DRFC Virtual Museum and CIC

[silent majority]

Yesterday the club announced news of the formation of a CIC (Company in the Community) which has a primary aim of delivering bigger fan engagement projects under the IRWT banner. If you missed it it's here;

https://www.doncasterroversfc.co.uk/news/2024/november/29/supporters-launch-/

As the article says we can deliver, and have been doing so, projects that benefit fans for a number of years. But some projects can be quite big, and outside the resource level that we can normally use. So we created a CIC so that we can apply for grant aided funding through the National Lottery and other providers.

We have a couple of projects on the go. But the big one is that we wish to create a Virtual Museum of all things Doncaster Rovers. If you have something special, a bit of memorabilia for example, we can help to include that in the museum. So far we have about 10-11 supporters all working to deliver this project. We're busy creating partnerships with the local college, museums, and other clubs so that the product we deliver will be first class and we can celebrate the history of our club for the benefit of everybody.

We also need some money! It's a big project and the costs are a little extreme to say the least! If you can help then let us know!

[Barmby Rover]

My mate has material he would be glad to donate, but there is no contact details at all to send things through to.

[silent majority]

My mate has material he would be glad to donate, but there is no contact details at all to send things through to.

We're not quite at that stage yet where we can start accepting what others have, we're still trying to cope with the amount of material that we posses within the group.

But if you're mate can follow us, on here or our other social media channels then we'll be appealing at some point. This is going to be a very long project!! It's already been about 12 months in the making!

You can follow us here;

https://www.instagram.com/doncasterroversvirtualmuseum/

and here;


https://bsky.app/profile/doncasterroversvm.bsky.social

[Donnywolf]

Having no luck with the sky account  yet .

Will try later

[silent majority]

If anybody is wondering what a 'virtual museum' would look like these are some of the ones we've looked at and in some cases spoken to;

Exeter City

https://grecianarchive.exeter.ac.uk/

Plymouth Argyle

https://argylearchive.org.uk/collection/

Huddersfield Town

https://htafc-heritage.com/

Southampton

https://emperiavr.com/project/southampton-f-c/

[tedmundy]

Would love to help out on the web/development side of things! I've replied to the account on bluesky, and my email should be on here.

[silent majority]

Would love to help out on the web/development side of things! I've replied to the account on bluesky, and my email should be on here.

Perfect! I’ll give you a call.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I really like the layout of Exeters archive. Their history of St James Park links all things together through their timeline bringing in photographic and video material accompanied by first hand memories from fans and players alike.

This is also good where you can click on parts of the ground to retrieve photos of all the different stands over the years. 

https://grecianarchive.exeter.ac.uk/exhibits/show/history_sjp_hlf/stadiumtour

Much of our history revolves around Belle Vue before the move to the Keepmoat, which is a fascinating time in our history itself, but we have to recall the bad times too (the arson attack etc)

Anyway, it's not going to be an easy job to put all this together in a way that's user friendly and makes folk want to visit the museum on a regular basis. Good luck to everyone involved.

[silent majority]

I really like the layout of Exeters archive. Their history of St James Park links all things together through their timeline bringing in photographic and video material accompanied by first hand memories from fans and players alike.

This is also good where you can click on parts of the ground to retrieve photos of all the different stands over the years. 

https://grecianarchive.exeter.ac.uk/exhibits/show/history_sjp_hlf/stadiumtour

Much of our history revolves around Belle Vue before the move to the Keepmoat, which is a fascinating time in our history itself, but we have to recall the bad times too (the arson attack etc)

Anyway, it's not going to be an easy job to put all this together in a way that's user friendly and makes folk want to visit the museum on a regular basis. Good luck to everyone involved.

Hi Baz, no, not easy at all, nor is it cheap! It’s been 12 months in the making already with regard to research, discussions with Doncaster College, Doncaster Museum, and a whole host of other supporter organisations to see how they’ve gone about it.

Hopefully we can secure some funding through the CIC and start to make inroads into the workload that lies ahead.

