The news today that Rotherham will remain in Tier 3 after the current lockdown was expected but is another blow for your rugby club.
We have battled on through this pandemic but moving into Tier 2 in October and then Tier 3 followed by lockdown has really affected our ability to generate money. The current restrictions in Tier 2, which for us are the same as the old Tier 3, would make it very difficult for us to operate in that Tier based on the results from when we kept going in Tier 3.
The week we were in Tier 3, we opened Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Thursday we did quiz night, Friday was Fish and Chips, Saturday was England v Italy and Sunday was Sunday Roast. We had a good attendance at each session but the restrictions meant we could only get 30 people into the clubhouse for the international on Saturday. The result was we made a Gross Profit over the 4 days of just £100. Once we take the running costs into consideration, we made a nett loss.
The government will re-assess the tiers every 2 weeks but it is unlikely we will drop from Tier 3 to Tier 1 therefore, unless the rules regarding hospitality venues are relaxed, it could be sometime before the clubhouse re-opens for drinks.
In the meantime, the government are providing £500 per week to support closed premises, unfortunately this does not cover our fixed costs and we hope that they will now review this for venues like ours that continue to be closed. We have managed our beer supplies to minimise wastage during a closedown but we will lose some beer with this extended closedown.
We have been blown away by the generosity of the supporters and sponsors who have donated their money for season tickets, player sponsorship and Brand for a Grands purchased for this aborted season and without this money we would have even bigger problems at the moment.
We are in the process of designing the plaque to recognise everyone that has made such a donation. We are also looking at another way to recognise these supporters and sponsors and we will let everyone know about this once it is agreed.
On the positive side, we have started to speak to the players about contracts for next season and we already have some players signed up!
The Foundation is continuing its work in schools and TRC. 3 players plus Steve Salvin are working with over 300 kids each week and with so many schools in the queue that we are fully booked up to Easter.
We will be looking at ways to generate some money during this challenging period and we are confident that everyone will do what they can to support us.
Stay Safe.
