Short remembrance service before Saturday's game
Doncaster Rovers will welcome the Royal British Legion to the Keepmoat Stadium on Saturday to help mark the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme as part of the EFL’s Remembrance commemorations.
Rovers players, staff and fans will pay their respects to mark the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme which ended 100 years earlier on 18 November 1916.
Rovers will hold a pre-match ceremony in partnership with the Royal British Legion, with a wreath laid on the pitch as part before the traditional playing of the Last Post by a bugler and a minute’s silence. Similar activities have been carried out at all 72 EFL clubs to remember and honour all of those that have fallen in battle.
Club Doncaster chief executive Gavin Baldwin said: “As a club we feel it appropriate to pay our respects, and it will have more poignancy with it being the Centenary of the ending of the Battle of the Somme – a terrifying battle which claimed the lives of more than one million people.
“We know many people from the area made the ultimate sacrifice during the two world wars, so it is right to take a few moments to think of them.”
EFL communications director Mark Rowan said: “Every single one of our clubs lost players, staff and supporters, it is only right and appropriate that we pay a tribute. Football is all about community and the EFL’s clubs, fans and staff will all stand in silence together to pay our respects.”
Fought over 141 days between July 1 and November 18 1916, the Battle of the Somme was one of the defining battles of the First World War. With more than 400,000 British casualties and more than one million men of all nationalities killed, the Somme remains one of the most brutal individual battles ever fought.
One hundred years on, the Battle of the Somme is being remembered across the country as part of the official First World War Centenary commemorations – with Sky Bet Championship clubs also holding similar ceremonies before all games this weekend.