: Fri Jun 05, 2009 1:56 pm  

Surely it would be better for those 30-40 people to act now rather than accept the club potentially being lost forever? Growing the trust is a longer term project and from this growth you will find new people willing to be involved and help out. If the club disappears for good then nobody will have the chance to be involved.

I would strongly urge anyone who is interested in forming a trust to contact me as soon as possible on the details above and hopefully we can find a solution to this problem that doesn't involve rugby league disappearing from Doncaster.

Cheers

Laura

: Fri Jun 05, 2009 10:12 pm  

I m sorry folks, but rather than analysing another collapse of the club should nt we be looking at ensuring that it never happens again.

We can argue between ourselves on this site forever with the hope that another consortium or knight in shining armour comes along to save the club. Arguably if this happens there is a very good chance that some of the people who may have got us into this position would still be around.

And I believe we the supporters would find ourselves in this position again, after all, the likelihood is that these people will either not have club's best interest at heart or be capable of promoting the club properly and repairing its tarnished reputation.

I believe we should look at the possibility of a Supporters Trust either to take club forward alone, or as an independent body to work with any potential new owners to ensure some stability to make sure this never happens again.

So lets stop contemplating our navals or planning what we will do next summer on Sunday afternoons.

So come on you Dons

: Fri Jun 05, 2009 11:44 pm  

Trotsky wrote:

I m sorry folks, but rather than analysing another collapse of the club should nt we be looking at ensuring that it never happens again.

We can argue between ourselves on this site forever with the hope that another consortium or knight in shining armour comes along to save the club. Arguably if this happens there is a very good chance that some of the people who may have got us into this position would still be around.

And I believe we the supporters would find ourselves in this position again, after all, the likelihood is that these people will either not have club's best interest at heart or be capable of promoting the club properly and repairing its tarnished reputation.

I believe we should look at the possibility of a Supporters Trust either to take club forward alone, or as an independent body to work with any potential new owners to ensure some stability to make sure this never happens again.

So lets stop contemplating our navals or planning what we will do next summer on Sunday afternoons.

So come on you Dons

I admire your enthusiasm....but it won't happen.
As the meerkat says...'simples'.
There is no appetite for it anymore.
And I don't say this lightly.....if this is the level of governance of the Dons....what's the point?
I want the Dons to continue....but this 'rally round lads' stuff is just words.

: Sat Jun 06, 2009 3:59 am  

Stand-Offish wrote:

Starting with you?

Don't worry about me I raise about 5K for Moorends before the start of every summer season.

: Sat Jun 06, 2009 4:09 am  

DRAGONFAN wrote:

How do you know some of them haven't already?

And the same amount could have been raised if the 800 had contributed £50 each.

I don't and I'm talking now and not the past. SO organise the tickets for the raffle and show me the evidence that you have sufficient numbers selling tickets and I will sell my £100.00 worth as long as if the scheme does not work the money raised goes to the development of Rugby League (Dave Marshall already has a development project) within Doncaster and does not sit in a bank account for ever and a day.

: Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:59 am  

Marshland wrote:

I don't and I'm talking now and not the past. SO organise the tickets for the raffle and show me the evidence that you have sufficient numbers selling tickets and I will sell my £100.00 worth as long as if the scheme does not work the money raised goes to the development of Rugby League (Dave Marshall already has a development project) within Doncaster and does not sit in a bank account for ever and a day.

I know your post was made at just after five this morning-- but don't understand the part of your post that i've highlighted in your quote.

When has any monies raised by the fans of the Dons ever sat in a bank account for ever and a day?-------Never,as far as i'm aware.

: Sat Jun 06, 2009 8:39 am  

Marshland wrote:

Don't worry about me I raise about 5K for Moorends before the start of every summer season.

your my hero

: Sat Jun 06, 2009 10:09 am  

Karlos wrote:

The thing is with this supporters trust lark is that it will be the same 30 or 40 who want to get it started.It will be the same 30 or 40 who set up a meeting for the trust and it will be the same 30 or 40 who will attend the meeting.

