Dear Doncaster Rovers supporters,
Thank you for your continued support this season and in particular over the past months. These are difficult times for us all and the level of commitment you have already shown to the club has been incredible.
I also want to thank you for your patience over the last few days as we finalised our plans with respect to our commitment to refunds and crediting those supporters who had already purchased tickets for any of our cancelled 2019/20 Sky Bet League One games. The options we present today are for those with tickets for the 2019/20 season only. We will update on options for those who have already purchased tickets for the 20/21 season, when we have clarity on what that will look like.
As a club, we take pride in the way we operate and hope that you do too. We aim to treat all our fans with respect and integrity and value all of our interactions with supporters from all of our elite teams. We built our refund policy in collaboration with our Supporters Board and reviewing the decisions of other clubs across the EFL, which have been varied.
Since the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic began we have seen almost all of our revenue streams diminish to zero. Ticket sales and other associated matchday incomes have stopped, and we have been unable to generate revenues from events such as The Killers concert and our weekly car boot market. Revenue from 5-a-side football pitch hire has also stopped and revenues from stadium and car park leases has diminished as other businesses also feel the impact of lockdown.
At the beginning of this crisis, the owners each put an additional six figures into the club to keep it going and since then both players and senior management have taken pay cuts or deferrals. These actions, along with your continued incredible support through donations, lottery subscriptions and other purchases have no doubt helped us survive the last three months.
Despite these setbacks we have also continued to take our place in the community. We have organised food donations, we have helped raise money for the NHS through our online auction and members of our staff including Darren Moore have been volunteering for local charities such as b:friend to reach out to those who may be isolated.
The Government’s job retention scheme has without doubt helped ease the burden of paying staff salaries as we have been able to furlough the majority of non-playing staff. However, as this scheme begins to slow down and as the country eases out of lockdown with shops, food chains and cinemas beginning to open, football is still to learn its long-term fate. At present, we are planning for next season with a fear and expectation that at least some of it will have to be played behind closed doors. We have no knowledge of when our biggest income stream (ticket sales) is to return and yet we still have to plan for next season from a playing perspective.
It is against this backdrop that we issue our refund strategy - In Rovers Supporters We Trust.
For some time now we have used In Rovers We Trust as our mantra for fan engagement and asked you to trust us to do the right thing by you. More than ever, we need you as supporters to help us survive to ensure we have a football club to support in the future.
Having discussed and presented our refund policy to our Supporters Board, we have finalised the following options. In presenting these options we ask that if you are in a position to donate your compensation back to the club you do so in the knowledge it will help your club survive these challenging times. The word supporter has never been so relevant.
Regards
Gavin Baldwin
Chief Executive
Seasonal Members 2019/20 season, including Silver Members, Gold and Platinum Legends Club Members and Executive Box Holders.
Option One: Donate the pro-rata value of your seasonal membership compensation back to Doncaster Rovers.
We will use your donation to support our Academy system and make you a patron of the Academy for the 2020/21 season.
You will have the opportunity to attend an invitation only former player reunion and have your name printed in a lasting memorial at the stadium.
Those who choose this option will also have chance to attend an invitation only event at the stadium to watch the team train and participate in an open question and answer session. You will also receive an annual report in the summer of 2021 detailing the impact that your donation has made to the Academy.
For every supporter choosing option one, the club will also donate three future match tickets to key workers who have helped the Doncaster community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
By choosing this option, the club can also convert the equivalent VAT from your expected compensation into a donation, saving the club a further 20%.
To choose this option please email tickets@clubdoncaster.co.uk with the subject DONATION 1 and the details of your ticket purchase (name, address and supporter no.) or phone the Box Office from Monday June 22 on (01302) 762576
Option Two: Claim Club Doncaster vouchers
The club will offer seasonal members a credit in Club Doncaster vouchers that can be used against a variety of products including future membership or home ticket purchases for Doncaster Rovers, Doncaster Rovers Belles or Doncaster Rugby League, lottery subscriptions, pitch bookings, group experiences and birthday parties, programmes and magazine subscriptions, and hospitality passes (food not included).
The credit will be the equivalent of 50% of the price per game the supporter paid for their seasonal membership product. The reduced price per game is the equivalent value offered following the cancelled match with Bury earlier in the season and takes into account the additional benefits now included within the membership products.
