Doncaster Rugby Football Club was founded in 1875 although there is some evidence of a rugby side in the town at an even earlier date. For the first 50 years of its existence it led a fairly nomadic life playing at numerous sites around the area: it even had a spell at the turn of the century when it became a Northern Union club.

In the early 1920s 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. What started as a single pitch, two changing rooms and a small clubroom facility evolved over the years as a second and then a third pitch were added, eight additional dressing rooms were built, the original bar was extended, a gymnasium was erected and then converted into a second large bar, a grandstand was built and full playing floodlights were installed.