Glad you like the Exeter site as we’ve spoken to them at length, have you looked at Huddersfield?

We quite like that one too.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I really like the layout of Exeters archive. Their history of St James Park links all things together through their timeline bringing in photographic and video material accompanied by first hand memories from fans and players alike.

This is also good where you can click on parts of the ground to retrieve photos of all the different stands over the years. 

https://grecianarchive.exeter.ac.uk/exhibits/show/history_sjp_hlf/stadiumtour

Much of our history revolves around Belle Vue before the move to the Keepmoat, which is a fascinating time in our history itself, but we have to recall the bad times too (the arson attack etc)

Anyway, it's not going to be an easy job to put all this together in a way that's user friendly and makes folk want to visit the museum on a regular basis. Good luck to everyone involved.

Hi Baz, no, not easy at all, nor is it cheap! It’s been 12 months in the making already with regard to research, discussions with Doncaster College, Doncaster Museum, and a whole host of other supporter organisations to see how they’ve gone about it.

Hopefully we can secure some funding through the CIC and start to make inroads into the workload that lies ahead.

Glad you like the Exeter site as we’ve spoken to them at length, have you looked at Huddersfield?

We quite like that one too.

Yes, looked at all three. Didn't find the Huddersfield one as easy to navigate and assume it's still under construction?

Anyway, all interesting stuff.

[silent majority]

I really like the layout of Exeters archive. Their history of St James Park links all things together through their timeline bringing in photographic and video material accompanied by first hand memories from fans and players alike.

This is also good where you can click on parts of the ground to retrieve photos of all the different stands over the years. 

https://grecianarchive.exeter.ac.uk/exhibits/show/history_sjp_hlf/stadiumtour

Much of our history revolves around Belle Vue before the move to the Keepmoat, which is a fascinating time in our history itself, but we have to recall the bad times too (the arson attack etc)

Anyway, it's not going to be an easy job to put all this together in a way that's user friendly and makes folk want to visit the museum on a regular basis. Good luck to everyone involved.

Hi Baz, no, not easy at all, nor is it cheap! It’s been 12 months in the making already with regard to research, discussions with Doncaster College, Doncaster Museum, and a whole host of other supporter organisations to see how they’ve gone about it.

Hopefully we can secure some funding through the CIC and start to make inroads into the workload that lies ahead.

Glad you like the Exeter site as we’ve spoken to them at length, have you looked at Huddersfield?

We quite like that one too.

Yes, looked at all three. Didn't find the Huddersfield one as easy to navigate and assume it's still under construction?

Anyway, all interesting stuff.

Thanks Baz.

The software that Huddersfield use is from a company based in Wakefield, and we're due to visit them next week.

Obviously Virtual Museums by their very nature are continuing to evolve, i.e. player stats change every week, but it should still look like it has content.

[Pancho Regan]

I just had a quick look on the Huddersfield site and put "Daryl Pugh" into the Player Database search.

It came back with "No results found"!

I think their search engine needs a little work.

[Ldr]

Try Daral

Edit, Christ, the Huddersfield archive can’t even spell his name right

[silent majority]

I just had a quick look on the Huddersfield site and put "Daryl Pugh" into the Player Database search.

It came back with "No results found"!

I think their search engine needs a little work.

Yes, there's some good bad and indifferent out there.

It's one of the reasons we've taken our time on the site architecture and the software that they use. You could just run up a website with some  pictures and a bit of data, but we intend to create an archive and follow best principles. Its why the costs that we've been quoted are astronomical.

PS - I went to the 'collection' called player database and it came up straight away.

[Pancho Regan]

Try Daral

Edit, Christ, the Huddersfield archive can’t even spell his name right

Why would I try ‘Daral’ when his name is ‘Daryl’?
Am I missing your irony here?

[Pancho Regan]

I just had a quick look on the Huddersfield site and put "Daryl Pugh" into the Player Database search.

It came back with "No results found"!

I think their search engine needs a little work.

Yes, there's some good bad and indifferent out there.

