A Welsh rugby club is facing playing 17 matches in 18 weekends in order to finish their season after a spate of postponements and cancellations.
Rhydyfelin RFC have played just five of their 13 league games to date this term, with no home games having been played in 14 weeks and just one fixture taking place in the last three months.
Many of the recent postponements have been down to the bad weather, with pitches unplayable in frozen conditions, but some matches have been down to opposition teams failing to fulfil fixtures, robbing the club of valuable income from home matches at a time when utility costs are rising and leaving them scrambling to complete their season.
Rhydyfelin's coach, former Wales international Lee Jarvis, admits he has "never known a season like it" in his life. Their team manager, Paul Phillips, says the lack of matches played has "hit them sideways" financially.
Getting the season finished is likely to prove difficult, not least because of the upcoming Six Nations, with sides unlikely to be keen on playing fixtures on the day of Wales international matches.
"We won't get it finished the way we're going," Phillips told WalesOnline. "We're trying to get games done across the internationals, but people want to go watch them. It's hard to get off the field and head up Cardiff for that.
"It's the weather, really. The cup hasn't helped. Some teams lost a couple of games so were reluctant to play and we were losing games like that. Clubs have declined to play as they were already out of the cup. I've been in the club 40-odd years and it's never been like this."
Rhydyfelin's last home match came against Monmouth in the WRU Division 1 Cup on October 15, with their last home league fixture being against Dinas Powys the previous week. Since that Monmouth match, they have played just twice: against Porth Harlequins on October 22 and against Rhiwbina on January 7.
"It's not good," added Phillips. "We're hopeful this weekend's match with Barry goes ahead.
"Going forward is awkward for us. When you've got no home games, you've got no income. Bus prices have gone up too. Where we were paying £250 for a bus last year, we're now paying £480. It's hit us sideways.
"We had five sponsors booked in for the Mountain Ash game in December and we'd have had a bit of revenue come in with that and the bar. Obviously that fell through with the weather. It's a big impact on us as we're not getting money into the club.
"We know what's around the corner as we've been here before. The WRU will say 'you've got to play your games'. So we'll have to pay neighbouring clubs to use their pitches, if we can even get on them as they'll have backlogs as well and they don't need their pitches getting wrecked.
"We've then got to pay for food, buses, lights, the ground. There's a knock-on effect. I can't see us finishing it unless they extend the season, which I don't think they will."
Phillips admits he is stuck on where the club go next, having "no clue what the solution is moving forward" as he fears playing numbers will dwindle because of the lack of matches. He admits he has seen some games called off due to parties or weddings. The end result is trying to squeeze the best part of a season into a small space of time. Mid-week matches are an option, but they have their own downsides.
"People don't want to really come on a Wednesday," said Phillips. "Saturday games is where you build your money up and get people into the club. We can't do that when there aren't games.
"The youth and the second team aren't playing either. The worry is they'll dwindle away and lose interest. I don't know what the answer, is to be honest. I've been in situations where we've had three games to get in and we've played Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday. You just get on with that but it's a bit demoralising for the players and everyone else.
"With the backlog, people are rearranging games so you're not guaranteed to play even if you have a free Wednesday. We've even tried reversing fixtures - saying we'll play it up with you this time.
"I think the WRU will have to get involved. But we can't be paying for this or that, because we haven't got it. At the moment, we can't generate the cash. For want of a better word, we're on our arse.
"Our senior and youth are training on the same night to save on the lights. I don't know what the answer is. My fear is we'll lose players. That's the biggest threat. People will think it's not worth it and go do something else."
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