Rugby league, once the bedrock sport of west Cumbria, is wilting with dire consequences being predicted.

Workington Town and Whitehaven’s relegation to the third tier of the professional code comes at a time when the amateur game is in crisis.

Calls have gone out to the Rugby Football League to take urgent action and embark on a major review of the sport in Cumbria, involving all the stake holders.

Professionals, amateurs, referees, youth organisations and schools should all be brought into discussions on the way forward to save the game in the county.

At the top level Workington and Whitehaven, trying to survive on gates of 500, have dropped into League One facing unglamorous trips to Hemel Hempstead, Gloucester, Oxford and Coventry.

Locally in the amateur game, Maryport have just announced they are unable to complete their fixtures and have finished the season early.

Matches being called off because clubs can’t find enough players are occurring on a regular basis.

Three out of five Cumbria men’s League games weren’t played a fortnight ago.

Maryport knew they couldn’t fulfil fixtures over the next three weeks but say they fully expect to be back in the league next season with a new coaching team in place.

Maryport treasurer Paul Williamson is among a host of lifelong rugby league lovers who are deeply concerned about the long-term prospects for the sport unless something changes.

He said: “Participation levels are dropping like a stone throughout the majority of the game below the professional level on a national basis.

"But in Cumbria, to say the game is on a knife edge, is probably understating the severity of the problem.

“There have been more games forfeited this season than any in living memory and this is now becoming unsustainable.

Williamson added:"I fear we will start to see long-standing clubs disappearing from the open age amateur game from next season.

“At Maryport, we have only had 17 players on the team sheet on approximately a third of our fixtures for the last two seasons.

“Granted we have suffered tremendously with long-term injuries to key players, but this problem of player participation is being replicated throughout the league, with traditionally strong clubs such as Glasson, Walney, Seaton, Hensingham and Wath Brow also experiencing the same problems, despite all the mentioned clubs having youth sections."

The game, he says, is dying.

“There is little interest in playing the game from players once they reach 16 and this, in turn, is having a knock-on effect into open age rugby league,” he observes.

“I wouldn’t say these problems can be attributed to the winter/summer debate, although the number of festivals and events throughout the summer months has increased 10-fold since we changed seasons, which in turn, gives players another excuse not to commit to playing.

“Clubs are seeing no return on their long-term investments into youth rugby – this in turn has a demoralising effect on the coaches and committees within clubs, and the problem of retaining volunteers is becoming ever more difficult.

“This is replicated throughout club administrations, with no new volunteers joining committees.

"When I look around the room at the Cumberland ARL meetings, I see the same faces that were doing the same jobs 20+ years ago.

Williamson is at a loss to explain why former players are not staying on with their clubs and lending a helping hand.

The Maryport secretary said: “Why are ex-players not getting involved with the running of their clubs?

“There is a cloud of apathy hanging over the entire game at present.

"The attitude and commitment from players is non-existent, but how as a sport we change attitudes is a very difficult hurdle to try to overcome, but overcome it we must or the game will be finished within five years as a regional sport.

“Despite being pro-active in promoting games and putting on bands after matches etc, there has been a tremendous drop in attendances at games as well.”

Two or three seasons ago, says Williamson, it wasn’t unusual for our local teams to attract support between 150-400 people to games.

Those same games now are attracting less than 50 spectators.

“The time has come to try and tackle this problem and try to get to the bottom of the game’s decline and see what can be done to reinvigorate the game before it’s too late,” he said.

“A sizeable budget needs to be allocated to promote the benefits of taking part in active sport and also extensive work needs to be undertaken to engage in dialogue with ALL clubs on a one to one basis including their players to listen to their views and find out how they want the game to progress in future seasons.

“20 years ago, there was a tremendous amount of talent in the amateur game, which in turn, fed into the professional system.

“At present, the quality isn’t there and this, in turn, will affect the professional game nationally.

"We are already seeing in West Cumbria where there aren’t enough quality local players to fill one side, never mind two!

“As a Sport England funded body, the RFL will have to start to address these problems now, or we will risk becoming a minority sport with the same exposure as hockey and badminton, and the reduced funding will ensure our great game never hits the heights again."

Williamson insists a plan needs to be put into action and presented to Sport England in order to try and obtain additional funding to deliver an intensive 5-7 year programme to rebuild the game.

“As a sport, myself and most people working at grass roots level have felt the game has lost its focus in the last 10 years, trying to build from the top of the pyramid down, instead of the bottom up,” he said.

“Super League is not the product it once was. The standard is poor compared with a few years ago and the game has very few genuine stars. This in turn is due to the lack of talent coming into the game from the amateurs

“The game in Cumbria needs a clearly defined pathway for aspiring young players to get into the professional game, but the game at present isn’t strong enough to supply enough players with true potential to be a professional via the Academy system. There are not enough players to supply the local teams and all the academy does is to dilute what’s left,” he said.

“Rather than looking at the game from the professionals viewpoint, I strongly feel we need to get back to basics and listen to the community clubs as the people who run those clubs are so disenfranchised with the attitudes of players within their clubs that there is a very real danger of these people turning their backs on the game completely.

“The change in society is prevalent in the attitude of players when it comes to playing team sports. Once over players would organise their holidays and weddings around the rugby season, today’s players wouldn’t organise a haircut or tattoo around a game.

“I honestly don’t know how much longer the game will survive in west Cumbria without all stakeholders working together for the good of the game.

“Workington and Whitehaven may have their problems, but they will both have bigger problems in the coming years with no amateur clubs to feed them players.”