Following the promising start in their first season in the Football League, hopes were naturally high that Doncaster Rovers would goon to consolidate their tenure in the higher sphere, but the 1902/03 season proved to be a disaster and the team found themselves voted out of the Football League after finishing third from bottom of the Second Division.

Yet, the season opened so promisingly with a point at Burnley, where the Rovers had lost by seven clear goals, some nine months earlier during their first season in the Football League. The first home game, against Preston North End was lost, as was the next away game, but the Rovers got their first victory of the campaign with a home success over neighbours Barnsley in the last week of September.

That first month prove to be a microcosm of the Rovers campaign. Victories were few and far between as the season progressed, and by Christmas only six games had been won. Curiously, one of these was a single goal over Small Heath, later to be known as Birmingham City. The Midlands club were to get their own back in the return game, but more of that later. The Christmas games were also a disappointment with Blackpool winning easily at Bloomfield Road on Christmas Day, whilst the eventual champions, Manchester City, did the double over the Rovers. As if to add insult to injury, a newly built stand was blown down during a severe gale on Christmas night, and at this point the Rovers could have been excused for thinking that the world was against them.

The period between January and February proved to be a pretty barren affair with the Rovers mustering just one league victory in nine starts, and the future was starting to look bleak for the fledgling league club. However late, the Rovers began to make a belated effort to avoid the dreaded drop. Blackpool were handsomely beaten on their visit to the Intake Ground, whilst the next four games yielded five points in the shape of two wins and a draw. Then came Easter Saturday, and the return fixture with Small Heath at their Muntz Street Ground.

We need not go into the gruesome details of the game, suffice it to say that the Rovers were beaten 0-12, which remains their heaviest League defeat. A further heavy defeat at Manchester United followed, and when the Rovers' last league fixture - a goalless draw with Leicester City at the Intake Ground - ended, the season had not concluded a minute too soon.

The Rovers had finished third from bottom of the Second Division and had to apply for re-election. Despite finishing above two other clubs, the Rovers were voted out of the League, even finishing the voting behind Bradford City, who were subsequently elected into the Football League in their first year.

The Rovers lost at Gainsborough Trinity in a qualifying round of the FA Cup and had yet to feature in the competition.