NORTH One East clubs Bradford & Bingley and Cleckheaton are coping well with the coronavirus crisis.

As they own their own premises, the Moorenders may not have any income coming in, but they have no major expenditure either.

Meanwhile, Bradford & Bingley, who have had to cope with three successive weekends of flooding from storms Ciara, Dennis and Jorge, have been boosted by their landowners, the Craven Trust, and the government’s easing of business rates.

Cleckheaton RUFC’s rugby chairman Neil Gillan said: “It has affected us in a big way in that we will have little revenue coming in - probably for the first quarter.

“But we are lucky compared to some clubs in that we have no mortgage and we own everything that is down there.

“In terms of expenditure, we have council tax and water bills, but the only employees we pay are bar steward Bethan Robinson, head coach Thiu Barnard and backs coach Matty Piper.

“We have had a cleaner in, so there is some tidying up for Bethan to do initially, but then we will probably furlough her on full pay, so we will have to find the 20 per cent of her wage that the government won’t be paying.

“Similarly with Thiu, whose wage has been split over 12 months, while Matty’s wage is from September to April, so we only have to pay him for next month.”

As for functions that were booked in for Cleckheaton Sports Club, Gillan explained: “We had a few engagement parties and a wedding, which are all off, and we will lose the bar revenue from those events, as well as the general bar revenue.

“We have a £20,000 turnover from the bar each month in the winter so we are probably looking at £50,000-£60,000 overall - that is turnover not profit - but the bar takings are lower in the summer (when cricket and bowls are on).”

Bradford & Bingley RUFC’s president Glen Shaw said: “The club is okay.

“We now don’t have to pay business rates and the Craven Trust (a charity who own the land at Wagon Lane) have given us six months rent free.

“What we don’t know is what is happening to the Bingley Weekender music festival on the first weekend in September.

“That is our main source of income, and some music festivals nationwide have already been cancelled.”

Meanwhile, the RFU have been doing their bit to help grassroots clubs.

Bill Sweeney, the RFU’s chief executive officer, said in a statement this week on the RFU website that, after a virtual board meeting, a relief package of £7m has been made available to support community clubs in England.

Measures included are:

* an early release of £800,000 cash due to clubs through the ticketing fund

* an early release of final funding payments of £600,000 to constituent bodies, enabling the most needy clubs to immediate support grants, plus £400,000 available to constituent bodies who elect to match funds from their own reserves

* a suspension of the quarterly loan repayments for clubs with outstanding loans due in April, which is worth £335,000

* the creation of a £5m support loans programme, offering loans of between about £2,000 and £10,000, with deferred repayments for six months and repayable in total over three years

There is also a free helpline to assist clubs with legal and tax-related matters at: https://www.englandrugby.com/participation/running-your-club/legal-and-administration

The RFU hope to tell clubs of the implications of ending the season early (i.e. promotion and relegation) by the middle of next month.

Cleckheaton were right in the hunt for promotion from North One East, sitting second despite suffering a surprise 33-28 home defeat to Pocklington last time out.

Bradford & Bingley are at the other end of the table, third-bottom and in a relegation spot.

But they are within four points of the five clubs immediately above, and have a game in hand on four of them.