Talking Sport Now & Then: Steve Hossack's latest column featuring Doncaster Rovers, Doncaster Athletic Club and World Snooker Championship

Their feat in reaching the play-offs, given where they were at the start of the year, ranks as one of the most remarkable achievements during my six decades covering Doncaster sport.

Given their record of ten wins and a draw in their last 11 games of the season, they must be strong favourites to beat a Crewe side who have had mixed results of late over two legs.

I was fortunate to report on Rovers win over Leeds United in the League One play-off final at Wembley back in 2008 and it would be great to see the club back there later this month and for them to go on and win promotion back to League One.

Whether it would top the achievement of beating Leeds and returning to the second tier of English football for the first time since the late 50s, is another question. What is not in doubt is the boost promotion would give not only to Rovers’ fans but the city as a whole.

*Doncaster Athletic Club chairman Kev Lincoln declared the club’s annual Open meeting, which attracted athletes from all over Yorkshire and beyond, on Saturday, a success.

“It could have done with being a bit warmer, especially in the morning, but the number of entries was up on last year,” he said.

One of the highlights of the meeting were the men’s and women’s Donny Mile races - staged at the close of the event - both of which featured a £50 first prize.

Doncaster’s Jennifer Monteith broke clear at the start of the last lap in the women’s race and never looked like being caught by her only serious rival.

In addition to the various league meetings during the season, the club will again hold a Sprint meeting in September.

There are also plans to stage an inaugural Open 1,500m relay event featuring various age groups at the end of the season to help compensate for the fact that the club will not be hosting any of their traditional spring/summer road races this year.

A club spokesman told me that Doncaster Knights’ decision to more than double the cost of staging the popular Sandall Beat 10 Trail race in June meant that it had become unviable as a fundraising event.

Likewise, the long-running and hugely popular city centre 5k meeting in July has fallen victim to rising costs.

“We offered to change the route to try and reduce costs but despite the council trying their best to be accommodating, it still wasn’t viable,” said the spokesman. “There is no point in putting in all that work not to make any money for the club.”

*Doncaster Knights head coach Joe Ford will be more interested than most people connected with the Championship club when the Eco-Power Stadium plays host to the Betfred Rugby League Challenge Cup semi-final on May 12.

For Joe, the younger brother of England rugby union international George Ford, has been helping Hull Kingston Rovers with their goal-kicking in recent months.

Like a number of Super League clubs this season, the Robins don’t have a recognised goal-kicker and the former Northampton, Sale, Leicester and Yorkshire Carnegie half-back has been travelling over to East Hull to work with several players one day a week.

The Robins will be hoping that Joe’s efforts will pay off when they face Wigan, the reigning Super League and World Club Challenge champions.

For last season’s runners-up are likely to need any tries the score converted if they are to deny the star-studded Warriors a return to Wembley in June.

Having said that they recently recorded an impressive Super League win over them at Craven Park – a result which will have boosted their confidence.

*The first thing many football supporters do at the final whistle is to look at their phone to see where the result of their team’s match leaves them in the table.

Yet over the years that I reported on Doncaster Rovers I regularly came across managers who, in the pre-match press conference, said they never looked at a league table when asked a question about games.

Whatever you think of Sean O’Driscoll, he was a successful manager of Doncaster Rovers and he was clearly an intelligent man. Yet he was one of the worst offenders when it came to looking at a league table.

I don’t think any of the media pack at the time believed him when he said he never looked at the league table, but because there was no way we could prove it we had to take what he said at face value.

*I have some sympathy with several of the top snooker players who have suggested the World Championships, which are set to reach their climax this Bank Holliday weekend, should be moved from the Crucible because of poor facilities and the fact that the venue is too small.

My main criticism of the venue is that the two-table format in the early rounds doesn’t reflect such a prestigious event.

The Masters, for instance, uses just one table throughout the event. The entry, however, is restricted to just the top 16 players which makes it easier.

The event will stay in Sheffield until the 2027 championships at least and I would like them to remain in the county longer than that.

Obviously, the Crucible can’t be made any bigger but I can’t see any problem using another suitable venue in Sheffield or elsewhere in the county – and don’t forget the Dome has successfully hosted big tournaments in the past – to stage games up to the semi-final stage.