Sunday Bloody Sunday

[Savvy]

Can't get that link to work sadly Albie. Only gets me to some horrible flickr front page.

I probably did buy some progs of you then Savvy I think I was fairly regular from about 77 to about 81. Did you ever know Keith Smith? Ketch? But I refuse to accept any Dons team without Dave Varey in it He was my absolute hero. Mind you, I wouldn't have wanted to meet him, or George, on a dark night though.... I hadn't tagged you as a RL player though. You must have been on the wing! Or fullback I suppose. Later on I did like Jamie Bloem. He was a talented lad. Shame he, and others, decided to do the unorthodox body building. When he came back didn't he do quite well for a while?

It was John Desmond TRB. Just like it was him that in the end cost the Dons Tattersfield

And damn me, but I might even have bumped into BST!

BobG

I was a scrum half at the time Bob, both for the school rugby XV and for the Dons Juniors. Bit of a late developer and ended my career in the second row playing for Broddy Miners Welfare, based at the old Broad Highwayman pub!

You'll no doubt remember Dave Varey's own unique tackling style which usually ended up with the opponent being bodyslammed to the floor over an outstreched leg!!!! The only thing that stopped it being a sending off offence was the fact that he used to have hold of the opponents shirt/arm.

He used to be massive mates with Stewart Piper, and having finished Uni at Sunderland I was a Manager for Asda Warehousing and did two six month secondments to Wigan. I met up with a lad there called Gary Owen ( I kid you not!!!) and spoke to him about a lad that used to play for the Dons and came to them from Wigan St Pats called Dave Varey. He burst out laughing and said Harrys Bar, I asked him what he meant and he said he met him every Monday in Harrys Bar in Wigan, Gary being an ex Wigan player who had been forced to retire due to injury. Ended up back in the hotel one Monday evening half cut....but the memories were worth it!!!

[BobG]

That's a cracking story Savvy. Wish it'd been me! To booze with the man who reinvented tackling... What a thrill! Any idea where Dave is now? What he does? SP definitely spent his life flogging cars down Marshgate somewhere I think.

Can't see you as a second rower though Savvy! One good blow and you'd have floated away

Brilliant thread this. Thanks everybody.

BobG

[Savvy]

All of those lads played for the love back then Bob, losing pay was £6......£4.44p after tax!!! Certainly wasn't for the money!!! The away days at Barrow, Workington and Whitehaven used to be the best!!! Always stopped at Oldham Rugby League club for a meal on the way back!!!

[The Red Baron]

I started watching in about 1971 and stopped in 1978 because we moved to the midlands. They were some pretty lean years, but I soon realised that you didn't go to Tattersfield expecting to win. Great days!

[LongbridgeMGRover]

I moved to the Midlands in 1983, but for a while still went back for Dons games.
However when i saw an article in the Redditch Advertiser about the formation of a new Rugby League club, i answered the call and was one of the four would be players who turned up for training the first night where we realised we didnt have a ball!
Soon i was living the Dons life for real, getting thrashed week after week. We even entered the Challenge Cup and drew Spotland Rangers, a long established Rochdale outfit. Over 200 turned up to watch that day, where everyone expected  a century to be scored against us. But we were magnificent and gave them a real scare, eventually going down 98-0.
Ted Strawbridge, my mates uncle brought a team of youngsters down to play us too, a great gesture from the Dons. And as i had organised this, they let me play for my beloved home team side!! I was so proud to wear Blue and Gold.
The Redditch Club was called Redditch Halcyon, and these were indeed Halcyon days.

[drfc1951]

Ive still got a brochure called The Dons of Tattersfield, to mark 10 years since there formation.Formed in 1951,my granddad collected money from pubs in Rosso to help them reach the £10,000 needed to join the Northern rugby league.

[KnottingleyRover]

That's a cracking story Savvy. Wish it'd been me! To booze with the man who reinvented tackling... What a thrill! Any idea where Dave is now? What he does? SP definitely spent his life flogging cars down Marshgate somewhere I think.

Can't see you as a second rower though Savvy! One good blow and you'd have floated away

Brilliant thread this. Thanks everybody.

BobG

Stuart Piper sold second hand cars in Barnby-Dun from the mid eighties up until the early 2000's Bob Now doing the same at a garage in Tickhill,His adverts in the free press used to make me laugh,Things such as"Ford orion with four wheels,plenty of miles on the clock,also comes with wind screen wipers & ashtray" all very tongue in cheek.

