Cockermouth and Upper Eden have both appealed against their placement in the Cumbria League next season under the latest RFU reorganisation.
It means that Cockermouth have been demoted from North Two West while Upper Eden have not been promoted after winning the Cumbria League again.
Both clubs have expressed bitter disappointment at the decision and have genuine fears it will impact on the progress they have been making.
Chris Wright is stepping down as head coach at Cockermouth to concentrate on off-field developments on the committee.
He emphasises it has nothing to do with the League placement with Cockermouth returning to the Cumbria League.
Wright says: “As a club we find it very difficult to accept a relegation, regardless of the fact that the Cumbria League is now designated a higher level.
“The decision to demote us throws up a lot of questions. Is it fair that we were not given an indication we needed to finish in a certain position? In fact the information we received at the start of January was League finishes were irrelevant and it was already decided we were in the Cumbria League.
“As a club we now have a number of players who have tasted higher level rugby and deserve to stay at that level while their time and bodies allow.
“We understand this means they could/will transfer to other clubs. This will make our player pool too small for a second team as it creates a big knock-on effect across the club.
“The club had record attendances and sponsorship this year and it really got the community enjoying the standard of rugby union offered. No disrespect to the Cumbria League but this won’t happen next season.
“As a squad a lot of our players started at 17/18 and we have spent seven years working hard to get promoted from the Cumbria League. We tried to ensure players who showed potential could actually start reaching potential at a higher standard of rugby.
“This has taken a lot of club finances to improve the infrastructure of the club, the standard of pitches, access to training venues, not to mention the extra transport costs.
“The coaches and players have put in a huge effort and in hindsight we are actually disappointed to have finished mid-table when we pushed teams like Rochdale and Keswick to the final play.
“Our current Under-16 coaches are working hard to enter a North East Colts League next season to ensure our player development model equates to the standard of first team rugby available.
“Being in the Cumbria Leaguer will again lose lads in their transition to senior rugby as they join other local, higher placed clubs.
“This happened for years to Cockermouth RUFC and went unpunished and unsanctioned but over the last few years we finally stopped the player drain.
“We are very disappointed that teams like Cockermouth and Cumbria League champions Upper Eden are not getting access to the standard of rugby they have earned,
“Therefore we would urge the RFU to consider extending a League above us to accommodate our desire to continue to grow as a club.”
The feeling is very similar at Upper Eden who won the Cumbria One League (level 8) comprehensively.
Chairman Neil Marston says: “We won the league unbeaten, scoring an average of 46 points per game and conceding only 7.5 points per game.
“We have not received promotion as all the other teams from last season’s Cumbria 1 have moved up to level 7.
“The majority of our scores last season were over 50 points and several of the teams that we played stated that they did not want to play us in the Shield competition at the end of the season due to the hammering that they received in the league games.
“This lack of promotion will have a negative impact on the game and will lead to the loss of players and potentially some teams from the Cumbria League. This is no detriment to the other Cumbria teams in the league.
“In 2017/18 Upper Eden won the Cumbria 1 League. We did not receive promotion due to the RFU restructuring the leagues.
“There were eight Cumbrian teams in that League and we ended up playing some clubs five times that season, which caused players to drift away from the game as they got fed up of playing the same clubs.
“We are now faced with the same situation and have major concerns that we will lose players from the game.
“We are a forward-focussed club with an excellent squad of young players that are more than capable of playing at a higher level.
“Over the last few years, we have invested a huge amount of time, effort, and money to get promoted from the Cumbria League and to ensure that the players who showed the potential could play at a higher level.
“The coaches and players have put in a huge effort, and we are extremely disappointed not to have received promotion following such a successful season, creating history at our club by completing all our games unbeaten. We are searching for the answer as to what we have to do to get promoted.
“We have developed a successful second team and ladies team which all contributes to the success of our first team.
“Last season our Ladies played in NC2 North West and finished a credible third place in the League. The league was made up largely of Lancashire teams, this has been restructured and next season is made up of predominantly Cumbria/Durham/Northumbria teams.
“This works well for us as a club given that we are located in the south east of Cumbria only eight miles from the Durham border. Travel distance and time is reduced, which is one of the RFU objectives of the League restructure.
“The proposed Regional 2 North (level 6) is made up a combination of Cumbria, Durham, and Northumbria teams.
“A level 7 league combining clubs from the same counties would give a league with parity across the teams and be a great destination for our men’s first team.
“The disparity of ability across the teams in the proposed Cumbria league is a significant one which has the potential to lead to serious consequences. This is a risk that needs to be considered and managed for the safety and welfare of the players.
“We are very disappointed and disillusioned that we are not receiving promotion and that teams like Cockermouth are effectively demoted which will have a negative impact by not getting access to the standard of rugby that we have all earned and deserve.”
There appears to be no route out of the Cumbria League to the new Regional Two North West as the reluctance to travel up here caused Lancashire and Cheshire clubs to breakaway.
They are now back so the promotion route for Cumbrian clubs looks to be to Regional Two North East.
However when Cockermouth posed the question of future promotions the RFU said that would be dependent on the geographical dispersion of the teams at Regional Two for that season.
All the Lancashire/Cheshire clubs who left have now returned into the new structure. They have got their own way but left a sour taste with the Cumbrians.
