Doncaster Knights plan stadium expansion to boost Premiership bid

Doncaster Knights are planning to nearly double their stadium capacity to satisfy one of the major hurdles that Championships club face to break into the Gallagher Premiership.

The Knights have lodged a planning application for Castle Park with Doncaster Council that centres around new East and South stands to take the stadium capacity from 5,139 up to 10,015, with additional ancillary supporting facilities, according to the Doncaster Free Press newspaper. If the Knights are successful and reach the top flight it would give Yorkshire – the biggest county in England – a Premiership club.

The Knights’ application comes after the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Premiership Rugby Limited (PRL) controversially blocked the promotion of Championship winners Ealing Trailfinders, because they did not met the minimum standards criteria for entry to the Premiership. Ealing’s Sports Ground holds approximately 5,000 with 2,115 seats.

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It was agreed in June last year that the Premiership could be expanded to 14 clubs at the end of the 2021-22 season if the winner of the Championship met the required minimum standards criteria.

The Knights, who finished second in the league, and Trailfinders put themselves forward for promotion and were independently audited under the minimum standards criteria, including the requirement that their nominated stadium must hold a minimum of 10,001 fans.

A Doncaster Knights spokesman said: “To summarise, the proposal is appropriate in this location and would enhance an existing sporting facility both in terms of the quality of experience offered to its users and the overall visual appearance of the ground.

“The impact on the appearance and openness of the surroundings should be acceptable due to the woodland screening around the site and use of appropriately coloured materials. The level of additional traffic generated would not result in problems on the highway network and the level of parking and parking provision elsewhere is adequate to serve the site.”

Doncaster’s ambitious plans come shortly after Cornish Pirates revealed their bid to satisfy the 10,001 capacity criteria had been hit by the decision of Cornwall Council to withdraw support for the Stadium for Cornwall development as part of the Government’s Levelling Up fund programme.