A Meeting with Club Doncaster is scheduled for next Tuesday evening (26 November).

There are usually a number of Club Doncaster representatives in attendance including Gavin Baldwin and Carl Hall.

For Information - Supporters Liaison Officer Carol Green has recently posted on Facebook in the Doncaster Rugby League Supporters Group a request for any questions which supporters would like raised by her.

RLFans forum members Mike Lindley (Double Movement) and myself generally attend these Meetings and will be there on Tuesday.

Gary Fox.

The club have just announced the agenda for the above meeting:

1. Welcome

2. Minutes from last meeting

3. Marketing Update/To Include Season Tickets

4. Fixtures

5. Doncaster RFL Development Plan

6. Questions from Carol Green – SLO

7. Any Other Business

8. Date of next meeting

Could be an interesting meeting. I see in todays Yorkshire Post they have been taken to court by HM Revenue. I hope they are not robbing Peter to pay Paul. Someone has bailed them out luckily.

Who has been taken to court, please provide a link.

If there are any questions for tomorrow evening's meeting with representatives from Club Doncaster and Doncaster RLFC - The opportunity remains to post them on the Doncaster Rugby League Supporters Group page on Facebook where SLO Carol Green has made a request for any such questions.

Any news or even better minutes of the meeting ?

Meeting Minutes issued this afternoon ...

Fans Panel Meeting
Tuesday 26th November 2019

Attendees: Barry Brown, Gary Fox, Mike Lindley, Carol Green, Carl Hall,
Gavin Baldwin, Shaun Lockwood, Martin Rowlands, Ray Green, Stewart Piper, Jackie Green

Apologies: Stewart Thompson, Chris Scorah, Phil Scorah, Scott Goddard, Phil Buxton,
Carol Lindley, Mark Hughesman

1. Welcome – CH thanked everyone for attending the meeting.

2. Minutes From Last Meeting – Everyone was happy with the previous minutes. CH informed everyone we had two friendlies arranged against Sheffield Eagles on 19th January & Wakefield on Friday 24th January.

3. Marketing Update – Season Tickets

A document was handed out explaining from MH when comms would be communicated on the website when the season starts.

League App Subscribers – We are top of League One and 9th over the Championship & League One, our aim is to break into the top 6 this season.

Season tickets are going well, at this point revenue is at the same as at the start of 2017, in terms of numbers will know better by Friday, but expecting sales to drop down as the ticket price increases.

We have already sold just over 200 season ticket – but will have the kid’s event tickets to go on these in January.

The five match offer can be used as a group on one day, this is available to away fans too.

4. Fixtures

The fixtures are out, we have a tricky start, but Richard is strengthening the squad to where they need to be. He’s left Hull after 22 years and committed to the club.

We have already been in touch with Castle Park regarding the two fixtures that are affected when the pitch is taken up, their ground is unavailable, we have tried to reverse the fixtures, but this is not possible. So we are looking to play the games as close to home as we can.

5. Doncaster RFL Development Plan

CH presented a development plan prepared by the Rugby League specifically for Doncaster, this is the first one prepared and was shown at the Rugby League meeting held 27th & 28th November. It explained all the work that Doncaster has already done or preparing to do for the community.

6. Questions from the Panel

BB (on behalf of ST) – What are the plans for disabled parking this season?
We are bringing in line with Club Doncaster as announced last season, it will be £4.00per space, available on the day first come first serve basis. SL has offered to create a car park pass for disable spaces and sell separately

ML – How many players do we have at the moment?
21 & 3 or 4 trialists & waiting on a couple of answers from a few people.

BB – Are we still looking at loan players?
Yes this is always an option. CH is building some good relationships with various people, if we need to source any loan players.

ML – Can tickets bought at the cheaper rate before the game be collected on game day?
Yes they can be collected from the Box Office.

GF – Do you know the percentage of renewals v new ticket sales?
Stats not available at the moment put SL to send numbers out. CH informed we do have a spreadsheet with all non-renewals on and we will be contacting them.

BB – Has the Club Doncaster website problem been sorted?
Yes, SL advised there had been an error on the server and the Club Doncaster website is back up and running. It was also advised that Doncaster Rugby League would be taking back more control of the Don’s website to make it quicker and more accessible. This will be happening around January 2020.


6. Any other Business – A discussion was had between members of the meeting regarding thoughts on positions of players and what the fans panel as supporters can do to bring more young people into the game and maybe be in included in meetings. A positive vibe came across from all members of the meeting. RG commented how nice it was to see Carol Green looking so well and hope her health continued to improve further.


7. Next Meeting – TBC at 6.00pm in Alicks Bar

Thank you Gary .

So the sale of 200 season tickets is considered good at this stage.The club is deluded because if supporters believed the aspirations of promotion next season the figure would be higher.If like me the signing of Peltier prompted thoughts of returning to the fold as a new leaf had been turned,they were almost immediately reversed as no one else to get excited about has been brought to the club.So unless amongst these trialists and others being spoken to there are some who would make me change my mind, then it's going to be the same old broken promises once again.

Agreed. As much as I think our backline could be something special, at the moment we simply do not have the forwards to unleash them. This is something when we signed Peltier the club said they were looking to fix, but one big forward cannot do it on his own, especially now we have lost Frankie.

Also agree. 1 more back and 3 or 4 more forwards and we're there. That would also level with the club's stated intention of operating with a 24/25 man squad

We have some good backs at the club. Retaining them all can't have been easy. Adding Jack Logan, Sam Smeaton, Josh Ricketts plus the permanent signing of Tom Halliday and Watson Boas has improved things further. I doubt these signings will have come cheap.

The concern is clearly in the forwards. Losing Frankie was a blow. Bringing in Ross Peltier was a big boost. But how we do this season could well depend on the players we haven't yet got!

I agree with Rob. One more back and three more forwards are needed.

In my view, we have been short of front row power for some time. If we can address this, with the flair and pace in the backs, I'll be pretty hopeful we can finish in the top two and maybe win it.

Agree Mike. If I had a Christmas list my 3 forwards would be Graham Horne and the Albert Brothers. Stanton in particular was very impressive for PNG. Am I being unrealistic?

Stanton playing his rugby nearer home these days cannot see him coming over here again. Wellington impressed at Fev last season & had games for Leeds . Graham Horne not sure if he has retired or not.

Trouble is Rob we as fans donot know who is available .

Very true Paul. Just spitballing. I agree on all points. However I don't think Horne has retired. Still very well thought of at York and (if available) seems an obvious fit.