Donny Rovers

[Hazza Has A Gazza]

Are they big rivals, or just another local team? What camp are you in?
This should be our biggest rivalry. It was the first game I looked for when the fixtures came out.
I really enjoyed that last gasp equaliser at their place.
But I just don't hate them like they do us.
The rivalry with Bradford feels more genuine than this one, Chesterfield also.
I've really tried to see Donny as our main rivals, but for me they're just not.
The Donny fans I've met over the years can't digest the fact that their obsession with us is not reciprocated. So like I said, it should be our biggest rivalry, but I just don't feel it.
Maybe in time..

[wrinkly]

I agree (apart from the Bradford bit - Bradford???). I posted this on another thread:

"In 2001 I was on a training course. On the first day everybody had to say a few words about themselves. We had just achieved back to back promotions with King Ronnie and Donny were non-league. I mentioned that I was a Millers fan. Going round the room we eventually got to this bloke who said "I am a Donny Rovers fan so I obviously hate him, but I don't suppose he's bothered about us now that they are playing the likes of Wednesday"

I said that I was never particularly bothered about Donny, regardless of the league we were in. Apart from schooldays in Maltby when we had kids from Tickhill, Rossington, Edlington at the school that's always been the case.

Donny see us as their main rivals - the team they love to beat - and they seem to resent that we don't feel the same way about them. It's really not a matter of disrespect it's just the way it is. We have a city team just down the road with more than their fair share of arrogant supporters, most of them show little or no respect for our team or our town and, for most of us, they are the team we love to beat. Obviously the massive don't feel the same about us, for valid reasons, but I don't care. I can take more pleasure in beating them than anyone else without feeling slighted because the feeling is not reciprocal.

I'm not sure why Donny dislike us so much. I don't consider we come across as acting superior to them (apart from the odd idiot on Radio Sheffield) We are similar sized clubs in similar sized towns with roughly similar histories. Perhaps it's because we are their nearest neighbours.

On Saturday, a local derby played before a full house, my attitude will change. For that day I will be desperate for us to beat them and claim the bragging rights but, more importantly, keep our fantastic run going.

After that I wish them well. "

[animallittle3]

It's funny you should mention this but they are the same with us .

Everytime something happens at our club they are on it on their board , they frequently use the term " our biggest rivals " and this that and the other .

I'm not playing the Billy Bigtime card here trust me but nobody gives a shyte about them over here , couldn't care less .

[Hazza Has A Gazza]

Wrinkly, I'll expand a bit on the Bradford thing.
It only really started when we moved to the NYS, with Steve Evans. Their fans despise him, and therefore despised us. There was endless banter between our fans and theirs on social media which often got personal. I enjoyed wins against them more than any other team, and I still do. Maybe it's just me?

[Hazza Has A Gazza]

Animal, I guess a couple of decades of being the lowest ranked club in the region, as Doncaster were, has that effect on their fans. Bitterness and jealousy aplenty.

[gm_gm]

Its getting silly now...of course they are our rivals they are 14 miles away, we wouldn't have taken 4,500 supporters to a televised game if we didn't care

[animallittle3]

Animal, I guess a couple of decades of being the lowest ranked club in the region, as Doncaster were, has that effect on their fans. Bitterness and jealousy aplenty.

On the train on route to our FA cup semi final in 2008 who should be sat opposite us but their ex owner Ryan and his posse .

He struck up a conversation with us , he was an ok guy but he never shut up about us the whole journey despite my attempts to talk about his club .

Feckin hell he knew more about us than we did , bizarre .

[Hazza Has A Gazza]

GM I'm not denying they're rivals, just wondering if anyone feels it as much as they do. In an England v Scotland kind of way.

[MILLERSTALE]

Its getting silly now...of course they are our rivals they are 14 miles away, we wouldn't have taken 4,500 supporters to a televised game if we didn't care

14 miles away ? what route do you take ?

They are a local team,fair enough, but, we never seem to be rivals in any division we play in ! I cannot remember slugging it out for a promotion slot at any time in my history with Donny,unlike Barnsley, who we have slugged it out with on several occasions! At least one year when we both went up together !

[wrinkly]

Of course they are rivals. It's a question of degree. I think most would agree though that they are not the team we most like to beat and that they see it as a bigger rivalry than we do.