Talking Sport Now & Then: Steve Hossack on Keepmoat Stadium opener, Morris Wordsworth, rugby league, Knights and athletic club

A crowd of 14,470 packed into the new stadium just days after fans and players had said an emotional ‘goodbye’ to Belle Vue.

I don’t think that I was alone in thinking that it might take Rovers a couple of games for the stadium to feel like home but an early goal by striker Mark McCammon helped settle their nerves and with Paul Heffernan and Jonathan Forte adding second half goals the home side ran out 3-0 winners over Huddersfield Town in a game during which three players were sent off in the second half.

It wasn’t the best goal McCannon scored during his time in South Yorkshire but it will always be the one he is always remembered for.

“It was a fantastic feeling to score the first ever goal at the new stadium because everyone had wanted to do that,” he said after the game. “The strikers had their noses put out of joint when defender Theo Streete scored the last goal at Belle Vue.”

In addition to scoring his historic goal, McCannon was also involved in the incident which saw the first of the two Town players red-carded to be sent-off following a nasty tackle which left the striker on his back clutching his ankle which fortunately wasn’t as badly injured as first feared.

*Given their financial problems of the past, I’m sure that Doncaster RLFC will have sympathy for the plight of fellow Betfred Championship rivals Whitehaven who may or may not complete their remaining fixtures.

Given what has been happening at the club in recent months, with reports of the players not being paid and their head coach announcing he was leaving after the match prior to kick-off, it was a remarkable performance to beat the Dons up in Cumbria ten days ago.

The three points they took off the Dons (they drew 25-25 at the Eco-Power Stadium) could end up costing Richard Horne’s side a place in the play-offs, and few promoted sides have done that in their first season in the Championship.

Cumbria has traditionally always been a rugby league stronghold but Workington Town are currently languishing in League One and Barrow could also find themselves dragged into the relegation dogfight.

Whitehaven are not the only club to be struggling financially – reduced central funding due to falling TV revenues not helping - and to be honest I don’t know how a lot of clubs in the Championship and League One continue to survive on the gates they attract.

Sadly, I don’t see the situation improving any time soon. Quite the opposite in fact.

The fan base at a lot of clubs is quite elderly and without a new generation of supporters coming through their future looks bleak.

Football has never been more dominant in my lifetime than it is now, and it looks set to grow stronger. Which means that Rugby Football League bosses, who haven’t exactly covered themselves in glory in recent years, have a real job on their hands to both stabilise the sport and recover lost ground.

*Doncaster Knights, who kicked off their pre-season campaign last Friday, will start the 2024-25 Championship season next month as one of the fancied sides along with the likes of Ealing, Coventry and Cornish Pirates.

Given the fact that there is currently no top flight rugby union club in the country’s biggest county since the loss of Rotherham and Leeds, I’m sure the RU authorities would love to see that situation change. So would I.

*Could I add my condolences to the family and friends of Morris Wordsworth who did so much to promote basketball during his lifetime both locally and nationally.

Morris regularly dropped into the sports department when I worked at the Doncaster Evening Post and although it wasn’t one of the sports that I covered during my time at the paper – though I did when working for The Star - I often spoke to him when he came in or rung up wanting to speak to Sheila Gray who reported on the sport.

It was thanks to people like Morris that Doncaster Panthers put the town, as it was then, on the national basketball map. Never more, perhaps, than in 1993 when both the men’s and women’s team won their respective National Trophy finals.

Both teams, particularly the women’s side, also graced their respective National Leagues.

Despite their success, Panthers often struggled to attract the financial backing from the local business community – though John Carr Joinery did them proud during their glory years - and a suitable base they could call their own.

What the club did have, however, was a totally committed team of officials including the likes of the late Pete Jacques, who lived and breathed the sport, and a loyal fan base.

*Congratulations to all involved (athletes and coaches) at Doncaster Athletic Club on winning their final North-East Upper Development League One meeting of the season at Rotherham to clinch promotion to the Premier League for the first time.

It seems everyone rallied round and for the first time this season they fielded a full squad.

Disappointing news, however, is that the annual Open Speed/Endurance meeting scheduled to take place at the stadium on September 11 has been cancelled due to a lack of available officials.

Hopefully, the meeting will go ahead again next year as I, for one, always enjoyed the finale to local track and field season.