Talking Sport Now & Then: ​There's a buzz about Doncaster Rovers again

Rovers’ 4-0 win over Accrington Stanley at the weekend was their eighth in as many games and saw them break a 77 year-old club record. It is likely to be many years before the new record will be challenged - especially if they can manage to add at least one win.

Rovers had equalled the record of seven successive wins when beating Walsall in midweek. Prior to that they had avenged a humiliating 5-0 home defeat by Morecambe in December which must have been particularly pleasing for those fans who made the trip to the seaside resort.

Unlike the 1946-47 team, also enjoyed runs of five and six successive wins earlier in the season, there was little or no indication that such a record-breaking run was about to happen.

Indeed, at the start of the year there were growing concerns about a possible relegation to the National League.

In fairness to returning manager Grant McCann, Rovers’ cause in the first half of the season and beyond wasn’t helped by a glut of injury problems. But the return of some key players and some good work in the loan market, has seen him turn things around in some style and if they do make the play-offs they will not lack confidence.

If they don’t go up this season, Rovers will looking to hit the ground running next season and establish themselves in the promotion race from the get go.

*Hundreds of Doncaster golfers, myself included will have been glued to their TV sets last weekend to take in Masters, the first major of the 2024 season.

It is probably my favourite major not only because of the challenges the course presents but its aesthetic beauty.

The fact that the event is always played on the same course also helps it stand out from the rest.

As does the fact that it is the only one of the four majors to present the winner with a green jacket which has become one of the most iconic sporting garments in the world.

Only a handful of British golfers have brought the green jacket back to the UK over the year the last being South Yorkshire’s Danny Willett.

He beat defending champion Jordan Spieth and Worksop’s Lee Westwood – arguably one of the best golfers never to have won the title - by three strokes in 2016.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Danny in Doncaster a year or so before he triumphed at Augusta, and I’d like to think that he might have picked up a few tips during our conversation which may have helped him. What do you think?

*My joy at picking the first two in Saturday’s Grand National – the only time I have a bet on sporting events - was quickly tempered by the news that two of the horses had had to be put down.

I appreciate that the racing authorities have made many improvements to the race in recent years to try and improve safety for both horse and jockey. In fact, it could be argued that in doing so they have robbed the world-famous race of some of its drama.

But there is clearly still more to do make the sport safer for horses so that punters don’t feel guilty, as I did on Saturday night, about their involvement in the death of the animals.

*I still come across the odd rugby league supporter who yearns for a return to winter rugby.

But even they must be convinced that the sport made the right decision when switching to summer rugby in the late 90s after witnessing some of the early-season games which were badly affected in terms of entertainment and skill levels by rain-affected pitches.

For many years Doncaster RLFC’s old Tattersfield ground was one of the worst, if not the worst in the rugby league, and I dread to think what it would have been like had the Dons still been playing there.

To be fair, the club’s notoriously boggy pitch often did them a favour during the days when they were often on the wrong end of a big scoreline in that it proved a great leveller.

One game that springs to mind was when the Dons beat mighty Hull Kingston Rovers on a quagmire of a pitch in a John Player Trophy clash in the mid-80s. There was no way that the Dons would have beaten the Robins on a dry track but the visitors attack got bogged down on what proved to be a memorable day for the club.

In stark contrast, the Dons now play on one of the best playing surfaces. Considering how wet the last few months have been, and the fact that there have been six rugby league games played on the pitch as well as the odd Belles game, the Eco-Power Stadium pitch looks in remarkably good condition so ‘well done’ the ground staff!

*Many older readers will remember promising Doncaster Rovers defender Paul Raven who was snapped up as a teenager by West Brom and went on to make over 300 appearances for them over the next 11 years.

But did you know that Paul was also a useful hockey player? He helped Doncaster Hall Cross U16s reach the national finals in 1986 though they failed to emulate the feat of their 1982 counterparts who brought the title back to the school.

I can’t remember ever interviewing Paul but I do remember interviewing young tennis prospect Sarah Makepiece, who he later married, on my first-ever visit to Doncaster Lawn Tennis Club, which led to my wife and I subsequently joining the club.