Good luck Barrow-Cumbria doing it tough at moment..
The future Of Barrow Rugby League

Last Wednesday evening Barrow Raiders came within hours of going out of existence. Together with the other four remaining directors, too few much too few for the club to prosper, I faced the prospect of the club being no longer able to pay its players and staff caused by a huge black hole in our finances. It was only due to a fantastic eleventh hour offer by one of our directors that the club is still in existence to day and will hopefully finish the season which is ironically one of our best for some years.

A community icon in the Furness Peninsula was nearly committed to history and yet another part of our culture – what makes us who we are – would have been consigned to memory and eventually forgotten.

This was the third time in our recent history that the club has been close to closure. I want to help you understand the background and this bulletin is to explain the current position of the club and the recent history that has brought us to this point.

I was approached in May 2017 by senior figures within and associated with the club who raised serious concerns about the financial welfare of Barrow Rugby League. I was asked to return but I was reluctant as I felt I had given enough time to the club and need to devote more time to our business.

Throughout the following 4 months, I was regularly contacted and asked to return. Two new directors had joined the board,John Coward and Dave Robinson, and were confident the club had moved forward and asked again for me to be chairman.

In August, I agreed to come back to help sort the problems. Once back at the club it became immediately apparent that John and David had been misinformed regarding the financial state of Barrow R.L.

You will be amazed and horrified to know that the club had £7.50 in the bank with wages due and had two winding up orders from the Inland Rev & Customs. Stunningly, I received a phone call from the receivers who informed me that on 20th September they were changing the locks to Craven Park and to remove anything before that date. The club also had £50,000 of immediate unpaid bills. It took courage and determination.

My first task was to bring people to the board who could commit time and effort to stop the club folding: Keith Holt, Dawn Knowles and Sean Hunter stepped forward for which I thank them.

The club needed money quickly and before the end of the financial year on November 30th. Firstly, to start paying back the immediate debt and secondly to prevent a massive breach of the salary cap, that would have resulted in the club losing its promotion. However, this meant that money that should have been budgeted for 2018 had to be used for 2017.

In October we started to sign new players only to find out from the RFL that in May 2017 the club had been placed in special measures due to the concern over financial affairs within the club. This meant the club could not sign any players without initial consent from the R.F.L. Again,stunning information, not known to me but, again, we soldiered on.

These months were horrendous, but through extensive, time consuming efforts, we managed to get the special measures lifted but the RFL set the salary cap at a figure the club had to adhere to. Funds were limited and restricted even more so by the fact that 19 players had been given two year contracts with built in wage rises if the club gained promotion to the championship.

Despite this a squad of 30 players were assembled, the club through Mr Keith Holt’s brilliant efforts, has raised over £160,000 in sponsorship; three times more than in 2017 but has had to meet contract payments substantially higher than 2017 and pay off the large debt of 2017.

As everyone knows in recent weeks, the club has suffered horrendous injury crisis reducing the squad dramatically with last minute illnesses to two players and a work injury that left us with only 15 players for the Featherstone game with injuryand illnesses affecting 14 players. Gene Ormsby decided he no longer wanted to travel and has stopped attending training.

Under our brilliant coach and his assistant, despite these unpredicted set of circumstances, the performance of the team has been superb and above expectations with particularlystunning results against Leigh and Toronto at home. Everyone I have spoken to praises the attitude and determination of our gallant band of players: often against all the odds.

As a result, although the aim at the beginning of the year, was to avoid relegation we are now in a strong position and a stronger position than we expected.

Steve Neale has joined the board and is already making animpact, however, in recent weeks, John Coward has stepped down from the board but will continue to support and sponsorthe club. John has been a really dedicated director and is a great fan of the club.

The club obviously needs new directors that can commit time, carry out specific duties within the club, help instigate and follow through new income streams. The only way is up and we want to build a capacity so that our great club does not just survive on a day to day basis but is comfortable in this division and then who knows what we can aim for.

In May /June the club had a seven week period with only onehome game. Cash flow is our main short-term concern. Remember the club has raised a tremendous level of sponsorship this year but too much of this money has been used to pay of last years debts and meet contract payments that increased substantially in 2018.

If we can maintain our position in the league, we may be in a much stronger position financially at the end of the season.

