On the eve of the new amateur rugby league season in west Cumbria, one club has dropped out and another has sent out a plea for more players.

It’s not the message that either the Cumbria Men’s League or the Iggesund Cumberland ARL want to be sending out, but seems symptomatic of the times.

Great Clifton Lions have pulled out of the Cumberland ARL, which starts next week, while Maryport have made a Facebook appeal for more players.

They are due to start tomorrow with a BARLA Cumbria Cup game against Hensingham.

Lions’ spokesman Mark Jones said: “To be truthful, it’s been a struggle for a couple of years now because of a shortage of players.

"This year we only had seven and eight at the first two training sessions.

“Some of the lads have signed for other clubs, so it was going to be impossible to field a team each week.

“Personally, I do feel the situation is not helped by us playing in the summer time.

"There are too many other activities at that time of the year and it affects everybody.

“But this is not going to be the end of Great Clifton Lions. We are just a small village club but the committee will continue to operate and fund raise, with a view to looking at the situation again next year.”

Maryport have already intimated at the problems they face and this week they went onto Facebook to explain their situation, which is something they had experienced last season when they finished early without completing their fixtures.

Their Facebook appeal said: “We are in need of about ten open age players in order to be able to compete in the Cumbria Men’s League.

“Injuries, player retirements and some bad luck has seen the club averaging 15 players at pre-season training sessions but that is nowhere near a big enough squad to compete in the Men’s League.

“We have had 100’s of players over the years who have represented the club from youths through to open age and we are appealing for these lads to pull on a pair of boots and turn out for the club again.

“The game is in decline locally and the only people who can reverse this trend are the players.

“If we can get lads back into the game, then we will have a strong enough squad as the nucleus of the squad that was winning trophies three years ago is still there. What we are lacking is strength in depth.”

Maryport, under new coach Gary Charlton, train Wednesdays and Fridays on the all-weather at Netherhall School (6pm to 7pm).

As well as Maryport v Hensingham in the BARLA Cumbria Cup, Ellenborough Rangers will try again to host Glasson Rangers in the same competition, as last week’s clash was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.

Broughton Red Rose are hosting Wath Brow in a friendly.

Meanwhile, the big three in west Cumbrian amateur ruby league circles are primed for the start of the National Conference Premier Division.

Wath Brow Hornets, Kells and Egremont have all had a taste of the action in cup competitions and should be close to match-fit for the seasonal opener.

Egremont reached the third round of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup last week when they went down at York City Knights.

They have an interesting trip to Humberside to tackle Premier Division newcomers Myton Wartiors.

They put up a decent performance in the Challenge Cup before going down 32-6 at Doncaster.

Kells are also on the rod, with arguably the toughest test at Leigh Miners Rangers who lost in the Grand Final last year.

There will also be plenty of interest in the game at Wath Brow, where the visitors are West Hull who ran Whitehaven so close last week in the Challenge Cup.