Sunderland RCA’s future under serious threat after Northern League resignation confirmed

RCA manager Steve Riley has discussed the situation ahead of Saturday’s game against Ashington.
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The future of Ebac Northern League club Sunderland RCA is under serious threat - just months after local rivals Ryhope CW folded.

After dwindling attendances and challenges on and off the pitch, the Division One club have confirmed they have ‘given provisional notice’ they will resign from the Northern League at the end of the season, unless new investment and volunteers can be found over the coming months.

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A statement released to The Echo on Thursday confirmed the decision and revealed the club are ‘hopeful of finding a solution’ in the future.

It read: “Sunderland RCA FC have given provisional notice to the EBAC Northern League management committee of the clubs resignation from the EBAC Northern League as of the end of the current season. This is to fulfil our obligation to the League to give fair notice of potential resignation. We hope it will not come to that.

“The club has found it increasingly difficult in recent seasons to sustain football at his level in terms of finance, support, and active committee involvement. The club is hopeful of finding a solution to our problems which will enable us to withdraw our resignation and will be working hard over the coming weeks and months to identify potential partners, colleagues and investors.”

For RCA manager Steve Riley, the season has been a long battle after his squad was decimated by injuries and suspension. After making a promising start to the campaign, with impressive wins against the likes of Newton Aycliffe and Whickham, Riley’s side were sat in the top four of the table as recently as early October.

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But with the situation behind the scenes starting to impact on the club as a whole, Riley admitted he was forced to discuss possible cost-cutting with his squad. He revealed a number of players accepted a drop in their wages but conceded the worrying situation and a selection crisis caused by injuries and suspensions may well have had an impact on their performances.

Speaking to The Echo, he said: “It’s hard to deal with because you aren’t sure where you are from one week to the next. We first got the news about seven weeks ago and we were told the budget wasn’t sustainable. We were third or fourth in the league at the time so you wonder how that impacts on your form.

“I spoke to the lads, It’s just been one thing after another putting obstacles in the way, with injuries and suspensions. Talk of our league position goes out the window, it’s about helping the club survive, that’s what we all want, to make sure we can get to the end of the season and there are still a lot of ifs and buts.

He continued: “I am trying to keep as many players as possible and add to the squad but it’s not easy to get players to play for next to nothing. Only two of the lads have decided to go, the rest are weighing up their options so as a manager I am in a bit of limbo at the moment. Unless things change behind the scenes, it’s just about getting a result to lift morale. It’s been very difficult. I have to focus on the players and making sure we can keep a team together. All I am doing is focusing on the playing side, getting the best team we can out on the pitch but things are stacked against us at this point of time.”

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Although the situation goes far beyond the immediate challenge of Saturday’s home game against promotion contenders Ashington, Riley believes the meeting with the Colliers does represent an opportunity to improve matters on and off the pitch.

The visitors are well-known for their impressive travelling support and are likely to bring a strong following as they look to boost their own bid for promotion into the Northern Premier League. And Riley is hopeful that the crisis at the club will entice the local community to come out and get behind RCA as they look to avoid going the same way as local rivals Ryhope CW.

He said: “It would be nice if whatever is going out might wake up the local community and the more we can get through the door the better it will be for the club’s future, especially when we are facing a tough game at such a tough time. With Sunderland not playing, we hope we can get some support behind us. We were eight minutes away from beating them at their place earlier in the season. We just have to do whatever we can to win the game and do themselves proud and the club proud, especially in the situation we are in. They have stuck around when the cut was brought in and they deserve credit for doing that because a lot of players wouldn’t have done so.

“Managers and players come and go but the football club is there and always should be there for the community. A lot of the committee members are getting older and there isn’t a lot of help coming through. We have a good setup, a good ground, but we need people to engage with it. Hopefully, the statement going out and the media coverage will make people realise a second club in Ryhope is at risk and we won’t go the same way as the Colliery Welfare did.”

Riley has admitted he is ‘down to the bare bones’ for the game with Kieran Charlton, Simon Jakab and Darryl Hall all missing.

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