Castle Park – Home of Doncaster Knights Rugby

Description

Castle Park is a longstanding Doncaster venue, playing host to the towns professional Rugby Union team, Doncaster Knights.

The Knights were previously known as Doncaster Rugby Football Club, which was founded in 1875. In the early 1920’s DRFC moved to a site near the town centre where it shared a ground with the cricket club. This uneasy liaison lasted for 30 years before the Club moved to its existing ground at Armthorpe Road, some three miles away from the town. This site is now known as Castle Park.

In November 2000, a new Clubhouse opened, creating the present Castle Park. The complex includes one large suite, the Arms Park, and two smaller suites, Twickenham and Murrayfield, all with their own private bars and access to the balcony which overlooks the 1st XV pitch. These three suites together can be amalgamated to create the Millennium Suite for larger functions and are commonly used for pre match hospitality for both the Knights and other fixtures played at Castle Park. The fourth suite available in the Clubhouse building is the Lansdowne, also used as a members’ bar, carrying all the history of “The most promoted team in Rugby history”.

In 2002, the Hesley Group kindly funded the erection of the Hesley Suite, a separate building, with a private bar and balcony. It is an excellent place in which to have a small, private party and is used by the group on match days to enjoy the game.

During the summer of 2008, the old West Stand was demolished to make way for a brand new stand, the De Mulder Lloyd stand, creating two large function suites along with executive boxes and a large concourse area.

Finally in 2018, the Club’s kind benefactors funded a new state of the art artificial grass pitch in place of pitch 4. This completed the current Castle Park set up, equipping Doncaster with one of, if not the best stadium facilities within Championship Rugby.