Why not have a big promotion for the game against Sheffield Eagles e.g. Approach the big local supermarkets & ask them if you could have a small stand in the foyer of there store to promote the Dons & sell tickets for this derby match & also extend the deadline for the season ticket price freeze offer, you might even get one of supermarket chains to sponsor the game. A good store to be at would be Morrisons York Rd store its situated on the side of town where most of the stay away fans live the contact there is Tony Haigh
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Also promote the game on local radio stations Sheffield, Hallam & Trax FM & press, also run a competition on the radio & in the local newspapers with the winners receiving tickets for the game.

My own personal reason is that I travel about a lot and I am rarely in Donny for more than a couple of days at a time.

I think the traditional mon-fri, 9-5 working week is slowy dying out. People now tend to work more on an ad-hoc basis (shift work, 0 hours contracts, internet businesses etc.). The days when you all worked in the same place and the weekends were 'leisure' time is slowly changing.

When I was a regular I went for the atmosphere, friends, drinks, singing and shouting random things at men 3 times your size. The success of the team never really mattered to me I as I always knew we were going to stay at the same level. I enjoyed the characters at the club and the interaction between players and fans. I don't honestly know how much of this still applies at the Keepmoat because I have only been to a handful of games but I suspect is has lessened?

I read on another thread about the lack of young fans at the Keepmoat. If this is true, then this is definitely a worrying aspect. I don't know what the prices are like at the rugby but football certainly excludes youths in my opinion. I'm talking about those who are 16-21 who arn't in work or don't get enough money off their parents to go to a match on the weekend. I think if you lose em in at that point it's hard to draw them back in.

I would also add that in general I think sports attendances reflect the state of the economy. Under the boom years of the 2000's both rugby league and football attendances increased gradually. This has now come to a halt with the recession and stagnation. Doncaster is still a relatively poorer town compared to the rest of the country.

With all due respect I do not understand why the lack of media support should deter someone from attending his club's matches. Surely a lack of media coverage should have the opposite effect and make it even more important for a true fan to be there.

I think making the effort is the problem for some.

Snagsboson and myself have the same problem.

Weighman mentions making the effort is the problem and I agree but if i can attend the Sheffield game coming up then anyone can. I will get to the game at 230 ish and leave after the match at 5. Go straight to work as im on 12 hour nights and finish at 6am monday morning then drive home which gets me back in at 7am. If i can do that then im sure other people can as well.

I did say for some Karlos, not all.

Yes I know mate.I just think for some people its too much trouble thats all.

Unfortunately now work a lot of Sunday's so miss more than can watch. Think have only made 5 home games this season, and can't see it changing for some time.

Lowest crowd in the Championship yesterday 597.

No need to make any comment.

Lowest crowd for the form team of the division and if they do achieve 6th they will have achieved the best they could this season. As mentioned in other posts I think that some fans get to games when they can due to work/family/financial reasons and there is an hardcore who attend week in week out and always will. I think crowds are an issue right across the professional clubs in Doncaster rovers/dons/knights/belles have all asked a similar question and I just dont think it is a sports focussed town. I have lived and worked in other towns of similar size and the profile and fan interest and general public pride in their clubs seem to be much higher. The hardcore fans will always be hardcore and there will continue to be those that get to a game when they can. The club pushes its profile within its budget and this generally means RL websites & publications which is preaching to the converted and to be fair coverage in the DFP has been good lately. So aside from having a large commercial budget and dept and and creating a better game day experience and increasing the club profile in a much wider media I am not sure what they can do. Maybe losing the community workers this year has had an effect on attendances as the opportunity to get into schools and community clubs and accessing future fans and their parents is reduced if not lost this year. Not the clubs fault as central funding was withdrawn. I dont have an answer just thoughts, its a tough one!!

I understand the because of work issue & the money issue but I am sure others just cannot be bothered.

If a newcomer or resident in the Doncaster MBC

Doesn't have access to a computer
Doesn't take a local or national newspaper
Doesn't look at the teletext sporting pages
Doesn't have Sky
Doesn't listen to local radio
Never drives by Tattersfield or the Keepmoat

How would they know when the Dons are playing at home?

Id say they must live in a bubble and have no interest in life. Finances are a big factor today, kids stay on at school longer or go to uni , so can't afford the full price, but are over 16, perhaps a student price for 16-18 year olds in education ?

I was in Doncaster town centre on Saturday & I didn't see any posters promoting the Swinton game.

The Dons always used to advertise there home games with posters stuck on the inside of the windows of the buses it was a simple & cheap way of promoting the home games.

Surely if you were interested in going to a rugby match you would find out where there is one .

I do think that on my side of town, (Intake), that there could be more at say asda or the dome, lots of traffic, a nice big sign would be good. But with finances so tight i suspect it is something the club cant do. I am aware that people will say that traditionally Dons support came from over the bridge, well yes it did but times have changed and all areas should be targeted. To be honest ive only seen the sign at bentley on pictures, as its somewhere i very rarely go, dont need to, so most on our side will not be aware of it.

