Featherstone Rovers are based in a small town near Pontefract in West Yorkshire. To the vast majority of fans they are referred to as "The Colliers" emphasising how close the link was between Featherstone Rovers and the local mining community. The team currently play at the Post Office Road. The town has a population of some 16,000 people and Featherstone Rovers have graced the top levels of the game in a manner that belies their smalltown background. They are often seen as rivals with Castleford Tigers and Wakefield Trinity. The team has had the honour of taking home the Challenge Cup three times, in 1967, 1973 and 1983. In 1977 the team went on to win the Championship.

The Rovers were initially formed in the Railway Hotel in 1902. The club were originally made up of local miners who worked in the collieries in the area and during the 1912-1913 seasons played at the Featherstone Main Collery Welfare ground. The team first became recognised as a semi-professional club in 1921 when they beat Bradford Northern in their first game as a senior team. Featherstone Rovers reached the Championship final after seven seasons and in the 1939-1940 took home their first piece of major silverware when they lifted the Yorkshire Cup.

In 1952 the Featherstone Rovers first visited Wembley Stadium to play in the Challenge Cup Final, the first to be televised. Unfortunately the Featherstone Rovers were defeated 18-10 by Workington Town in front of the record breaking crowd of over 72,000 people. In 1967 Featherstone Rovers were finally able to take Challenge Cup Final success despite being placed very low in the league tables when they beat Bradford Northern, Wakefield Trinity, Castleford and Leeds to earn their place at Wembley. They went on to repeat the feat seven years later when Bradford Northern were beaten 33-14.

In the 1976-1977 season Featherstone Rovers were named the Division One champions and then they went on to win the Second Division title three years later and then they repeated this success again in 1992-1993. When the Super League was initially announced Featherstone Rovers were asked to merge with Castleford and Wakefield Trinity to form a new super-club, Calder, which would compete in the new league. All three teams resisted the idea and henceforth Featherstone Rovers missed out on their place in the Super League to Wakefield Trinity. In 2007 Featherstone Rovers went on to be promoted from the National League Two with a 24-6 win against Oldham RLFC at Headingley.