Donny Knights

[DonnyAps]

I know this a football forum but just want to say a massive well done to to the Knights in the top of the table clash against Ealing who are the Man city/ Chelsea of Championship rugby. Who would have thought that our town may be hosting premiership rugby next season.

[rich1471]

They only have 2 games to play and could well win the league and hope they get accepted into the the premiership ,they would need to erect temp stands to meet the criteria but the biggest hurdle is that the elite clubs are trying to close the door on promotion by getting clubs to have 23 million as aback up not really sure what the money is for

[German Rover]

Tin hat on here, but the keepmoat could be the answer for them plenty of teams in the premiership share with football teams.

Wasps with Coventry
London Irish with Brentford.

You would hope club doncaster help out to support a local team who would be playing at the pinnacle of the game.

[Donnywolf]

Do I misremember ?

A few Seasons back I thought Knights made a "declaration" that they did not aspire to the Premiership and would not take Promotion if they won it

I thought at the time (as I do with Football) how crap for their Supporters if they declare Championship is their level

Easy for me to say but Rotherham made it to the heady heights and their facilities are and we're far far inferior to Knights ....

.... on the downside they would need to spend astronomical amounts on Players I reckon and still only survive one Season but hey it could be great for the Town

Hope my memory is "flawed"

[EasyforDennis]

Tin hat on here, but the keepmoat could be the answer for them plenty of teams in the premiership share with football teams.

Wasps with Coventry
London Irish with Brentford.

You would hope club doncaster help out to support a local team who would be playing at the pinnacle of the game.

I would make it a condition of the deal that they bring their catering with them.

[Donnywolf]

Digging about I found article from 2016 where they had agreed with Club Doncaster to use Keepmoat

It was approved by RFU

They did concede that it would be a massive leap to go up ... and in a very recent article they say there would be any amount of hoops to jump through before they would be accepted




This from Knights website from November 2020


Is the Exeter template a good one for clubs like Doncaster to follow?
Playing-wise, we’ll always want to be Doncaster because the moment you start copying somebody too much you can just become a pale imitation. But Exeter’s business model is very, very good and that’s something Doncaster have always looked closely at. Our off-field facilities are very good and we’re very ambitious as well. Would we love to see Premiership rugby at Doncaster? Yes, but at the moment a lot of that is out of our control, like funding. At the moment it doesn’t make any sense for us to push for the Premiership because the funding discrepancy is massive – it’s just not fair. It’s such a big gulf for a Championship side to bridge in finance so until that changes it’s just a pipedream.


The facilities we’ve got at Doncaster could easily meet the top-flight criteria and Yorkshire’s the biggest rugby county in the country, but there are a lot of hurdles to overcome before we can get to that level. It’s not been an overnight thing for Exeter over the last 20-odd years, though, so there’s hope for us all.

[Bezza]

Fantastic achievement from the Knights, if they get promotion they want to. stay on their own ground , hope they manage it , it's a well run club,

[Campsall rover]

Brilliant to see them doing so well.

Would be brilliant for the town to be mixing it with the big boys.
Really hope they achieve it.

[deebee]

Tin hat on here, but the keepmoat could be the answer for them plenty of teams in the premiership share with football teams.

Wasps with Coventry
London Irish with Brentford.
It is no longer the Keepmoat. Please refer to our stadium as the EcoPower Stadium so people can find it when searching. Thank You.
You would hope club doncaster help out to support a local team who would be playing at the pinnacle of the game.

[rich1471]

Only the Knights and earling have applied for promotion if they win the league

[ForsolongaRover]

Knights are the only northern club in the top two leagues apart from Newcastle and a very clearly number 1 in Yorkshire. So you might imagine that they could draw quite a lot of new support in the Premiership.

How they’ve progressed in 50 odd years. Their big derby in the 60s was versus Old Thornensians!

[essexrover]

Big match in a couple of weeks time v Cornish Pirates who are the third team in with a chance of winning the league. They are 7 points behind & have played three games fewer. Keep on eye on their result today against Jersey.

[roversdude]

Brilliant season so far for them, the teams below them have games in hand though. Please excuse my ignorance in this but is it a straight forward promotion for whoever wins the league or is there a play off scenario

[German Rover]

Tin hat on here, but the keepmoat could be the answer for them plenty of teams in the premiership share with football teams.

Wasps with Coventry
London Irish with Brentford.
It is no longer the Keepmoat. Please refer to our stadium as the EcoPower Stadium so people can find it when searching. Thank You.
You would hope club doncaster help out to support a local team who would be playing at the pinnacle of the game.

It's the same place.

[rich1471]

Brilliant season so far for them, the teams below them have games in hand though. Please excuse my ignorance in this but is it a straight forward promotion for whoever wins the league or is there a play off scenario

promotion this season of you win the league and have applied for to be accepted in the premiership, I think no promotion next season though so.some reason

[Colemans Left Hook]

to stop being blackballed

would they ever consider playing the union matches at Rovers ground and the Rugby (Dons) league team playing at their ground ---- just guessing ??

