Fans Meeting 29th April – 6.30pm
Present: Gavin Baldwin James Thompson
Carl Hall Stewart Thompson
John Scarrow Phil Buxton
Paul Cooke Dave Stewart
Liam Scully Scott Goddard
Carol Green
Tony Green
Gary Fox
John Holding
Barry Brown
John Scarrow welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked them for attending.
Questions:
Stewart Thompson: Congratulations on signing Matt Groat – a credit to the Club – how long will he be here for?
CH: He will be here for the rest of the season but his ambition is for SL but at the end of the year it’s not to say we may try and engage him for next season.
Dave Stewart: We have 2 players on Loan, are they here for the rest of the season?
PC: Ben Reynolds is on loan until October but he can be called back after a month within 48 hours. Jordan Abdul – here until Hull want him back but is in Hull squad this weekend.
Dave Stewart: Doncaster is a Club that cares and is honest and truthful. It makes a difference to fans if the Club cares about them. Sunday’s game was great and value for money.
Stewart Thompson: There would be no Club if not for Carl Hall.
JS: There were 2 options for Dons – go into liquidation or CH to step in.
CH: I did this for Dons and us all, I am still just as passionate about the Club.
James Thompson: With early 2.00pm KO and with only Season Ticket holders having access into the Restaurant this has been upsetting fans.
CH: Maybe we have spoilt our fans at this Club as there are no other Club that let Fans into their Corporate facilities, but we have listened to our fans and the Restaurant is now open to all until the safety capacity is reached.
PC: Early KO was instigated by me and I wanted this before it was agreed for Sheffield to play at the Keepmoat. The players work full time, train and play and don’t have any time off for family. The Dons is a hobby for the fans but it is work for the players and time off is very important and they deserve it. The Players are very important to me and the Club.
Carol Green: I understand about juggling with family through my own experiences – players also need adequate rest and nutrition.
Carol Green: Sheffield – how long will they be here at the Keepmoat?
CH: The question is will their ground be ready in time. We have had no approach by Sheffield about next year
Barry Brown: The forum/website etc – there is a lack of communication to fans for example re players’ injuries. Also some comments were put on the wrong website.
PC: With regard to player’s injuries – we don’t want a lot of people to know, especially the opposition. The injury is confidential between the Physio, Player and the Coach.
Barry Brown: Why is the Squad not put on the website when it is announced on Friday?
PC: We have to send the Squad to the RL but do not have to put it out – again we don’t want to advertise to the opposition even though we can make changes to this before the game.
Tony Green: Why does the Club not report bad Referees to the RL? Some are incompetent.
PC: I have not spoken to them for 2 years – there is no point speaking to them as nothing changes.
The Club does not have to report back to RL as the Referee Assessor does this.
Tony Green: The Club should send a written report.
CH: It cannot change the result and if RL agree with you over an incident that makes it worse.
John Holding: I think we should have more than one forum per year. Maybe have 2 or 3 per year to build a rapport with fans. One before the start of the season and one halfway through. All agreed.
Barry Brown: There was a misunderstanding with this meeting with regard to fans thinking they needed to be invited. I re-posted that it was because you needed to know numbers etc and anyone could come.
Gavin Baldwin: Asked that if the fans here in room thought it would be beneficial to the Club to have a small group of supporters like themselves to come to meetings, who could go back to the supporters and pass on information. You could get feedback and ask questions which could provide vital information to the Club. If anyone interested please put forward your name. All attendees thought it an excellent idea and all agreed to put their names forward. There is a level of confidentially and sensitivity that goes with this.
Barry Brown: Re Club Doncaster and where does the money go?
GB: The Dons was bought off Carl Hall at a time when Carl was ill and money was owed for a tax bill. There would have been no Club if had not been for Carl Hall and it has come a long way.
The definition of a good Club is ambition and one that cares. We aim to be in SL and keep Paul Cooke and Carl Hall here.
The Board of Directors are not hassling the Club and they are not driven by asking for profits. Last season the Club finished 4th and made a loss due to paying winning bonuses and the Directors were glad of the success. Club Doncaster is funding the Dons and there is no problem with this. Patienceform own the Rovers and the Stadium and the Dons do not pay for use of the Stadium. Profit could go to the Rovers – if there was any !
Club Doncaster wants to bring sport together.
CH: The £200K which was awarded for finishing 4th last year is the Club’s RL allocation for this year and NOT an extra £200K as some fans are suggesting. Every penny of this money was given back for the Team. We are all in this together – it is a long term project.
Carol Green: We need performances as against Bradford. The Dons scored more points against them any other team.
Dave Stewart: Do you think the pre-season games were too ambitious?
PC: We learn from pre-season, confidence is important no matter who you play. If you lose tight games it affects you the following week but you learn from these bad times.
After the success of last season and finishing 4th we agreed there was nothing to change so we made the decision to keep some players in key positions.
Tom Carr is 3 weeks away from coming back and as we signed him prior to his injury we could not let him go – we are not a Club who does that and don’t want to be seen as such.
Gary Fox: How is the link up with Hull?
PC: It’s vital for us as a club where we are at the moment, this Club needs it, the DR has been good for our Club up to press.
Gary Fox: Can we get these players on a more permanent basis?
CH: Due to the change in RL rules their salary affects our salary cap if we take them on loan rather than DR
John Holding: Will there be more merchandise for sale?
CH: There is now an on-line shop via website
Liam Scully – CEO – Club Doncaster Foundation. Liam introduced himself and explained about the Sky Try funding available – We are only one of the Clubs outside SL to receive any money. He went on to explain that he would appreciate fans help in spreading the word about the Foundation and how the Academy project works. Hopefully in 3 years they will be able provide players to Paul Cooke. They have 15 players already in the Academy.
CH said this was the biggest and best thing to happen to our Club for the future of our Club.
John Scarrow closed the meeting and thanked everyone for their attendance.
www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/a ... od-to-talk
