Whitehaven have just agreed a record-breaking sponsorship deal - despite being relegated from the Kingstone Press Championship.

The club was handed a huge boost from long-term partners AECOM, one of the world’s largest engineering and infrastructure companies.

The company has agreed a record breaking £59,000 sponsorship deal with Whitehaven RLFC for the 2016/17 season which will ensure stability of the club’s finances for the coming season.

AECOM, has been the main sponsors of the club, since 2000, under the brands of Washington Group International, NMP and URS.

And this will take their sponsorship up to 17 years, making it one of the longest serving sponsors of a professional sports team in the UK.

Gerry McGill, AECOM’s Senior Vice President for their Nuclear and Environment Division said: “We are very proud to have supported Haven for so long and I am delighted that we have been able to offer the club this record breaking deal in our final year as sponsors.

"We understand how much the club means to the community and we wanted to do our best to provide a strong financial foundation for the future of the club, after our sponsorship ends.”

Tom Todd, Haven chairman, said: “We are delighted that AECOM has pledged a club record deal in its final year as main sponsor.

"Over the last 16 years, the company, in its various different guises, has provided fantastic support to the club and has seen us through some successful and some difficult times.

"The club faces more challenging times next season in League One, where financial stability will be crucial, and we thank AECOM for its financial support at this vital stage."

Haven may also have been handed an on-the-field lifeline with the news that Sheffield Eagles could be on the verge of folding.

Sheffield’s director of rugby Mark Aston has said the club is homeless and in crisis, with just a few weeks before it “ceases to exist”.

And if the Eagles were to fold then presumably only the last team in Championship One would go down and currently Haven and Town share bottom spot.

So results in this final weekend would be crucial as Haven host Swinton and Town head to Halifax, perhaps with something still to play for.

Haven are currently bottom but only on points difference.

AECOM acquired URS in 2014. They deliver nuclear decommissioning from their office on the Westlakes Science Park along with wider infrastructure projects, including work on the Port of Workington and the Cumbrian Coastal rail line. Staff in the Whitehaven town centre office support the Low Level Waste Repository and other Nuclear and Environment projects in the UK, Europe and Asia.