Doncaster Knights launching new foundation and season-ticket drive to safeguard club's future and build their brand

Doncaster Knights of the Championship are launching a new foundation and a cut-price season-ticket offer for next season with the primary aim of extending their community reach and ultimately safe-guarding their future.

Doncaster have been a second-tier club for more than a decade, save for one relegation year that they responded from within 12 months. Last season they challenged for promotion to the Premiership even though they have always spent money on bricks and mortar rather than flashy marquee signings.

Their modern Castle Park facility can host 5,000 fans, was a frequent site for England Women’s internationals before the Red Roses outgrew them and has enough pitches around the main venue to satisfy their proud junior ranks.

But with society gripped by a cost-of-living crisis, the RFU and the professional game in a product-threatening cash crisis, Doncaster are acting now.

The first part is a season-ticket initiative for the 2023-24 campaign.

In a move that has echoes of what Bradford City and Huddersfield Town did coming out of Covid, Doncaster Knights are slashing season ticket prices from £205 for adults to £150, with Under-16s going free.

Secondly, they are launching the Doncaster Knights Foundation, taking their club into the community to engage people and build the brand.

“Hopefully the Knights can become a pillar of the community,” explains Tom Foy, the head of the foundation.

“We will go into schools, offer community outreach and half-term sports camps, trying to support children and families with something they might not have funding to pay for.

“The foundation will not only deliver community programmes, but it has been involved in the season ticket drive, with community at the heart of it.”

Initiatives one and two go hand-in-hand. For last week’s Championship finale against title-chasing Ealing Trailfinders, Doncaster invited 1,500 children from 30 schools in the city to come to the game for free. The result was a season’s-best attendance of 1,732 supporters.

“You can’t give free tickets away for ever,” acknowledges Foy, “but for a club of our size and where we are in time, that’s something we’re going to have to do to show people there is professional sport here in Doncaster they can attach themselves to and be proud of. We joke that people come to Castle Park for the first time and say ‘we didn’t know it was here’.

“We’ve always let Under-16s go free - we’ve had it in place for years but never really marketed it, but with the cost-of-living crisis we’re a cheap family day out. Buy a season ticket for £150 for an adult or grandparent, and bring your kids for free. It’s a friendly environment.”

The knock-on effect is an enhanced product on the pitch. Doncaster have punched above their weight for years. If anything their drop from second last season to a mid-table sixth this term reflects their budget among their peers.

For head coach Steve Boden, this joined-up thinking off the pitch can only help the product on it.

“Eventually it will,” says Boden, who takes his team to Ealing today for a Championship Cup semi-final. “It’s just common sense, more people in the stadium, more finance coming into the club gives me more money to spend.

“We’ve got to make it more sustainable. If you look at what (benefactors) Tony De Mulder and Steve Lloyd have done at the club, they’ve invested in facilities. They could have easily have just bought a team, but they care massively about the community. That’s why the foundation is being set-up.

“We had 1,800 here at the weekend, the atmosphere was brilliant. It helps the club financially but also helps the boys on the field.”

Ultimately, Doncaster do want to get into the Premiership, but only when every building block is in place. Professional rugby is littered with teams who have gone out of business chasing the dream.

“The easiest thing for me to do is go to the board and say ‘give me another half a million quid and we’ll be top four every year’,” says Boden. “But what happens after three years when the money gets pulled out? We’ve got to do it the right way, it’s a slow burn.

“We want this to be thriving in the community for years to come, not just a one-hit wonder that went up, spent a lot of money, came back down and went bankrupt.”