Hunslet ruled out Championship contention for 2021

With a Championship club set to be promoted to Super League, in place of Toronto Wolfpack, that will leave a vacancy in the second tier.

But Hunslet chairman Kenny Sykes revealed the south Leeds club - who were top of League One when coronavirus brought the competition to a halt in March - will not be applying.

“We do not meet all the criteria set out by the RFL in terms of average crowd and a top-four finish in 2018 or 2019,” he confirmed.

But Sykes stressed: “To be honest we are not overly disappointed with this as we are confident we have assembled a squad that will be challenging for promotion on the field in 2021.

“We also believe that winning games with an exciting brand of rugby will give us a strong foundation from which to grow our supporter base.

“We feel we deserve as much consideration for promotion as any other club in League One and we must use this as motivation to secure our place in the Championship through our performances on the pitch.”

Hunslet are bracing themselves for the financial impact of a club moving up and Ottawa Aces’ decision to defer entry into League One until 2022, which will leave them with only nine home league games.

Sykes said: “Discussions are ongoing with the RFL around the fixture structure for 2021 and there are likely to be 1895 Cup and Challenge Cup games in advance of the league season starting.

“While that reduces the chance of having to play league games behind closed doors it does not eliminate the possibility - and any game played behind closed doors risks reducing our revenue even further.”

But Sykes stressed: “Despite that uncertainty we remain confident we can ride out the storm.

“We are currently in a stable financial position, thanks in no small part to the loyalty shown by members in 2020, but we need that to continue throughout 2021.”

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