Skip to main content Skip to site footer
Club News

Football Remembers

9 November 2018

Club News

Football Remembers

9 November 2018

Sponsored by

A special commemorative coin will be used for the coin toss ahead of the FA Cup game at Chorley which takes place on the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.

Bespoke commemorative coins from the Royal British Legion will be used for the coin toss at every Premier League, EFL and FA Cup match to pay tribute and say thank you to all those involved in the First World War.

Remembrance Sunday coincides with the Armistice Centenary, and a range of Football Remembers activity has been taking place to mark the efforts of servicemen and women, past and present.

An oak tree has been planted at Rovers' Cantley Park training ground, alongside a commemorative plaque, to create a living legacy to Rovers' players who were killed during the First World War.

There will also be a ceremony at the memorial garden outside the Keepmoat Stadium on Sunday, before supporters coaches leave for the FA Cup game. Wreaths will be laid on behalf of supporters and the club.

Rovers staff have been made aware of at least four former players who were killed during the 1914-1918 conflict.

Ernest Edgar Ellis and Major Booth both lost their lives on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, a five-month conflict which saw more than one million people killed or wounded and is one of the bloodiest battles in recorded history.

Centre-forward Frederick Waterson was killed during the Hundred Days Offensive, which eventually pushed the conflict to a conclusion.

And Henry Birkett Shimelds passed away in a French hospital on November 10 1918, the day before the war ended, from the deadly Spanish flu pandemic

The four Rovers players known to have died in World War One are:

Ernest Edgar Ellis (killed in the Battle of the Somme, 1/7/16)
Major Booth (killed in the Battle of the Somme, 1/7/16)
Frederick Waterson (killed on the Western Front, 12/8/18)
Henry Birkett Shimelds (died from Spanish flu on 10/11/18)

* with thanks to John Coyle and LadBible for research


Advertisement block

iFollow Next Match Tickets Account