[donnievic]

I came home for that Leeds match. Id sent my mam to get a ticket and i believe it was a sellout with 6,000 there. For those who remembered the bleak sundays of the documentary, this felt like the Rovers at Wembley, playing v Leeds Utd compared to Conference days.
Sadly this was the high water mark for the Dons and their season disintegrated after this due in part to a less than sporting use of performance enhancing drugs by some of the team. The dream was over.

think it was Widnes game live on sky when dons went top of the legue for a day or so having won opening day of season at St helens

[The Red Baron]

Longbridge- I would have loved to have kept up following the Dons after I moved but sadly finances meant I had to choose between them and Rovers.

The poor Sunday rail service and the fact that the Dons didn't play in the midlands were two of the factors that worked against them.

As for playing, I was put off playing rugby of both codes for life at school!

[RedRover45]

I came home for that Leeds match. Id sent my mam to get a ticket and i believe it was a sellout with 6,000 there. For those who remembered the bleak sundays of the documentary, this felt like the Rovers at Wembley, playing v Leeds Utd compared to Conference days.
Sadly this was the high water mark for the Dons and their season disintegrated after this due in part to a less than sporting use of performance enhancing drugs by some of the team. The dream was over.

think it was Widnes game live on sky when dons went top of the legue for a day or so having won opening day of season at St helens

Top of the league for 44 and a half hours lol

[donnievic]

Great while it lasted though

[Al4475]

I used to enjoy and play a bit of rl at intake middle school - was a centre - it was down to our teacher at the time, alan lowndes, who I think had some sort of rl career prior to teaching, he could've played for castleton but I may be well wrong! Bob g's dad (if I'm not mistaken) was our head at the time! So we had a huge drfc fan, dons fan and ru specialist in john hill (rip) all at the same time! I played rl on tattersfield and footy at bv with the school quite regularly! Happy days - always good fun watching lowndesy and mr hill argue over the greater rugby code! And then have ray gilbert jabbering on about rovers! Only really remember parkhouse and pennant from the dons team of the era but am sure they ended up eventually hitting the top flight for a season and being top after about two or three games following a sky broadcast match against st. Helens (?)

[Al4475]

Am pretty sure (tho could be very wrong) that rovers hit top of the bottom tier that same weekend - vaguely recall a 'green un' headline about 'no prizes which town in our region is happiest at the moment!' Or somesuch!

[The Red Baron]

Am pretty sure (tho could be very wrong) that rovers hit top of the bottom tier that same weekend - vaguely recall a 'green un' headline about 'no prizes which town in our region is happiest at the moment!' Or somesuch!

That was 1994-95. IIRC Rovers started that season quite well. Not to say that they didn't lose the weekend that the Dons went top though.

[BillyStubbsTears]

TRB

We did indeed start 94/95 very well.

http://www.statto.com/football/teams/doncaster-rovers/1994-1995/results

No goals conceded in the first 6 league games. Two defeats in the first 18 league games and we were 3rd at Xmas. Then the wheels came off and we only won 7 of the last 28 league games.

Have to say, I don't recall much of that season. Was that the year that O'Neill Donaldson started for us, did nowt, then went to Mansfield on loan and scored a bagful?

Edit: Bit of Googling. It was the season that Donaldson started with us then went to Mansfield. This was early Richardson time, when he was still bringing in some excellent players. We had Russ Wilcox, Chris Swailes, Ian Measham, Jon Schofield, Gary Brabin, Graeme Jones, Steve Harper, Micky Norbury and that head case David Roache.

[The Red Baron]

TRB

We did indeed start 94/95 very well.

http://www.statto.com/football/teams/doncaster-rovers/1994-1995/results

No goals conceded in the first 6 league games. Two defeats in the first 18 league games and we were 3rd at Xmas. Then the wheels came off and we only won 7 of the last 28 league games.

Have to say, I don't recall much of that season. Was that the year that O'Neill Donaldson started for us, did nowt, then went to Mansfield on loan and scored a bagful?

It was. And we then flogged him to Wednesday at a profit where he regained his normal state of abstinence in front of goal.

[ravenrover]

I used to go as a young sprog back in the 60's, names I can remember Kevin Doyle, Peter Goodchild, George "Tank" Goodyear, Alan? Hepworth and they pretty awful then. I got to know Alan Rhodes in later life through work.

[drfc1951]

I used to go as a young sprog back in the 60's, names I can remember Kevin Doyle, Peter Goodchild, George "Tank" Goodyear, Alan? Hepworth and they pretty awful then. I got to know Alan Rhodes in later life through work.

Do you remember Mal Kirk and Ted Heath? along with George Goodyear they were professional wrestlers.

[The Red Baron]

I used to go as a young sprog back in the 60's, names I can remember Kevin Doyle, Peter Goodchild, George "Tank" Goodyear, Alan? Hepworth and they pretty awful then. I got to know Alan Rhodes in later life through work.

Do you remember Mal Kirk and Ted Heath? along with George Goodyear they were professional wrestlers.

