Doncaster Rovers: How dad jokes are helping to build bridges and team spirit

It may be in a physical situation, a social one, or related to memory. There was another instance, too, but it’s been forgotten.

Depending on your age, you might have appreciated the attempt at humour in that last sentence.

If so, you probably enjoy the ingenuity of dad jokes - another part of growing older.

Adam Clayton, Lee Tomlin and Tommy Rowe certainly do.

At 33, the trio are the elder statesman in the Doncaster Rovers’ dressing room.

They are three of just five players aged 30 and above. No fewer than 19 of the other 24 are under 25.

"We wind them up...regularly,” Rowe says of their relationship with the club’s young'uns, collectively known as Gen Z.

“They don’t quite get it. You get to a certain age and you don’t have to have children but you have dad jokes.

"Whether it’s me, Tommo or Clayts we are constant with them. It builds good camaraderie.

"They learn more about you – what not to say around you – and we learn more about how we can wind them up. It’s good fun.”

Judge Rowe revealed he and the other members of the panel have presided over several kangaroo court hearings following an alleged crime against the dressing room.

Numerous punishments for a variety of misdemeanours have been meted out – but all in good faith, he insists.

All in all, however, the blend of old and new is working well - as evidenced by results on the pitch this term.

Rowe adds: "It’s a challenge with them, us buying into it.

"You can’t be a dinosaur, you have got to get involved.”

Have there been any moments that have left the old boys scratching their heads, though?

"Song choices in the changing room are difficult at times,” reveals Rowe, who prefers Thom Yorke’s Radiohead or an episode of The High Performance Podcast to, say, the likes of YouTuber and rapper KSI or the latest TikTok challenge.

"You want the majority of the players to be in a good mood before the game.

"But we’ve got a good balance with a mixture of different songs.

"It’s difficult finding one rule that fits everyone.”