You have made some good points. I too started watching the Dons around 86 and never missed a game home or away for many years. It was a great atmosphere at Tattersfield under that tin roof and i really looked forwards to a Sunday afternoon. Somehow the game doesn't seem to have the same appeal any more. The advent of Super League has seen the gap between the two divisions grow to an unbreachable chasm. Once upon a time i looked forwards to the Challenge Cup knowing that we really had a chance of causing an upset, but realistically that has gone unless Super league returns to semi pro. The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow has been taken away. We are a Championship side and that is it.

We could get into SL2 in 2015 , but we need bigger crowds and/or some investment .

COYD trying to remain positive but still concerned.

I am not sure on the fixation with SL, if you are not one of the top sides you are not going to get a look in at all sadly.

I think another French side would be "crowbarred" in over any of the very well run Champsionship clubs.

I the the club wants ideas for getting people in they need to look at things like pricing and the match day experience.

Car Parking is expensive...yes there are free alternatives but you have to have been going a while to know of them, little or no bus service from the town centre during the weekends.

Entrance fee, its pricey £15 is a lot of money to some folks and if you factor in couples or families coming then it starts to add up to a lot of cash for 1.5 hours of entertainment. Going to the cinema is cheaper and that's a rip off at £8 a seat.

Social media is a great technology and gives the club a free method to communicate with the public at large, the club in general is doing a good job with it, but we could do with a little more I feel, match hi lights, player interviews (videos) all brings the supporters closer to the club

I work at the college with two of our current squad and the club doesn't have a massive presence here, maybe something could be done to get students into the game at a reduced rate. Same for the kids maybe free kids tickets as long as they bring an adult, if the kids get hooked the adults will take them.

The club/sport needs to be more attractive then the cinema, football or any other summer activities as this is what it has to compete with so it needs to be keenly priced and accessible so that its an attractive option to individuals and families alike.

Nice to hear from Steve again.
I tend to agree with him.
For Christ's sake let's have some kiwis in our side.
I can't get my head around this one what with Carl Hall in charge.

I can't however see the point about the sport being predictable.
It's still bloody exciting!
I know too many stay-aways, dozens of them.
What do they want?

I think by predictably they mean 4 drives and a kick.

There are very very few players in our sport who can make something from nothing who use skill and guile to unlock the oppositions defense.

Yesterdays semi final was one of the best games I've seen in quite some time, a good entertaining contest.

I also think there is nothing the fans love more than a player who plays without fear and just runs there blood to water for the club and they become a folk hero of sorts..we have had these in the past Audley, Parkie, Asa Amone, Billy Conway and due to the nature of the game now we dont seem to have these players around which is a real shame...I'd say Dennis is our closest these days.

In the past the club has spent money they couldn't afford & look what has happened . Will always remember under JCW we announced plans for Super League , the next week we went into administration.
The current regime have spent only what they can afford . So we cannot afford Kiwi's etc .
If we want better players we need more income = bigger crowds. Catch 22.
Anyway thanks for the response but no one has said they will return !

Do season tickets count towards the attendance figures even if they don't turn up?

I'd like to know how the Eagles manage to finance 3 south sea islanders.

I have never stated the club should throw money at the side we know this doesn't work, but they club needs signings to spark the imagination of supporters.

I don't think signing a relative unknown from the south seas is beyond the club given our track record of them leaving us for bigger and better things.

Look at the folk hero status players like Sonny,Vila and Carl achieved having arrived at the Dons as relative unknowns.

The 3 at Sheffield are now sort after by the bigger clubs and have helped make them a force in the Championship.

If you want me to be honest Paul I shall, the signing of Cooke last year was a marque one and convinced me that the club wanted to progress and as a result I attended 90% of all home games, the signings this summer were uninspiring and didn't show any real ambition to me. Feeling the club would struggle I decided to place my hard earned wages into other activities rather than watching a team getting tonked week on week. Recent form against the better sides has rekindled my interest. I am pretty sure results against some of the lower teams and the performances they team have put in at these games has lead to people thinking their Sundays would be better spent elsewhere.

Looking at it now save for dual reg I think there is only Waller and Dennis playing now out of our new signings.

I agree its catch 22 but sometimes you have to speculate to accumulate, we took a chance on Paul Cooke and its paid off we need to repeat that for the coming season so people have can see that the club wants to progress and compete week in week out with the likes of Fev, Leigh, Fax and the Eagles.

Just for reference Batley's crowd against Town (two teams above us in the league is reported at being less than 500).

Steve they Sheffield always have had good sponsors over the years.We seem to be doing a lot better regarding match & player sponsorship of late.

We took a chance on Paul Cooke because we, the fans, were prepared to put our hands in our pockets to fund his wages, and we're still doing so. If we'd not done that, he wouldn't be at the club.

We'd all love the club to speculate to accumulate but it would do us no good to speculate and go bust. The club can't afford to promise wages to someone in the hope the crowds will increase to cover those costs. It's too risky.

The only way I can see the club being able to do something like this is if the RFL get their act together, get a main sponsor that invests significant money, and that money is then more evenly distributed amongst all clubs, including those in our league.

This will give the game the shot in the arm that it needs, and probably help get old supporters back, although there are plenty of things we can do collectively to help move us forwards.

The links between players and fans are very important. People support football clubs because they have "heroes". Super League clubs have heroes for their fans. We're lacking in that department at the moment and I'm sure that holds us back.

One simple thing that I feel the club can do to help, is to have the subs benches on the same side of the pitch as the fans. When players come on and off we can applaud them, they'll give us a wave, and it helps to link us all together.

At the moment, players go on and come off and nobody notices, with announcements quite often happening some time after the substitution has been made.

It would cost nothing to do this and would bring us all closer together.

Match day prices are a tricky business. £15 is a lot of money but if the cost was dropped, would more people come along, or would it create a problem rather than solve one?

Issues such as parking costs and travel problems are areas that should be looked into, as they certainly don't help the club.

As mentioned earlier, I fear many of the problems are chicken and egg. We need more support to move forwards but the supporters want success and changes before they will come to watch us.

Personally, as long as I can afford to go, I'll be there supporting the Dons. I don't attach any strings. I'm proud of Doncaster, proud of the Dons, and feel I'm doing my bit to help all the people who bust a gut to keep the show on the road for us.

I hope we can do something to help entice the old fans back. It is important that everyone is listened to because collectively we can build Doncaster into a better team.

All the teams outside of the SL need to be concerned about there home attendance of the nine championship games played yesterday the attendances at the following games were lower than the Dons
Batley 450
Hunslet 432
South Wales 305
Gloucester 103
Rochdale 451

Which tends to make you think the product is wrong.

Some of the reasons I don't go to games anymore

Scrums are a disgrace

Feeding the scrums a joke

Far to much kicking of the ball straight in to opponents hands

Five drives & a kick and hunt the mistake.

They have taken a lot individual skill out of the game.

Wave your leg at the play the ball if you don't make contact with the ball its considered okay as you attempted to play the ball.

Referees inconsistent with their decisions.

If the RFL sort out most of the above I may consider to start watching the sport again