Kit help

[roversdude]

Question for Dutch Uncle
There is currently a post on Facebook group looking back at Doncaster showing Rovers in quartered shirts with the write up
Serina Stenson has sent this photograph of a Doncaster Rovers X1 which includes her grandfather, William (Bill) Downing who is sat at the center at the front with the ball between his feet. I have never see a pic of a Rovers first team XI wearing quartered shirts before, so it may be a reserve XI. Serina, could you ascertain how old your granddad is in this photograph? I can't find his name in any of the Rovers records. It's certainly in Doncaster, at the racecourse. Can anyone help?

Sorry can’t get the photo to post

[Bentley Bullet]

Rovers played in halved shirts in 1895/97, but can't find any evidence of a quartered kit.

http://www.historicalkits.co.uk/Doncaster_Rovers/Doncaster_Rovers.htm

[idler]

Question for Dutch Uncle
There is currently a post on Facebook group looking back at Doncaster showing Rovers in quartered shirts with the write up
Serina Stenson has sent this photograph of a Doncaster Rovers X1 which includes her grandfather, William (Bill) Downing who is sat at the center at the front with the ball between his feet. I have never see a pic of a Rovers first team XI wearing quartered shirts before, so it may be a reserve XI. Serina, could you ascertain how old your granddad is in this photograph? I can't find his name in any of the Rovers records. It's certainly in Doncaster, at the racecourse. Can anyone help?

Sorry can’t get the photo to post

I don’t think that it is a Rovers team. There is a list of players on one of the posts and I don’t think that any of them played for the Rovers. None of the names rang a bell. It looks late 40s to mid 50s and I’m sure that there would have been some familiar names. I wonder if the team had been playing at Sandal Beat which would explain the picture being taken with the race course stand in the background.

[Bezza]

Seems as though its a local team, they are wearing different socks,

[idler]

I've asked for permission to put the photo on here which might help.

[roversdude]

Cheers Idler

[idler]

Here goes. Hope it's worked.

[idler]

The captain is Bill Downing, the guy in the suit on the left is Hubert Wagstaff. Back row top left is Donald Wagstaff and next to him is his brother Geoff. Another brother Harold appears on a different photo of the same team.
I wonder if it could be a Thursday League team. It looks like Bill Downing and Harold Wagstaff worked at M&S. Did they have a team in that league when Thursday was early closing day?

[ravenrover]

As was usual around that time there is something written on ball usually the team name and year but I can't make it out when I expand the photo

[idler]

The bottom two lines say STRAIGHT EIGHTEEN. These look to be printed on. I wonder if the ball was made of eighteen panels stitched together with the makers name above?
The words do seem printed on rather than written by hand as was usual.