Paul I can see why you didn't have a career in sales & marketing

I donot think the Dons donot have much money to spend on sales & marketing .

A few posters in shops in the town centre & market place wouldn't cost a fortune

A stall giving out hand-outs advertising home games in Morrison's store on York Rd I understand there manager Tony Haigh is very amenable towards local sports clubs it must be worth contacting him.

If the public aren't coming to the Dons the Dons need to get out among the public Golf Days,Race Nights Ladies Days don't seem to have the desired effect the club needs to think outside the box.

In the 1950s and 1960s there were very few things for people to do with their leisure time. Sporting activities were at the top of people's list of very few options.

Nowadays, competition for people's time and money is huge. It's difficult to get noticed and for the most part not cheap to get noticed. The bottom line for all businesses is that if you don't get noticed, you will suffer a decline in your business.

As a club, we need to look at what is cheap but may be effective. As Weighman said, we don't have a lot of cash to throw at the problem.

Posters in shops around town seems like a must do, as Geoff mentioned. I'd even consider giving shopkeepers a commission for selling tickets which in effect encourages them to become sales agents for the club.

As a one off, I'd allow all Rovers season ticket holders into a Dons game for nothing - possibly the Sheffield game. If they won't come for nothing, we know we're wasting our time targeting them in future.

If they do come, we can work on them further to convert them into long-term, paying spectators.

The Swindon double-header was a complete flop last year but that doesn't mean we should give up on the hope of getting some Rovers fans through our turnstiles. After all, we know they are prepared to pay to watch sport, which is probably something that the majority of Doncaster folk aren't prepared to do.

Improve links with supermarkets. Most Donny folk will visit one at some time. It's in the business interest of the supermarkets to be seen to be supporting local communities. We need to use this to our advantage.

As Donny hkr mentioned, on our side of town in Intake, we see nothing about the Dons. We have to reach out to the people, we can no longer rely on people finding us. Let's get some posters up in the out of town areas too.

Give pubs half a dozen free tickets to use as prizes for their pub quizzes on the condition they put up a matchday poster for us.

I'm sure we can come up with lots more ideas that might work. We need to try as many as possible because we don't have a magic wand that tells us whether any will work or not, but collectively they ought to do some good.

I'm sure the club have tried lots of things that we're not aware of, and Ray Green probably shakes his head in despair because the people of Donny don't turn out, but we need to keep trying ... because the Dons are in all our hearts and we want to see them succeed!

I live in Westwoodside and it's still the 1960s out here! But seriously i know we come under North Lincs but you wouldn't know the Dons existed out here, even though we're not really that far away. Axholme is an untapped area for support. Why not send a batch of free tickets out to the pubs in Westwoodside, Haxey and Epworth. Surely there's nothing to lose?

Plenty of opportunities around Doncaster for free of cheap advertising.

I work at the college, and there is nothing about The Dons upcoming games despite two of the college staff being first team regulars.

As others have mentioned supermarkets are a good way to capture people, as are buses and the bus station.

At the moment the club is good at informing the converted, but they need to start reaching out to those who never thought of Rugby League match as something they would want to watch. Its not just about getting old fans back its about attracting new fans and families.

We have a couple of home games left, how about a kids go free policy (ie under 12's). Give them a signed program from the match and their photo taken with the squad. Costs very little but can grow an interest in young minds.

The club has to do a bit of a carrot and a stick trick to get people in offer them something beyond just a match.

Face painting at games, there are several out there who will attend for free and just take donations for a charity of their choice, again a way to get the kids interested.

DM's idea of giving shop keepers a small commission for selling tickets its great it means there is something in it for them.

My personal reason for not attending the games is pricing £15 to get in £2 for a program and £4 to park (buses would cost me more as I'd need to catch 2) for and hour and a half's entertainment for me on my own. To contrast that me and my wife went to the cinema on Saturday night (which I also feel is overpriced) but for us both to see a recent film and partake in some refreshments it came to under £25 for the pair of us for 2 hours entertainment.

Money is tight for many people in Doncaster we are not an affluent town on the whole I feel that the pricing structure of the clubs (Dons, Knights, Rovers) needs to reflect this. Doesn't just have to be cheaper prices offers like Family tickets, Buy one get one half price deals, discounts for those on benefits/pensions all can put extra bums on seats, but the most important thing about any of these offers is that they TELL PEOPLE outside of the already interested Rugby fans.

Having spoke to a lot of people on this there are two main issues at play:

Firstly, there are a lot of other things to do nowadays that we (and everyone else) has to compete with, and plenty of stuff which is pretty much free.

Secondly, the price, £15 was a step too far for a lot of people, particularly those who may have only just got the bug back last year.

The Season Ticket offer is fantastic, but no-one is going to spend £120 on anything as a first investment without having been for a season or so first so is no good for getting new people in

The Knights only charge a tenner to stand on the terrace for a League game.