‘The dark days are over’ – My Rovers anthem that never caught on

During the time when most top British boxers were starting to make the walk from their dressing room to the ring for a big fight much more showbiz, Rushton thought that British and Commonwealth featherweight champion John Irwin should follow suit.

Rushton knew that I was a hobbyist songwriter and that I had a small studio.

He suggested that he bring John along and we could record a CD for him to use on a forthcoming Sky Sports show.

He assured me that John could sing – he was a better boxer - and I set about writing a song based on his career.

But when John arrived all he wanted to sing was ‘Danny Boy’ unaccompanied so as a compromise we recorded both but we all agreed to go with my song.

From what I remember, due to timing issues on the night, there was no time for the ‘ring walk’ so the song wasn’t used.

But it was played over the PA at the Dome on a Rushton Promotions show a few weeks later with the announcer mentioning I had written and played on it and John had sung on it.

Doncaster Rovers CEO Ian Mahon, another man who was always looking for an angle with which to promote the club, came across to me and said he liked the song and could I do one for the Rovers.

I was initially very reluctant.

Most of the football songs that I’d heard, especially the ‘FA Cup final’ songs were, in my opinion very cheesy. However, I eventually agreed.

It isn’t the best song I’ve written and, in my opinion, nowhere near as good as one I wrote later about the club’s NSPCC fundraising trip to South America, but I thought it would do a job.

As with the Irwin song, I based the lyrics on what I knew about the Rovers with the middle-eight focusing on the post-Richardson era with lyrics such as: ‘The dark days are over, They’ll always be a Rovers, We lost our place in the Football League, But now we’re back, and back to stay.’

My plan was for the players to sing on the song on the CD and for the fans to sing the slightly amended chorus of: ‘’They are the Rovers red through and through, We come down to Belle Vue to see what they can do, They’ll entertain, We’ll not complain, We’ll be back again’ during games.

John Ryan liked the rough demo which had a Britpop feel about it and which featured a driving drum beat, bass, a distorted guitar sound and an organ on the middle eight.

But he wanted a professional singer to record it.

Nothing seemed to happen with the song for a while by which time things hadn’t gone well on the field and didn’t reflect the upbeat lyrics so it was decided to put in on the back burner for that season.

It was a pity as I felt that the fans would have like having ‘their song’ to sing during games as many fans at other clubs, such as Leeds United, do.

To my surprise, I heard another Rovers song a few months later played before a game.

It was more of a ‘produced’ song using computer technology whereas mine was performed using real instruments but I think they did a good job and it was quite catchy.

*I have often been critical over the years in previous versions of this column, which dates back to the early 80s, about Doncaster RLFC’s failure to promote both themselves and the sport better in an area where football dominates.

Despite being less than 30 minutes’ drive from one of the game’s strongholds, for some reason rugby league has failed to replicate the support base enjoyed by Wakefield, Castleford and Featherstone over the years in Doncaster.

It could be argued that the Dons haven’t given the local community much to cheer about over the years – particularly in the 60s and 70s when they regularly propped up the league when operating on a shoestring budget.

And when they have been successful they have not managed to sustain it long enough to be able to capitalise.

The prime example of that is their ill-fated debut season in the top flight in the mid-90s which almost brought about their demise.

The club were also relegated from the Championship the season after they had finished in the top-four and have languished in the bottom division ever since during which time they’ve suffered several play-off defeats including losing the last two finals.

They’ve made no secret of the fact that they are aiming for automatic promotion this season but the recent defeat at table-topping Dewsbury could prove crucial come September.

What isn’t in doubt is that the club are pulling out all the stops to make the match-day experience as good as it can be both on and off the field as well as doing good work in the community.

Not only are Richard Horne’s side playing a brand of rugby which is good on the eye, the pre-match, interval and post-match activities are also proving popular with supporters who have also stepped up to the plate in recent weeks.

Supporters – particularly against Workington – have become much more vocal and lifted the atmosphere at the Eco-Power Stadium which can often be funerial with only a thousand or so fans inside.

Perhaps you wouldn’t ordinarily think about watching rugby league but are looking for something different to do over the summer months?

I’d certainly recommend trying out a Dons match and I’d be very surprised if you didn’t enjoy it.