However, to allow this to happen and ease the cash flow situation we need financial investment in Barrow Rugby League now! The club is part of our town’s heritage and if we lose it we will never get it back.

We need Barrovians living elsewhere (includinginternationally) and people across Furness and Millom to rally round and stand up for the rugby.

We accept communication has been limited and it is our intention to now hold a monthly meeting open to all supporters for updates to be given and open discussion to take place.

This year and in previous years, various directors have heavily funded the club but this can’t continue and we need the people of Barrow-in-Furness to help this wonderful club move forward. There is a great future but the firefighting has to stop.

With this in mind we will be opening a JustGiving page and start our campaign: Take One for the Team.

Simply, we are asking every supporter to bring one new person with them to every game. If 300 supporters brought one adult each, we would raise £4,500 extra at every home game. This is an easy way to make a massive difference;hopefully it is achievable for every supporter with a massive impact to the club.

As well as physical support it must be possible through the JustGiving page to create a virtual crowd who will, by donation boost our attendance revenue. Please get in touch with friends and family living outside the area and even the country to persuade them to contribute. Your club needs them.

Sometimes sports clubs are more important than the result of a game or a league position. They are about heritage, culture and the blood sweat and tears of a great community. Barrow Raiders is part of a special cultural heritage we need in our local community but also the ‘expat’ community living elsewhere in the country or overseas to get involved and show the spirit that make our club great!

To that said if you want to influence the future of the club and have the skills and time to be a director: step forward! Barrow Town Council if you want to support our heritage: step forward! With a great coach, dedicated players and superb volunteers we have the best of a great club. We can’t let the raiders die!

Looks like another club where decent people have not understood the financial dynamics of running a club and have had to be “saved” by other decent people.

Sadly so many clubs have been there and thank goodness there are people around still willing to help with time and cash.

Good luck Barrow, you many not have one anything at the top level for over 60 years, but clubs like this are vital for the future of rugby league.

Having said that I think we will win by twenty plus points.

I wish Barrow all the best for the future apart from the result on Sunday . To me their main home advantage is when the ground is like a bog not on firm ground. Heads on to our boys and no slip ups. Notice Jones had a good reserve game . Keep going lad and you will be a regular next year . IMO you are the one with the greatest potential that we have on our books it just sometimes takes RM a while for the penny to drop

I wish Barrow all the best for the future apart from the result on Sunday . To me their main home advantage is when the ground is like a bog not on firm ground. Heads on to our boys and no slip ups. Notice Jones had a good reserve game . Keep going lad and you will be a regular next year . IMO you are the one with the greatest potential that we have on our books it just sometimes takes RM a while for the penny to drop

Green is rumoured to have signed elsewhere for next season so is unlikely to feature for ourselves or Cas again this season unless they are desperate.

He has raw potential but still needs a lot of work and has a good number of players in front of him. If he sticks at it though and puts the time in he will do well for us.

Inspite of the problems at Barrow it will still be a tough game but we should be good enough especially if we can cut out just 50% of the unforced errors.

With Toronto winning against Leigh yesterday a chance to get a 3 point cushion over one of our rivals.

Looks like another jet lagged team (and a very good one at that) put to the sword. Extremely annoying that the Rugby League are bending over backwards for Toronto creating an unfair playing field. They should have intermingled home and away matches like every one else and come over here in the same jet lagged state. I'm sure they wouldn't be running away at the top if that was the case.

I think you're overlooking the fact that they're already over here.

Anyway, jetlag's not the reason teams are losing to Toronto. Recruitment is. They have by far the best squad in the division.

Why couldn't you lot play Barrow away in Feb when their pitch was a farmers field, recently ploughed. Also they had a full squad of players, and no obvious money problems. you lucky sods !

In 5 years time, with 200 fans played in a public park in Toronto...? Hang on a minute, we have refs to get them into Super League if needed!

A rotten administration is the reason tens of thousands are walking away from the sport. The young 'uns follow the footy as at least it's fair (unless Old Trafford added time, of course)

RFL won't need to appoint a fixer next week. I'm sure they'll have their best men on it v London & Toulouse!

It's how you beat 14 men. Didn't Vickers suggest cheap admission v Toulouse?

Another good win despite a lull in the middle came good at the end. The tills will be ringing this week for the Fev game over 3k ? I would hope so. It's make some money time hopefully