is written by the victors and re-written in internet forums

Future issues of popular STAND fanzine will be awash with James Coppinger tributes as he approaches his appearance record. And rightly so. He’s been a mainstay of the re-born DRFC and at the very heart of the champagne moments we’ve witnessed in a glorious period for the club.

Of course, he’s not alone. One other player has put in a shift and has played shoulder to shoulder with Copps in all of those key games. He has helped create history. Continue reading “Jack the Miner’s Coalface: Selective Memory” →

Rovers managers

Doncaster Rovers Managers | Peter Doherty

by John CoyleLeave a Comment on Doncaster Rovers Managers | Peter Doherty
Doncaster Rovers Managers | Peter Doherty

During Rovers’ first season in non-league the matchday programme was put together by a group of very committed supporters, and an excellent job they did of it too. Among them was long-serving popular STAND contributor John Coyle, with one of his contributions a series looking at the men who have managed the club. John has very kindly let us reproduce this series here on the popular STAND website, and today we reach the fifth man on the list, the great Peter Doherty. Continue reading “Doncaster Rovers Managers | Peter Doherty” →

Rovers managers

Doncaster Rovers Managers | Jackie Bestall

by John Coyle1 Comment on Doncaster Rovers Managers | Jackie Bestall
Doncaster Rovers Managers | Jackie Bestall

With Rovers enduring something of a dip in form lately it seems apt to hark back to a more enjoyable time for the club as we continue John Coyle‘s excellent series on Doncaster Rovers’ managers, which was first published in the match programme over a decade ago. We’re up to the fourth manager in the series, Jackie Bestall, as League football returns following the Second World War with a bang.
Continue reading “Doncaster Rovers Managers | Jackie Bestall” →

match previews, rivalries

Doncaster Rovers v Barnsley Preview; Encouraging a Derby

by glen wilson3 Comments on Doncaster Rovers v Barnsley Preview; Encouraging a Derby
Doncaster Rovers v Barnsley Preview; Encouraging a Derby

 

Doncaster Rovers versus Barnsley has failed to take off as a proper derby game. I don’t know why. After all, it has all the ingredients for a mutual hatred ready ingrained in our consciousness. It is hard to believe that for three years I managed to channel enough ire into actively despising Rushden & Diamonds – a bloody shoe-shop works team – when everything was pre-packaged and waiting for us across the Dearne Valley. Continue reading “Doncaster Rovers v Barnsley Preview; Encouraging a Derby” →