'Devastated' Pooler to keep paying players and staff after promotion woe

Pooler were battling Bargoed for the Championship title and a return to the top flight for the first time since 2013.

Leighton Jones' men had won 16 from 16 to earn a five-point lead over Bargoed with 10 games left when the coronavirus pandemic led to the Welsh Rugby Union cancelling all of their competitions.

All teams will remain in their current divisions whenever 2020/21 gets under way and Pooler are working to ensure that the club is ready to go again despite the financial challenges facing all clubs.

"We are still devastated that this has happened but we did support the Welsh Rugby Union at the time and continue to support them," said chief executive Ben Jeffreys in an update to supporters. "It was the right decision to cancel the season.

"It's incumbent on us as a management to deal with situations such as this in the right way and at the appropriate time.

"We've done a number of things to steady the ship here at the club while we face such an uncertain future.

"First and foremost, we have taken the decision to honour all playing and coaching contracts until the end of the 2019/20 season because quite frankly, through no fault of their own, all of the hard work of given by these people was decimated in the blink of an eye.

"It didn't sit right with us, the prospect of terminating those contracts, when so many people had worked so hard and were achieving so much to continue to take this club forward.

"We will continue to do this throughout the summer as well as continuing to make preparations with our recruitment for next season, doing that on the assumption rugby will resume in 2020.

(chief executive Ben Jeffreys, left, with head coach Leighton Jones and chairman Peter Jeffreys)

"Clearly if it becomes likely in the weeks and months ahead that rugby will not resume this year then we will have to review that decision as we cannot continue to make such commitments in terms of heavy expenditure when no rugby is being played and while we are receiving no income.

"It's been a huge challenge for us and we budget for almost every possibility but we couldn't have factored in our season and rugby stopping for the foreseeable future.

"We projected being a Premiership team next season and projected certain levels of income from the Welsh Rugby Union, gate receipts, season tickets and sponsorship but at the moment all that is totally up in the air.

"While we are going to continue to look after our staff and players, we will of course monitor this in the weeks and months ahead to ensure that the club remains stable throughout this crisis."

The club have plans to revamp their historic Pontypool Park home and Jeffreys they are yet to address the issue of whether to press ahead.

"We are doing everything possible to ensure that this club remains stable, both now and in the long-term future," he said.

"We will do whatever it takes to make sure that the togetherness and unity that we've all worked so hard to create over the last few years is not only protected but is in a position to grow in the years ahead.

"We have not taken any decision as to whether to progress with the development of Pontypool Park as is planned but we will keep fans informed of that and any other developments as they arise."