Doncasters first taste of Professional Rugby happened in the days before the game was even known as Rugby League in the early days the professional game was known as Northern Union.
Doncaster Town Rugby Union club known as the Royal Blues started off life in the 1870's as a winter offshoot of the towns cricket club home for both clubs was the Belle Vue playing fields which lay beside the Gt North Rd Bennetthorpe approximately where Danum Rd & Sanbeck Rd now stand, these days its a conservation area containing 26 Spinsters Cottages funded by William Nuttall owner of a Doncaster sweet factory.
In 1895 when a lot of the leading clubs left the RFU to join the breakaway professional Northern Union Doncaster stayed with the RFU but after a poor season in 1899 the clubs members took an interest in applying to join the Northern Union the club's membership voted unanimously to apply to become members, but despite the efforts of the club secretary Mr Trippett that the club had a good ground, £30 in the bank & splendid prospects of assembling a good team their application was rejected.
Undeterred by that rejection the club continued with their application & they were finally accepted as members August 1st 1899.No other competition was open to the club which meant the club secretary had the difficult task of arranging a series of friendly fixtures for the coming season a number of northern clubs offered fixtures against their A teams.
Saturday September 30th 1899 saw the club make their Northern Union debut at Belle Vue playing fields against Wakefield Trinity A team not surprisingly they were defeated 25-Nil.
Over the next few months the club fought a losing battle against A teams of Hull & Hunslet as well as strong junior clubs from Eastmoor & Goole both players & spectators lost interest & it became quite common for the team to travel to away fixtures short-handed & they had to recruit some locals to make-up their numbers before the game could start.
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A Visit to Hull at the end of January 1900 proved to be the clubs tenth & final match an eleventh fixture at Pontefract was arranged but bad weather forced the game to be cancelled.A lack of spirit within the club seemed to prevent the arrangement of any further fixtures & all Rugby activity ceased within the town until a new Rugby Union team was established a number of years later.
Doncaster Rovers FC played their home games at the Belle Vue playing fields from 1920 to 1922 when they moved to their brand new ground opposite Doncaster Racecourse.