THIS has not been a good month for English rugby. Four weeks ago, Worcester Warriors entered administration and were suspended from all competitions after racking up debts of more than £25m. A couple of weeks later, Wasps, four-time Premiership winners and two-time European champions, were also placed into administration, leading to 167 members of staff, including the entire playing and coaching staff, being made redundant.

Each club had their own individual issues to address, but in the wake of the Covid pandemic, and with energy costs spiralling, it increasingly feels as though English rugby is pursuing an unsustainable model in which clubs are encouraged to chase the dream of achieving on-field success even if their off-field situations cannot sustain the levels of investment required.

The fear, as the Rugby Football Union is being encouraged to step in to safeguard the future of the game, is that the problems that have engulfed Worcester and Wasps are just the tip of the iceberg, and that the wider crisis will lead to other Premiership clubs going to the wall and spill over to affect clubs throughout the English pyramid.

Darlington Mowden Park play in National One, the third tier of the game, and while they are not saddled with some of the issues that have proved so problematic at Premiership level, such as spiralling player wages and the costs involved in running elite academies, they are hardly immune to the harsh economic winds that are buffeting the country as a whole and appear to be proving particularly damaging to rugby.

Costs are increasing at the same time that supporters are finding they have less and less disposable income in their pocket. Clubs are having to fight for every penny, with the potential effects of being sucked into a much wider financial malaise much more profound and far-reaching than simply affecting a handful of first-team players and a few coaches.

“If you look at what’s happened to Worcester and Wasps, it’s been absolutely brutal for everyone who’s involved with those clubs, but it’s also an eye-opener for everyone else,” said Mowden forwards coach Joe Cain. “Rugby, as a whole, is probably not in a great position at the moment, in terms of the elite in the Premiership and the way that inevitably feeds down, so it’s so important that clubs are proactive to try to attract new supporters and retain the ones they’ve got.

“It’s so important at the minute that the fans continue to back their clubs, keep turning up, keep renewing their season ticket, because I don’t think anyone really knows where all of this is going to end up.

“People probably don’t realise the knock-on effect that losing a club like Worcester or Wasps has. There’s the immediate headlines about where their players are going to go, and it’s obviously a massive blow to them, but what about the guy who cuts the grass or the kids that now have nowhere to turn up to, to play?

“You’re not really hearing about the effect it has on the academy, and then the knock-on effect that will have on the outreach programmes that do so much good.

“What about the kids that are in the Wasps catchment area, wanting to be a first-team player? What do they strive for now? What’s the plan going forward? Is there going to be one, or might they be lost to the game forever? Hopefully, both clubs get the backing they need and they can survive, but it’s clearly a difficult moment for rugby, especially at the elite end, at the moment.”

All of which makes a night like tomorrow night so important. At their Arena home on the edge of town, Mowden host Leeds Tykes tomorrow in their showcase game of the season. It is their only Friday-night fixture, moved from a traditional Saturday afternoon slot in an attempt to entice a new audience, and pits them against their local rivals from just down the A1.

The Northern Echo: Darlington Mowden Park in action against Leeds TykesDarlington Mowden Park in action against Leeds Tykes (Image: Mark Fletcher)

There should be a crowd of around 1,500 in the Arena tomorrow, and the hope is that some of the new spectators will be turned into regular attendees or that some of the children who will be present for the first time will be enthused enough to join Mowden’s burgeoning youth set-up.

“It’s a huge showcase for us,” said front-row forward Carl Guest, who will be part of Mowden’s squad tomorrow. “With it being half-term, it’s fallen quite well, so hopefully there’s an opportunity for families to come along who might otherwise have had stuff planned for the weekend.

“A game like this is massive for us. We got a big crowd for the Friday night game last year, and we were able to build on that in terms of growing our support base or maybe getting some of the kids who came along into the junior teams. It’s a big part of the club moving forward. It gets us a bit of recognition, and it gives people the opportunity to come down and see what we’re all about.”

One of Mowden’s key goals is to try to win promotion to the Championship, and while the side currently sit in eighth position in the table, the fact they have lost four of their last five matches by fewer than five points underlines just how competitive the league is.

“This is my second season here and it really feels like a club that is continuing to grow and has big ambitions about where it wants to get to,” said Guest. “I feel like we are moving in the right way.

“Some results might not have gone our way, but having been here now for just over a year, National One is one of those leagues where anything can happen on any given weekend. I think we are taking the right steps to go forward. As a year as a whole, I definitely think we’re pushing on.”

* Tickets for Friday night's game are available both online or on the turnstiles priced at £12 for adults and free for Under-16s.

Tickets are available online from - https://mowdenpark.ticketco.events/uk/en/e/mowden_park_v_leeds_tykes