We are delighted to announce that Doncaster Belles will be playing their home games at Keepmoat Stadium for another two years starting with their return to the FAWSL next season.
Both Rovers and Belles are now actively in discussions about developing the relationship further. Rovers and Belles aim to improve the pathways to attending games for both sets of supporters and to increasing the matchday and community engagement through both clubs.Faye Lygo Marketing Director of Belles said “We are really pleased to have extended the licensing agreement to continue playing here for another two years. With so many other top clubs in the Women's Super League 1 we want to stand out and want fans and the community to come here and to enjoy football at a fantastic venue”.
"With teenage girls having the highest drop off figures when it comes to youth football it is important that we both work at reaching out to these communities to allow these girls to see that they too can become top footballers. They need to know that there is a route to their end goal. We now need to educate them and tell them how. We will be working with Rovers to increase our presence at their home games to help achieve many things as that is vital to our successes off the pitch" Lygo concluded.
Ryan Murrant Marketing and Communications Manager said “I met with Faye last week and she, like us is very excited about creating pathways of opportunity for our younger fans. Off the pitch there aren’t many clubs that can compete with Rovers when it comes to fan and community engagement. Belles doubled their attendance last season and whilst success on the pitch breeds supporter activity, we will definitely be looking to attract more Belles fans to our games and vice versa. We will look at reciprocal deals, advertising arrangements and much more over the next few weeks. It’s very exciting”.
Gavin Baldwin CEO of Doncaster Rovers said “The extension is something that as a community club, is essential to us. It is a huge positive for Club Doncaster and for the town of Doncaster to have us both playing at this great venue. Behind the scenes we are now pro-actively working together to maximise this arrangement for both clubs and for our supporters. Moving forwards it is the vision of us all that we work in a co-operative and productive way. Both Faye, I and our teams are fully supportive of this positive arrangement and we now look towards working together off the field to help us all penetrate into the community further”.