It's one of the reasons we've taken our time on the site architecture and the software that they use. You could just run up a website with some  pictures and a bit of data, but we intend to create an archive and follow best principles. Its why the costs that we've been quoted are astronomical.

PS - I went to the 'collection' called player database and it came up straight away.

I’m not wishing to go down a rabbit hole here Martin, it was just an amusing observation that Huddersfield’s virtual museum has a bit of an issue with its search engine.

The Rovers virtual museum is a brilliant idea and I praise all those involved in working on the project.

Would a crowd-funding initiative help to raise some money to fund the costs?
I’d be happy to donate.

[drfchound]

I have just read through this thread for the first time.
What a cracking idea.
Good luck putting it together SM, I’m sure you will make a good job of it.

[silent majority]

I just had a quick look on the Huddersfield site and put "Daryl Pugh" into the Player Database search.

It came back with "No results found"!

I think their search engine needs a little work.

Yes, there's some good bad and indifferent out there.

It's one of the reasons we've taken our time on the site architecture and the software that they use. You could just run up a website with some  pictures and a bit of data, but we intend to create an archive and follow best principles. Its why the costs that we've been quoted are astronomical.

PS - I went to the 'collection' called player database and it came up straight away.

I’m not wishing to go down a rabbit hole here Martin, it was just an amusing observation that Huddersfield’s virtual museum has a bit of an issue with its search engine.

The Rovers virtual museum is a brilliant idea and I praise all those involved in working on the project.

Would a crowd-funding initiative help to raise some money to fund the costs?
I’d be happy to donate.

No worries. We've looked at all kinds of different sites so far to see where we should go and what we should do. Its not been easy so far as everybody seems to do it differently.

We do need money that's for sure, it was the reason we created the CIC, which means we can attract lottery funding. Carlisle recently did something similar and had funding of about £100k. The figures are ridiculous!!

[Ldr]

Try Daral

Edit, Christ, the Huddersfield archive can’t even spell his name right

Why would I try ‘Daral’ when his name is ‘Daryl’?
Am I missing your irony here?

You may wish to tell the man himself then that he spells his name wrong. https://www.linkedin.com/in/daral-pugh-28963853?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

[Pancho Regan]

Try Daral

Edit, Christ, the Huddersfield archive can’t even spell his name right

Why would I try ‘Daral’ when his name is ‘Daryl’?
Am I missing your irony here?

You may wish to tell the man himself then that he spells his name wrong. https://www.linkedin.com/in/daral-pugh-28963853?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Hands up here then Ldr, my humble apologies.
I always thought his name was ‘Daryl’ and Huddersfield Town appear to think so too.

[Ldr]

Try Daral

Edit, Christ, the Huddersfield archive can’t even spell his name right

Why would I try ‘Daral’ when his name is ‘Daryl’?
Am I missing your irony here?

You may wish to tell the man himself then that he spells his name wrong. https://www.linkedin.com/in/daral-pugh-28963853?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Hands up here then Ldr, my humble apologies.
I always thought his name was ‘Daryl’ and Huddersfield Town appear to think so too.

I only found out pretty recently mate

[Pancho Regan]

Try Daral

Edit, Christ, the Huddersfield archive can’t even spell his name right

Why would I try ‘Daral’ when his name is ‘Daryl’?
Am I missing your irony here?

You may wish to tell the man himself then that he spells his name wrong. https://www.linkedin.com/in/daral-pugh-28963853?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Hands up here then Ldr, my humble apologies.
I always thought his name was ‘Daryl’ and Huddersfield Town appear to think so too.

I only found out pretty recently mate

Can’t believe that I’ve always had that wrong and Huddersfield have made the same mistake!

Cheers Ldr

[silent majority]

I have just read through this thread for the first time.
What a cracking idea.
Good luck putting it together SM, I’m sure you will make a good job of it.

Thanks Hound!

It is a great idea, but the amount of work needed is colossal, and we're going to need all the help we can get. But I'm confident that the team we have will provide a fantastic product for everybody to enjoy.