THIS weekend our Ladies team dominated the club and were a little unlucky to lose their Championship final.

What was great to see was the publicity surrounding the game with the BBC sending preview reporters and the game shown live on Ourleague.

There is massive growth in Ladies sport, and we hope that we can build on the solid foundations of our first year. It was great to see a large following from Barrow at the game and throughout the season there have been large crowds, especially when we have played double-headers.

We are still a couple of weeks away from finding out what being runners-up means for the side.

There is the prospect of reorganisation of the structure of the Ladies game as teams jostle to find their competitive level. We need a league of challenge, not one where we are out of our depth or find things too easy.

To be fair the Championship has provided just that, but we are also keen to progress.

When we do finally get confirmation of the structure then we will quickly put a planning meeting in place so that we are best placed to make ourselves viable and competitive whichever league we are placed.

There continues to be lots of activity behind the scenes in terms of recruitment for the men and it won’t be long before we start to make some announcements. We already had several players signed up on longer term deals so you can rest assured that the following are fighting for a Barrow shirt next season: Luke Cresswell, Tee Ritson, Shane Toal, Declan Hulme, Jordan Walne, Adam Walne, Tom Hopkins, Charlie Emslie, Ryan Shaw and Gary Wheeler together with our first announced signing of Ellis Gillam from Whitehaven.

As ever there is a lot of financial pressure.

The RFL funding has dropped significantly and as we have become more professional our wage bill on and off the field has increased. Increasing outgoings with a reduced income is generally a recipe for disaster but we must try to ensure that all our various income streams continue to contribute.

We need the public of Barrow to support our events programme like the forthcoming Oktoberfest, Halloween Parties, Andy Whitby and Christmas markets. When you buy a takeaway, we need you to consider Lincoln Burgers as all profits go directly to the club with no individual personally benefitting.

We have put a fantastic deal on the table for our season ticket holders with the adult cost of only £120 and concession of £60 for 13 games of Championship rugby – fantastic value. We have just designed and ordered our new playing kits, and we need them on every fans’ Christmas present list. Our marquee continues to be open for large private bookings and we really need this consistent income to be competitive.

Make no bones about it we are mixing it with established Championship clubs like Bradford, Halifax and Widnes with our target a top 7 position, so we are well placed if there is a league restructure in 2023.

We have lodged an appeal against the council’s decision to impose restrictions on our premises licence. Therefore, we are currently working to the same opening hours as previously. Clearly, we don’t want to disturb neighbours but at the same time we must be able to run a viable business or the whole existence of the club is in danger.