THE WHITEHAVEN RL Board of Directors has issued a New Year statement to their fans. 

The directors have reflected on the past year, which has been financially difficult for the club. 

They are also looking ahead as the club receives new sponsorship for the 2024 season. 

A spokesperson from the club said: "2023 proved to be a challenging year for the club in many ways, not least by the lack of central funding, limited sponsorship, and an unusual number of away games to open the season.

"This all proved too much early in the season and despite the valiant effort by the limited board members to financially support the club, debts started to mount.

"A new Board of Directors formed mid-season and plans were put in place to start and repay the debt and to strengthen the club’s position.

"Negotiations between HMRC and the Board produced a revised payment plan, which saw us take the debt down from just under £60k to £25k.

"At the time of writing this message, this payback is inclusive of interest payments. The new board has managed to achieve this and not incur any more HMRC debt during their tenure.

"This has been achieved with assistance from supporters and sponsors in maintaining a greater than 75 percent average capacity within our sponsor's lounge from June until September 2023, plus average gates of around 800-850 people."

They continued: "Our Main Sponsor for the last three seasons has been Liftec Engineering Limited, who we are forever grateful to for their support, have chosen not to be the Main Sponsor for the 2024 season but have agreed to continue to assist us in other ways.

"Going forward to the 2024 season, we have a new Main Sponsor, Ortus Energy, who have big plans for the ‘Ortus Rec’ to further assist us in reducing our financial outlay.

"Other new sponsors for 2024 include Stork Engineering and Morgan Sindell who along with Ortus Energy have contributed towards the cost of the community program within local schools and the children’s rugby holiday camps.

"Resolve and F D Attire are two more sponsors along with several other local companies currently in sponsorship discussions with the club."