RYLANDS Sharks have explained their decision to withdraw from the National Conference League.

The Gorsey Lane outfit started the Division Three season superbly and six wins and a draw from their opening seven games saw them lead the division at the start of May.

However, a string of injuries and player unavailability has seen them struggle to raise a team on several occasions.

Chairman Mark Wilson says the decision to withdraw from the league they first joined in 2015 was both logistical and financial.

Despite their flying start, Wilson says the loss of their main sponsor before the start of the campaign put them in “a precarious position” before a ball had been kicked.

“Our reasons behind the decision were two-fold, based on financial decisions and the ability able to raise a competitive team week in week out to play at this level,” he said.

“Our season has been ravaged by injuries to key players and work commitments/holidays, which resulted in having to use players from our second Team.

“We lost our main Sponsor prior to the start of the season, which placed us in a precarious position and on the back foot before our first game.

“The efforts of our committee to obtain new sponsorship has been outstanding and we forecast we could compete this season and consolidate our position, but only if everything went to plan.”

Wilson says their forfeiture of a game at Dewsbury Celtic on July 29, and the costs that arose from it, was “the final nail in the coffin” for the club.

“Having recently forfeited an away game against Dewsbury Celtic, we were faced with a fine from NCL for failing to complete the fixture of £500,” he said.

“Add to this the cost of another coach to a rearranged midweek fixture, plus the high probability of being unable to raise a team, we were effectively looking at further costs of circa £900 inclusive of another NCL fine.

“Unfortunately, the NCL decided to withhold the travel subsidiary money of £900, which was due to be paid and would have helped tremendously towards continuing and completing our season.

“This really was the final nail in the coffin.”

Full Rylands Sharks statement from chairman Mark Wilson:

Unfortunately as you are now aware, Rylands ARLFC withdrew from the NCL this week.

Our reasons behind the decision were two-fold, based on financial decisions and the ability able to raise a competitive team week in week out to play at this level.

Our season has been ravaged by injuries to key players and work commitments/holidays which resulted in having to use players from our second team.

On a couple of occasions we have had to cancel our Division Four NWML games to fulfil the NCL fixtures.

Having recently forfeiting an away game against Dewsbury Celtic, we were faced with a fine from NCL for failing to complete the fixture of £500.

Add to this the cost to provide another coach for the rearranged fixture, which is a midweek 6.45pm kick off and the high probability of not being able to raise a team for that fixture due to players' work commitments and travel time to the location, we were effectively looking at further costs to the club of circa £900 inclusive of another NCL fine.

Rylands ARLFC are not a cash-rich club with their own bar and facilities generating revenue. We are a club that works extremely hard with businesses in our local community to generate sponsorship to fund our season.

We are new to the NCL and are still finding our way and learning about commerciality and other aspects that we need to generate the monies needed to be successful on and off the pitch at this level.

We lost our main sponsor prior to the start of the season, which placed us in a precarious position and on the back foot before our first game.

The efforts of our committee to obtain new Sponsorship has been outstanding and we forecast we could compete this season and consolidate our position next season, but only if everything went to plan.

Unfortunately, we did not envisage or have a contingency for the volume of fines being levied against our club.

We were in a position to get to the end of the season, but unfortunately the NCL decided to withhold the travel subsidiary money of £900+, which was due to be paid and would have helped tremendously towards continuing and completing our season. This really was the final nail in the coffin.

Rylands ARLFC have enjoyed the experience of playing in the NCL competition and still believe that, in the future, we will reapply to enter again but we have a lot of work and restructuring to do in-house prior to that event.

We would like to thank the NCL and all the clubs we have played and visited for their sportsmanship and fantastic hospitality and we wish them well for the rest of the season.