WORST. SEASON. EVER.
Grief and anger populate the streets of Doncaster. Lining the roads leading to Belle Vue, hundreds of mourners march in unison towards the ground, surrounding a funeral procession that carries a sign reading: ‘The Rovers, Cruelly Taken Away’. Led by a pallbearer dressed in a full black suit and top hat, the cortege snakes its way to the foot of the old stadium’s family stand, where a number of wreaths and handmade memorials are laid to commemorate the departed.
Despite the sombre atmosphere created by the mock funeral Doncaster Rovers fans are holding, no one has died. But as the supporters edge their way to Donny’s final fixture of the 1997-98 season, a feeling of loss is everywhere.
“It felt like a real funeral, like the death of the club,” says then-Doncaster Rovers Supporters’ Club secretary Maureen Stephenson.
“We had a trumpeter playing the Last Post, we laid wreaths and there were grown-ups crying – me included. It was heartbreaking. I honestly believed that was the end of Rovers.”
The demonstration was the culmination of one of the worst campaigns English football has ever witnessed. And not just because the South Yorkshire side’s beleaguered squad had suffered a Football League record 34