To choose this option please email tickets@clubdoncaster.co.uk with the subject VOUCHER 1 and the details of your ticket purchase (name, address and supporter no.) or phone the Box Office on 01302 762576 from Monday June 22.
Single match ticket holders (home or away) and single game hospitality bookings
Please note if you purchased tickets for an away game that didn’t take place, then Doncaster Rovers will still have those funds. Money for tickets from away ticket purchases is not transferred to the away club until the match has taken place, therefore your away ticket purchase can make a valuable contribution to our club.
Option One: Donate the value of your tickets back to Doncaster Rovers.
We will use your donation to support our Academy system and make you a patron of the Academy for the 2020/21 season.
You will have the opportunity to attend an invitation only former player reunion and have your name printed in a lasting memorial at the stadium.
Those who choose this option will also have chance to attend an invitation only event at the stadium to watch the team train and participate in an open question and answer session. You will also receive an annual report in the summer of 2021 detailing the impact that your donation has made to the Academy.
For every supporter choosing option one, the club will also donate the equivalent number of match tickets you are not using to key workers who have helped the Doncaster community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
By choosing this option the club can also convert the equivalent VAT from your expected compensation into a donation, saving the club a further 20%
To choose this option please email tickets@clubdoncaster.co.uk with the subject DONATION 2 and the details of your ticket purchase (name, address and supporter no.) or phone the Box Office from Monday June 22 on (01302) 762576
Option Two: Claim Club Doncaster vouchers
The club will offer Club Doncaster vouchers at the same value of your single game ticket purchases with a further 10% added.
The vouchers can be used against a variety of products including future membership or home ticket purchases for Doncaster Rovers, Doncaster Rovers Belles or Doncaster Rugby League, lottery subscriptions, pitch bookings, group experiences and birthday parties, programmes and magazine subscriptions and hospitality passes (food not included).
To choose this option please email tickets@clubdoncaster.co.uk with the subject VOUCHER 2 and the details of your ticket purchase (name, address and supporter no.) or phone the box office on 01302 762576 from Monday June 22.
Option Three: Full refund at face value of product
To choose this option please review the Further Information at the end of this article
5 or 10 match multi-ticket purchase holders
Option One: Donate the pro-rata value of your unused multi-ticket compensation back to Doncaster Rovers.
We will use your donation to support our Academy system and make you a patron of the Academy for the 2020/21 season.
You will have the opportunity to attend an invitation only former player reunion and have your name printed in a lasting memorial at the stadium.
Those who choose this option will also have chance to attend an invitation only event at the stadium to watch the team train and participate in an open question and answer session. You will also receive an annual report in the summer of 2021 detailing the impact that your donation has made to the Academy.
For every supporter choosing option one, the club will also donate three future match tickets to key workers who have helped the Doncaster community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
By choosing this option, the club can also convert the equivalent VAT from your expected compensation into a donation, saving the club a further 20%
To choose this option please email tickets@clubdoncaster.co.uk with the subject DONATION 3 and the details of your ticket purchase (name, address and supporter no.) or phone the box office on 01302 762576 from Monday June 22.
Option Two: We will extend the expiry date on the tickets to be used to December 31 2021.
For every supporter choosing this option, the club will also donate the equivalent number of match tickets you are not using to key workers who have helped the Doncaster community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To choose this option please email tickets@clubdoncaster.co.uk with the subject EXTENSION 3 and the details of your ticket purchase (name, address and supporter no.) or phone the box office on 01302 762576 from Monday June 22.
Futher Information
We of course understand that not everyone is in a position to exchange their ticket purchases for vouchers or a donation back to the club and therefore if you do require a refund we will of course honour them as per our moral and legal obligation.
If you are not in a position to donate your compensation back to the club and would require a refund, please email ticketoffice@clubdoncaster.co.uk with the subject REFUND REQUIRED and the details of your ticket purchase (name, address and supporter no.). Once we have received your request for a refund, we will pass it through to the finance team for authorisation. We will then contact you to issue your refund once it has been processed.
Please note, that based on your method of payment and the volume of requests we receive we may not be able to process all refunds until the Club Doncaster Box Office is fully operational once again, therefore your request may take longer than expected to administer. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.