Saturday 25th May 2024 ko 14:30

Doncaster Saturday League Knock-Out Cup Final

SJR WORKSOP DEVELOPMENT 1 (Morris 15)

BENTLEY VILLAGE 2 (Walker 61p Cairns 67)

Att 201 Castle Park at (Doncaster Knights RUFC)

Entry £5 (for all three games that day)

Programme £2 (for all 5 games over the weekend)

As a groundhopper you occasionally get an opportunity so good, you know that chances are anyone like you is going to make a beeline for the ground too. Often the opportunity involves a borrowed rugby ground, which this one was, albeit with a massive caveat!

The caveat was unusual, there were 5 games over the weekend to choose from. The Doncaster Saturday League is a feeder to the Sheffield & Hallamshire League, putting it 10 and 11 promotions from the EFL. The league is sponsored by Doncaster Rovers FC, so the league planned on holding their finals weekend at the Keepmoat Stadium, but as I understand it Rovers wanted too much money and the league weren’t happy with the state of the pitch.

So, Doncaster Rugby Union club were approached, and the league were so impressed that when I arrived the officials were already talking about next season’s event here. I’d arrived at the end of the first game, and found myself in the unusual position of greeting groundhoppers who were leaving and again as I left after our game!

If any groundhopper did miss out over the weekend, then hopefully the exercise will be repeated as there was so much to like, over and above a new ground with a programme. Doncaster Knights play in the second tier Championship, and it is the De-Mulder-Lloyd stand that is its centrepiece. Dating from 2008, and costing £3m it seats 1,650 and its concourse has both a hot food servery and Yorkshire’s longest bar at 71 feet. With the beer being supplied by Theakston’s, again you can see how popular this place is with the vast majority of groundhoppers!

The league and the two teams put on a good show. My time with the North Berkshire League may be over now but my time there showed that putting on finals isn’t easy. So, to see both a good game, and good staging was lovely. Bentley Village shaded a highly competitive game, deservedly on the balance of play, but the whole encounter should be seen as a triumph for the league. Congratulations to all concerned.