IT has been a chastening few months for Keighley Albion, and chairman Richard Dibbin believes their struggles are typical of many amateur rugby league sides.

Keighley began the Yorkshire Men's League Division One season earlier this year, but got nowhere near finishing it, pulling out after only a handful of games.

Dibbin explained: "The open age side haven't been playing for a while, and there's a few reasons for that.

"We were getting lots of games called off due to Covid, which meant a delayed end to the season, and in turn, that saw us lose a lot of lads back to rugby union.

"It seems to be a problem in rugby league in general.

"There were 10, 11 or 12 teams that started in Division One like us, and I think only three of them completed a full season.

"I'm not sure exactly what to put it down to, but I'd suggest people have found other things to do during Covid, and maybe lost interest in the game itself."

It gets worse too, with Dibbin saying: "It's only going to get harder next year, as the RFL are going to start charging players a yearly fee to play from 2022.

"We're already desperate for people to pay their subs, and now there's going to be a charge of between £18 and £25 for any individual, youth or open age, to play the sport too.

"Clubs can pay that fee on behalf of each individual, but most of them can't afford to, and you can't register a player until that's done.

"We have nearly 400 juniors here at Keighley Albion, so it's whether they'll all come back with this fee being brought in."

The lack of top-quality facilities within the sport is really a grave concern for Dibbin, who said: "We lose a lot of players to rugby union as I've said, but you can put it down to union clubs generally having better facilities.

"I think the two sports need to put their heads together, and maybe rejig their schedules, because there shouldn't be this crossover, where we lose players constantly to the other code."

You could be forgiven for thinking there are no reasons to be cheerful at Keighley Albion at the moment.

But that is not the case, with Dibbin explaining: "Our junior set-up is thriving, and it's getting bigger every year.

"Our primary school age sides have all got more than 25 players each, and we've got big squads all through our junior section, all the way up to and including the Under-16s.

"It does tail off when you get to the U18s and open age though, for all the reasons I said earlier, as well as things like them having girlfriends and more simply, just their priorities changing."

Dibbin still has hope for Albion's open age side for 2022 and beyond though, saying: "We'll look to refresh at the beginning of the year and I'm hoping for big things.

"We brought in an experienced head coach in Dean Buckler, and although that hasn't worked out, he's keen to stay at the club and work with the juniors.

"In the meantime, we're looking for a new head coach, and to just go back to the drawing board really.

"We'll probably look to drop down the divisions in the YML, and focus on the development of what is a young open age squad.

"We've retained quite a few of our U18s, so they'll make the step up to open age for next season.

"But they won't look out of place, as I think one of our oldest open age players is still only 22.

"In a way, that's exciting, having a squad so young that it can develop over time, but at the same time, we could do with some more experience ahead of the new season."