Doncaster Rovers

To people of a certain age, Doncaster Rovers Football Club are synonymous with Belle Vue Stadium, the ground the club called home for over eighty years. In the wake firstly of the Bradford City Stadium Fire and then the Hillsborough Disaster, however, Belle Vue’s capacity dropped to less than 8000 owing to safety concerns, meaning that the club had to explore the possibility of a new ground. When the Westferry Consortium took over the running of the club in 1998 they were surprised to discover that new major renovations hadn’t been done to the stadium since 1938, with only minor cosmetic changes taking place during that time. Despite some small alterations to the stadium in the years after the Westferry Consortium had taken charge of Doncaster Rovers, a move to a new ground was always going to be the most likely outcome for the future of the club. Keepmoat Stadium, a multi-purpose stadium owned by Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, opened officially in 2007 and Doncaster Rovers have called it home since. It’s not only used by Doncaster, however, with the club’s Ladies team also using it along with Doncaster Rugby League FC and Sheffield Eagles Rugby club.