Barnsley
Barnsley were founded in 1887 as Barnsley St Peter’s and they originally played in blue but switched to red and white in 1904.
After competing in the Sheffield and District League and the Midland League, they joined the Football League in 1898, a year after dropping St Peter’s from their name.
FA Cup runners up in 1910, Barnsley won the trophy in 1912, beating West Bromwich Albion 1-0 after a replay.
Having spent much of their history playing Second and Third Division football, the club were promoted to the Premier League at the end of the 1996/97 season, though their stay in the top tier was a brief one as they were relegated after just one season.
Relegated from the Championship at the end of last season, Barnsley will be looking to bounce back at the first attempt under new manager Michael Duff, the former Cheltenham Town boss.
The club, that has played at its current home, Oakwell, since 1888, won their last major trophy in 2016 when they beat Oxford United 3-2 in the Wembley final, watched by a crowd of 59,230.
The clubs have met in the league on 30 occasions, with Rovers winning nine, Barnsley 12 and there have been nine draws.
The two FA Cup meetings, in 1910 and 1999 both ended in wins for Barnsley, 4-0 in 1910 in a game played at Eastville and 4-1 at Oakwell in 1999.
The first league meetings came in 1955/56 when Barnsley were 4-3 winners at Oakwell in November followed by a 1-1 draw at Eastville in the return fixture in February 1956.
The last meetings between the sides were in the 2018/19 season and both ended in home wins. Barnsley were 1-0 winners at Oakwell in October 2018 while Rovers won 2-1 in the return fixture in May 2019.
Players to have turned out for both clubs include Victor Adeboyejo, Kevin Austin, Stewart Barrowclough, John Bethune, Jamie Cureton, Keith Curle, Rory Fallon, Jimmy Humes, Scott Jones, Oli McBurnie, Liam Lawrence, Kevin Miller, Carl Regan, Stefan Payne, Luke Thomas and George Williams.
Former Rovers manager Brough Fletcher was manager of Barnsley from 1930 – 1937.
Rovers players who have made their league debut against Barnsley include Kenny Stephens and Gordon Fearnley (both 1970/71) and Colin Gordon (1990/91).
The clubs meet each other at Oakwell on 16th August with the return fixture being played at the Mem on 4th March 2023.
A round trip from the Mem to Oakwell (capacity 23,287) takes in 372 miles via the M5 and M1.
Barnsley FC
Oakwell Stadium
Grove Street
Barnsley
S71 1ET
Keith Brookman
(images courtesy of JMP)