IT specialists and club partner JibbaJabba gifted their match sponsorship of Rovers’ recent Papa John’s Trophy match against Manchester City U21s to the newly-formed Doncaster Rovers Women’s Supporters Club.
Inspired by the #HerGameToo movement which started on Emirates FA Cup final day in May 2021, the women started a group which aims to highlight the issues women might face when attending football matches but will also look to support women attending matches for the first time, act as a social club for female fans of the club and provide support in the local community.
The group have already worked with the club to sign up to the Her Game Too movement with the aim of giving women the tools needed to report sexism and sexist abuse at football grounds.
Tuesday’s match was not the first time JibbaJabba have gifted their hospitality to deserving fans. They have also provided a meeting place for isolated supporters and will be using their hospitality as a way to reach out to the local community again in the future.
Jibba Jabba director Ashley Harris said: “I feel sport should be promoted and open to all and to support an initiative that actively promotes and supports all people coming together is something I feel quite passionate about.
“Club Doncaster plays an amazing role in bringing supporters and their families together and our input is just a piece of that jigsaw.”
VoIP engineer at JibbaJabba Steve Newton added: “I was a pleasure to be involved in organising the sponsorship.
“Having a young daughter myself I think the Her Game Too initiative will be something that helps future generation of supporters. This is just one of many things that we at Jibba Jabba will be working on with the club for this season and beyond.”
Emma Dawson, a Doncaster Rovers Women’s Supporters Club founder said: “A couple of months ago, Dean Medcalf, the club’s SLO, put a shout out on Twitter to see if there was any interest in a forming women’s supporters club. After one meeting to establish the group, we’ve held two successful meetups at games and our Facebook group has more than 150 members.
"We all want to say a massive thank you to Jibba Jabba and Club Doncaster for organising this for us.
“I’m excited to see where this takes us and how we can help the community going forward.”