[Martyn1968]

Cornish Pirates 0 Jersey 14 so far :-)

[BobG]

Good,!

[rich1471]

Pirates won 21-17 ,jersey did not score a point in the second half, it will come down to who wins the league when the   knights play the pirates

[scawsby steve]

Knights are the only northern club in the top two leagues apart from Newcastle and a very clearly number 1 in Yorkshire. So you might imagine that they could draw quite a lot of new support in the Premiership.

How they’ve progressed in 50 odd years. Their big derby in the 60s was versus Old Thornensians!

Sorry to be pedantic, but you forgot about Sale Sharks.

[Martyn1968]

Pirates have to play Ealing and Doncaster. Donnys last two matches Pirates and Nottingham. Will be interesting if they do accept promotion if they are champions.

[rich1471]

Pirates have to play Ealing and Doncaster. Donnys last two matches Pirates and Nottingham. Will be interesting if they do accept promotion if they are champions.

well they have applied so you would think they would accept it if promoted

[Donnywolf]

Big up to them if they win and "go for it"

Tremendous respect for them and the set up all round.

Thornensians WAS the "big one" so much so that I know personally several mates who still wont visit Knights as they are OTs.

I took no persuading [when Rovers were on a long away fixture] other than "good beer [real] and Chicken Curry & Chips" but I stopped going as much when the prices went up & it was costing 50 pc more there than at Rovers

COYK ! [and their benefactors]

[BahrainRover]

Big up to them if they win and "go for it"

Tremendous respect for them and the set up all round.

Thornensians WAS the "big one" so much so that I know personally several mates who still wont visit Knights as they are OTs.

I took no persuading [when Rovers were on a long away fixture] other than "good beer [real] and Chicken Curry & Chips" but I stopped going as much when the prices went up & it was costing 50 pc more there than at Rovers

COYK ! [and their benefactors]

I remember saying hello to you there once as you were tucking in!!

[phil old leake]

I always thought that the Knights were part of club Doncaster obviously not

Would it not be a good idea to try to bring them in under the Club Doncaster umbrella Or what that be a drain on resources and facilities
Im not really sure how club Doncaster works. The benefits and negatives

[rich1471]

Of I remember they asked them to,but did not up the offer

[Swifty62]

Have not met the minimum requirements needed so can't be promoted

[colincramb]

Have not met the minimum requirements needed so can't be promoted

Just read this myself. Strange that they applied knowing the criteria for stadium capacity.

Real shame this. Could be the only realistic chance of seeing one of the towns teams playing at the most elite level in the country in any sport. Apparently no ground share option was put forward (ruling out KMS) and no permissions are in place to extend castle park to the 10001 capacity needed.

What an utter shame given the position they are in. You sometimes have to wonder where the ambition is for sports teams in our area

[rich1471]

Strange that they did not ask if they could play at the keepmout if it meant being allowed to be promoted, It's not like the fans would be traveling miles from castle park to attend matches, Makes you wonder if they really wanted to get promoted at all ,I'm sure if we're a fan you would be miffed about this.

[Colemans Left Hook]

an oak tree once stopped St.Albans getting promotion

"Not quite on the pitch, but occasionally interfering with play was the famous 'late tree' at St Albans' ground. "Up until 1998 the ground was famous for having a large oak tree that sat in the middle of the Clarence Park terrace – the 140 year old 'late tree' – hanging over the pitch," writes James Sanders. "It was not unknown for visiting goalkeepers to get the odd acorn thrown in their direction.

"The fate of this oak tree was tested in 1993 when St Albans City FC finished runners up in the Ryman Premier League (behind Chesham Utd) only to be denied promotion to the Conference due to this old oak tree. The Conference, which is known for it's strict ground-grading regulations, were sympathetic to their special case. 'St Albans have a beautiful ground, and it would be a shame to have to turn it into a normal stadium,' a representative said. But however beautiful, St Albans were eventually denied promotion in no small part due to the presence of their unique arborial oddity."

St Albans' problem was that the ground is part of a public park and therefore the tree (and another in a corner of the ground) was protected, though it was far from the only problem, with a lack of medical facilities and turnstiles. The Conference inspectors called for £80,000 of improvements, half for upgrading the directors' facilities. They did not at first specify the trees' removal. Then they changed their minds. "The Conference are entitled to make their own rules," said Bernard Tominey, St Albans' chairman at the time, "but what rules are the trees breaking? Hooligans will climb floodlights more easily than the oaks."

Eventually, in August 1998, the trees were chopped down after contracting a mystery illness. More information on St Albans City's history can be found here and a fantastic picture of the 'late tree' is can be spotted here."

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/feb/10/trees-in-middle-of-pitch