Doncaster Rovers Belles honour the badge as they build for the future under Ciaran Toner and Chris Wood

By leveraging their trailblazing past, Doncaster Rovers Belles hope to build a more prosperous future.

One of the greatest names in women’s football, Belles was written off in the rush to modernize the sport

more than ten years ago. Since then, the moneyed and well supported push to professionalize women’s

football in this nation has left Belles as a forgotten relic.

Despite being demoted three times and almost going to the wall twice, the group known as the Belle Vue

Belles is still together and continues to fight.

They were rescued under the Club Doncaster umbrella in 2019 but now have a vision and a strategy to

get moving in the right direction again, using that badge of theirs as a beacon.

Over the course of the next month, they will play three home games at EcoPower Stadium to celebrate

their history and look forward to the future. They will play doubleheaders against the Rovers today and

Saturday, April 20, and a stand-alone game on Easter Sunday, March 31, when they will honor past

legends in a Hall of Fame ceremony and hope to break their attendance record.

Chief executive Chris Wood and manager Ciaran Toner—a former player for Grimsby, Rochdale, and the

Northern Ireland national team—have been the team’s driving forces.

“It’s a prestigious and historic club, maybe it’s fallen from grace, but this is an opportunity to build it

back up to where we want it to be and where people hope it can be,” says Toner, 42, who took over in

mid-November with the club sinking into a relegation battle in the regionalized fourth tier.