Questions need asking as to why local grounds are considered unsuitable when other clubs play at grounds with very limited facilities. We all live in different parts of the borough so have differing local knowledge of the possible grounds.

I'll throw Brodsworth's ground in for starters. Turnstiles, 3000 capacity and 228 seats. Does that meet requirements?

Also as a bonus a 15 minute bus ride from town.

Added bonus. They use Tattersfields old floodlights.

The answer is not to move away from the Keepmoat and concede home advantage.
Any other ground is a neutral ground.
Yes it may be convenient for supporters, but points and opportunities are being thrown away.
Just consider this ... we would be playing Widnes at Wembley very probably given games at the Keepmoat and nigh on top of the table too!!!
It is an administrative problem ONLY!

When I last raised this matter at the Fans' Forum meeting, I was told that no local grounds meet requirements except Castle Park.

Pitch size and fixed wall perimeter surrounds were mentioned as potential issues for some of the other local venues.

I will mention Brodsworth at the next Fans' Meeting to see whether this option has been considered. The next meeting is scheduled for 29th August.

Once Castle Park had been ruled out it meant that we had to source a ground with corporate facilities that certain people have become accustomed to. When you look at other grounds in this league the perimeter wall issue (argument) fails to stack up. IMO Brodsworth or Rossington are no worse than some of the grounds that the Dons have played at during the past few seasons.

Sheffield appear to have managed at a ground that is a glorified Keepmoat pitch 2.

Corporate facilities, that's why it makes common sense to sort this before season kicks off and change games around that need changing.
they KNOW its going to happen EVERY year.
That keeps the businesses onside and the players can play on there OWN ground.
Simples really.
I would like to know whats happening next season with this situation before i decide or get our season tickets next year.

Correct me if this is not accurate, I believe Hull have to go on the road due to pitch maintenance. Its not ideal playing consecutive games away but that surely is the answer if we want our home games at the Keepmoat.

You are amongst a number that have raised the season ticket issue, financially the club have to get this sorted.

Sorry, Wilf, I might not have been clear when I mentioned 'fixed walls' in my earlier message. The club said that no ground with a 'fixed wall' on its perimeter is suitable as it potentially causes a danger to players, especially when in the act of scoring tries.

The club try to 'reverse fixtures' so we have no home games scheduled during the period of pitch maintenance but this can only be done with the consent of the other club. If the other club don't want to co-operate (and why should they if if means it messes up their own home/away rota) we're stuck. It's actually to their benefit to make us play at a neutral venue as it reduces our 'home advantage'.

I don't particularly like having a run of home games at the start of the season (as happens with fixture reversals) as it means we play these matches in the freezing cold of March and April, with fewer matches in the nicer weather. This must have a negative impact on attendances.

I feel the mistake the club made was not to keep the Athletics Pitch as an option. This would have done away with all the uncertainty that is clearly very frustrating to fans and could prove costly in future season ticket sales.

I doubt that when season tickets go on sale for 2020 that the fixture lists will have been published at this point. It'll be impossible to know which/how many games could be affected.

Yes I see that thanks for clarifying ( the problem with written debate)



I do recall Jamie Bloem introducing the Widnes player to the Tattersfield fence



Some good points raised and a few pro's and con's.

I thought it was Alan Tait but when he was at Leeds

What if clubs didn't want to fit in with Totonto?
Anything is possible ..
If the situation is explained well in advance.
If we are at the whim of other clubs playing ball ... then we truly are doomed.
The answer is NOT to play elsewhere, the problem is a Rovers cum scheduling problem that should be solveable.
If they insist on a grass pitch, they should be more flexible.
The bloody Chinese can grow cannabis at any time of the year.

It was

Apologies I could have sworn it was the televised night match, the first one in the top league. Thanks for the correction.

Our game against Leeds was also televised

Yes it was a mistake.

It'll be interesting to see how Super League clubs react to Toronto's demands for the scheduling of fixtures to fit in with Toronto's needs.

