Rotherham's cricket and rugby clubs come to agreement over home fixture clashes

Clifton Lane, home of Rotherham Town and Rotherham Titans.

In a fresh spirit of co-operation between the two sides, Titans’ director of rugby Martin Jenkinson and cricket committee secretary Richard Fidler sat down and agreed there should be no clashes this year at the home they share.

As a result, the rugby club will remove the scaffolding tower from the middle of the pitch in order for Town to play their first fixture of the season there on April 18.

In turn, Town have agreed to reschedule its second team’s home game on April 25 to accommodate Titans’ final match at home to Rosslyn Park.

Both sides have welcomed the new approach after years of ill feeling.

Richard said: “I was pleased that we agreed on how we would approach the scheduling so both Rotherham Town and the Titans can play matches at Clifton Lane that were already on the fixture list. By working together we can ensure the minimum disruption for both clubs.

“I think everyone in the town is sick and tired of the Clifton Lane saga and just want to watch cricket in the summer and rugby in the winter as fans of both Rotherham clubs.

“The cricket club want the ability to see our senior teams and junior players play a game they are passionate about and one the whole community can get behind.”

At the other end of the cricket season in September, Titans have promised to ask the RFU to schedule their first two fixtures of the 2020/21 campaign to be away from home so Town’s games on September 5 and 12 can take place.

A Titans spokesman said: “We can’t guarantee what their answer will be but based on our requests previously, they have always given us what we wanted.

“Credit to Richard for taking time out to come and speak with us and understanding our obligations.

“It was positive dialogue and it was very good to have that dialogue.

“With the two clubs working together and speaking about the problems fixtures do throw up, moving forward there is confidence that, with the help of the relevant fixtures secretaries at both the South Yorkshire Senior Cricket League and the RFU, there will be a way forward for everyone to fulfill their fixtures here at Clifton Lane, which is a big positive.”