Everybody harps on about how our average attendance is around the 800 mark, so where then is everyone when its time to dig ourselves out of the 5h1t.
Im afraid it will be the same people trying to do their best for the club (the vast majority of which are on this forum on a regular basis), and until some of the other 760 or so fans decide to get involved it wont be enough.

It needs ALL the fans to get together on this one not just the die hards.The reality and the seriousness of the situation should be enough to get the rest of the fans involved.If it doesnt, then do they really care anyway!!

Ok so you have identified a potential way forward for the club , for it to succeed you need the support of all the fans [ so that is another problem and solution you have identified ]

So how do you get those 760 fans down to a trust set up meeting ?

You need a database of them all and you need to contact them all

When is your next home game ?

Out of the 30/40 who go on here or are within easy contact of those who post on here can you organise some of you to get down to the match and collect names,addresses and phone numbers of all your fans

Between the 30/40 all chip in to pay for a letter to be sent out and get every one of the 30/40 to ring 20 fans each

If they get a letter and a call after already being told why you want their details and they still dont attend or offer to help then basically you are bolloxed

But if you dont try you will not know

You need to be proactive [ hate that word ] with this or it might be too late and your last chance

All the best

[Wanderer]

: Sat Jun 06, 2009 10:31 am  

Much of what you say makes good sense and I sincerely thank you for your concern but we recently called a meeting to update fans of the situation at the Club and only 40 people turned up which supports much of what Karlos has said.

The reality is that when you take off the travelling support, our regular support at home games (ignoring the Toulouse game with its freebies) is probably in the region of 600. Of those something like 40 or 50 have been involved in various activities such Supporters Trusts, Supporters Groups and other similiar committees and groups.

Each time something new is tried, you can gaurantee it will fall to some or many of those same people to try and make it happen.

The remaining 550 will attend on match day but appear to have little or no interest beyond that. Indeed a Club that once had a travelling support that was the envy of many of the lower division Clubs is lucky to get more than a handful at away games. There were about 50 supporters from Doncaster at Featherstone recently for a local derby which is 25 minutes away by road.

You make a number of valid points but the truth of the matter is that some of the things you suggest have been tried before either by the Club itself or groups of supporters and sadly it seems that the vast majority of people in Doncaster do not care if there is a Professional / Semi Professional Rugby League Club in the town.

: Sat Jun 06, 2009 10:53 am  

WANDERER wrote:

Much of what you say makes good sense and I sincerely thank you for your concern but we recently called a meeting to update fans of the situation at the Club and only 40 people turned up which supports much of what Karlos has said.

The reality is that when you take off the travelling support, our regular support at home games (ignoring the Toulouse game with its freebies) is probably in the region of 600. Of those something like 40 or 50 have been involved in various activities such Supporters Trusts, Supporters Groups and other similiar committees and groups.

Each time something new is tried, you can gaurantee it will fall to some or many of those same people to try and make it happen.

The remaining 550 will attend on match day but appear to have little or no interest beyond that. Indeed a Club that once had a travelling support that was the envy of many of the lower division Clubs is lucky to get more than a handful at away games. There were about 50 supporters from Doncaster at Featherstone recently for a local derby which is 25 minutes away by road.

You make a number of valid points but the truth of the matter is that some of the things you suggest have been tried before either by the Club itself or groups of supporters and sadly it seems that the vast majority of people in Doncaster do not care if there is a Professional / Semi Professional Rugby League Club in the town.

Agree with your last comment-but what's the alternative?
If a supporters trust is maintaning a RL team in Rochdale then its worth a shot-it may be your last chance.
The only proviso that i would recommend is that the existing management have absolutely nothing to do with the running of the club as i'd stake money on it been doomed to failure before its been given any chance if they are.
Keep RL going in Doncaster and every traditional RL area or else the games up.