WHITEHAVEN Rugby League's manager has spoken out about the club's ongoing journey out of its severe financial difficulties.

The club, the fans, and the rugby community as a whole has banded together over recent months to offer their support to the struggling side.

Fans raised thousands to help keep Whitehaven afloat and they also received some vital intervention from Bounty Competitions.

The competition company, which is owned by a Whitehaven man, is now offering financial support to the club.

One man, Paul Martin, also did a sponsored silence at Whitehaven's game against Sheffield.

His efforts helped to raise even more vital funds to protect the club.

Head coach Jonty Gorley said: "We're in a better place now, it's not a recent thing it's been going on for about 12 months regarding staff and players being paid less and cash flow problems at the club. 

"Obviously it got to a point six weeks ago when we reached rock bottom and realised if we didn't get some income from somewhere we would be in dire straits and might have had to just shut the doors and walk away. 

"The directors have done a bit of business with Calvin from Bounty Competitions, who's a Whitehaven lad living in Aberdeen.

"He wanted to do the right thing by his hometown club and he gave us a much-needed boost.

"He's also going to do one of these competitions a month and give the club some monthly income, so that was something massive for the club. 

"The directors worked hard with Calvin to sort that out and it was a refreshing bit of news that we got.

"It sort of turned us around a bit, because even though the lads don't think about the money when they cross the whitewash on a Sunday when they're at training all they were talking about was not being paid and they were getting down in the dumps. 

"But these past couple of weeks have been different, they've been paid up to date and there's a different atmosphere at training. 

"I think that's maybe why we got turned over by teams like Newcastle and Bradford."