ILKLEY'S head of rugby Rhys Morgan thinks his club will be alright financially through this uncertainty times that the sport is going through.

The Rugby Football Union announced last week that there would be no further rugby played in the 2019/20 campaign and that the outcome of each league will be decided in mid April.

Luckily for the Dalesmen they only had one scheduled home game left in their four remaining fixtures when the RFU suspended all rugby activity at the start of the month.

So after earning most of their revenue already through the duration of the season, Morgan thinks the club could even be in the black with them not having to travel to three away games.

He said: "Hopefully we are not going to take as big of a hit because we have got through the season. Rugby wise it has probably come at the right time if there can ever be a right time.

"The fortunate thing about us is that we have had all our home games, except one, so we don’t lose out too much on that.

"We have also gained a valuable amount though the seasons through events we have been hosting.

"We are not going to these away games using coaches and overnight stops. We are more in the black then if we had finished the season off."

It is the future events that Ilkley intend to host that may suffer postponements, with the annual cricket match played for the Jeff Martin Memorial Trophy between the club's two sports teams on May 24 and the rugby 7s festival on July 11, in danger.

Morgan insists the club will do all they can to keep both alive even if they have to be moved back.

He said: "Where it will hit us is if we don’t get the 7s going which is one of our main sources of income and the cricket too during the summer. Once we get the green light, we can hopefully get those events going.

"I spoke to the chairman before lockdown and we said we need a contingency plan for the cricket and the 7s.

"If it (the 7s) does go ahead we won't ask for money, just make sure the teams come. I might be unrealistic but we can always move it into August

"We have missed out on the players dinner if we have to move that to September we will. We might not be playing rugby until January."

So what has the Ilkley boss been up to in his time off from rugby?

Morgan added: "I am not that optimistic when they say we are locked down for three weeks I can see it going on and on.

"Last week I just slept, I think it was a reaction to the season ending, having all that stress so it has been really weird.

"I have kept myself busy in the garden cutting the grass and cleaning the shed out, and stuck to what the government has said.

"I am fortunate enough to have a garden I can go out in, people who live in flats don’t have that.

"After this season (where Ilkley are cut adrift at the bottom of the North Premier), I have needed a little break and had to ring my psychotherapist a few times as well (laughs)."