I remember Ted Heath. He went into politics. Should have stuck with the wrestling and rugby league!

[Prez]

The team we had for the 94/95 season would have pissed promotion had it not been for the sale of key players (sound familiar?) Jamie Lawrence, chris swales etc. Donaldson did indeed score a hat full for Mansfield, though they were all scoring goals for fun, they were averaging 4 goals a game at one point.

The one highlight though in the second half of the season was the 5-0 win at scunny and Norburys hat-trick.

[BobG]

A14475

Alan Lowndes played for Castleford. I'm almost certain he won a RL Cup winners medal with them. He retired, and went into teacing, as a result of injury I think. You're dead right it was my Dad at Intake Middle. The hours I've spent in that place, even when it was still Plover school. Used to have my school dinners there even though I went to Robin as an infant   He used to take me to Plover/IM as a youngster while he did mysterious things with bits of paper or the piano or weird bits of equipment.  I wonder if he ever mentioned Brian and Alan Lingard in your hearing? They were both downright superb footballers. Even I could see that as a young sprog. Old Dad took an interest in the pair of them right up to his dying day. Brian, sadly, died not long after my Dad did. 

BobG

[Hounslowrover]

I remember Alan Lowndes at Thorne Grammar, he was a year or two ahead of me.  At sports day it was eagerly awaited, the sprint (100 yards, of course) final between Alan and Howard (??) Firth, both quick boys.  I think he was called Howard and I think he played rugby union for Hull and ER.

[Dn2Dn0]

A14475

Alan Lowndes played for Castleford. I'm almost certain he won a RL Cup winners medal with them. He retired, and went into teacing, as a result of injury I think. You're dead right it was my Dad at Intake Middle. The hours I've spent in that place, even when it was still Plover school. Used to have my school dinners there even though I went to Robin as an infant   He used to take me to Plover/IM as a youngster while he did mysterious things with bits of paper or the piano or weird bits of equipment.  I wonder if he ever mentioned Brian and Alan Lingard in your hearing? They were both downright superb footballers. Even I could see that as a young sprog. Old Dad took an interest in the pair of them right up to his dying day. Brian, sadly, died not long after my Dad did. 

BobG

I remember both Mr Lowndes & Mr Gilbert at IM (can't bring myself to use their first names). Remember one winter when the teacher, cant think of his name, called football practice off due to snow on the pitch. We were all devastated & Mr Gilbert must have got wind of it and took the session himself. Playing in what seemed like 3 foot of snow, with him running around giving us bags of encouragement.

[BobG]

Ha ha ha!! That sounds EXACTLY like him DN2! He never had any truck at all with faint hearts who wouldn't get on and deal with whatever life put in the way.

Anyone on here remember Richard (Dickie) Jackson? He was the first headmaster of Plover school when it opened in the 50's. Stayed there for aeons until he retired.

BobG

[Al4475]

Dn2 - I would never have dreamed of calling any of them by first names until I started teaching and was on an even keel with em! Haha! Remember taking my first kingfisher school footy team up there to play (Y5s in a Y6 tourney and they did very well) - a big booming voice shouted out across the field, "roberts! What are you doing here sunshine I thought we'd got rid of you 15 years ago!" I quaked, my knees trembled and lowndesy (who was retired by then and helped out occasionally with logistics and organisation of sports events) ha reduced me to a wreck in front of my team - fcukin hillarious and a top top bloke!

[dearborn]

I remember Mr Jackson at Plover and I was  captain of the school football team in 1954 which was coached by Mr Gilbert. Long time ago now but wonderful days.
I used to bump into Mr Gilbert on the Popside at OBV on my return from living in the US.
Wonderful man.

Dave Rayner

[afro goal machine]

Anybody recognise the night club ???

[BobG]

A14475: Who was the head at Kingfisher when you were there? I did a couple of weeks voluntary TP there before going off to do a PGCE. The head (what WAS his name?!) had me in for fatherly chats about  3 times a week. Snag was, by the second week i was starting to feel a bit cocky. I managed to blurt out 'bloody' while in the classroom. I was mortified - and terrified too. My dad never ever swore in front of me and he was bound to find out if the news got to the head at Kingfisher. (The headmasters mafia is a downright menace). So I took the bull by the horns, told him myself, apologised and crossed my fingers. He then proceeded to totally dumbfound me by saying words very close to "Oh don't worry about that. Your Dad has got the foulest mouth in Doncaster!"

I wish I could remember his name! Harry Gleadall? But I don't think it was him. Who followed him?

Cheers

BobG

[Al4475]

The head at Kingy when I was there was Dave Bennington, formerly a teacher at Intake first, Deputy (and possibly Head) at Park - Kingy was always the one closest to his heart! I think he went there as a kid and everything!