Imagine our first three league fixtures were: Whitehaven (A), Workington (H), and London (A). If Workington approached us to reverse the match as their pitch wasn't free in June, when we were due to play at their place, we'd start our season with three long distance away games if we agreed to swap. That clearly wouldn't be fair on the Dons' fans.

I'm sure all clubs approach the RFL prior to each season's fixtures being released so that 'periods of ground unavailability' can be factored into the original fixtures' schedule, causing minimum inconvenience. But 'innocent teams'' shouldn't end up with a ball-ache of a fixture list just to meet the needs of the teams who need to do pitch work.

Had the Athletics Stadium been built to slightly high spec in the first place, with a 1,000 seater stand, and the Dons having access to it when required, this problem could have been avoided.

As a car driver, trips to Featherstone are not a huge inconvenience for me, although the petrol and parking costs do add up. I have huge sympathy for fans who rely on public transport. Were I running the club, to minimise inconvenience for fans, I would make sure buses were laid on to Featherstone regardless of whether one person or fifty needed them.

Having to wait 3 wks for the season to start at home is a hell of a lot better than having to travel away for HOME games
for fans and also for the players alike. that would suit me.
We shouldn't be losing home advantage no matter what, this point doesn't seem to be sinking in with some.
the travel for us fans is not the main issue here its the players and the clubs lost advantage.
Not Playing our HOME games at HOME is the not fair point

Totally agree. I'd argue we've lost 4 league points as a result. Before anyone piles in i said I'd argue. Not that it was a given. Could have still lost both. We'll never know tho

Thank goodness it's not just me ...other clubs would have ONE change of fixture in connection with the Dons... we had THREE.
Clubs don't normally give away their home games if they think they are winnable, they normally just swap over home and away games.
I have known minnows give away home advantage, but only for gain or convenience.
We got NEITHER!
And we should not continue this nonsense.
Only nomadic clubs in transit do this sort of thing.
We have a ground!

And to Rob, we lost one game by ONE point another by FOUR points and the other by TEN.
I think very probably we would have won two and probably all three of those stupid games.
Losses that have for me defined our season and lost my interest.

As a result of playing games at Featherstone it looks like I have finished with season tickets.

You've missed my point, onedon. I was giving a reason why clubs might not be willing to help others out with fixture moves. Each club has to look after their own interests, not expect other clubs to do it for them. Newcastle were well within their right to insist on the 'date change' for our match at Featherstone as it benefitted them - Rangi couldn't play.

I get your point that we are almost certainly losing out to some degree by not playing our home games at home. Ultimately we could have dropped four points that we may well have won had we played at the Keepmoat.

However, I don't see how things are going to change in the future. Sadly it seem inevitable that we will be playing home games away from the main stadium. I wish we were only moving to the Athletics Pitch as that is by far the least worst option but I imagine that is unlikely to happen either.

No argument here. I genuinely believe that all three would have been wins at the Keepmoat.

The bookmakers work on the principle of home advantage being worth roughly 6 points so simply using that principle, two would have been wins.

Is it just the playing surface that is the problem, because if it is the ground itself I believe that a fair few fans would help rectify things like we used to do at Tattersfield and Belle Vue. I would make myself available if it was a plausible challenge.

Yes it is the playing surface...it gets completely dug up

Just a note about season tickets...even taking into account the 2 games people may not have been able to get to for whatever reason, we're still the cheapest season ticket by some way. Playing disadvantages I think we can all agree on and that should be priority, but I don;t think it makes the dirt cheap season tickets bad value, just not as good value as they cold be. I am actually beginning to thin the few years of cheap season tickets has now devalued the product, no one pays anywhere near as little as us but we all think we're being ripped off now.

The obvious solution to me would seem, and has been suggested for years, to get no home games arranged for the period in question. If we happen to get drawn in a cup round in that time then that's just bad luck and we'll have no choice. But league games could be arranged.

(It should also be noted that of the 3 games only 1 was supposed to be at Post office road, the cup (as I said at the time) was a curse)