Barrow Raiders coach Paul Crarey has admitted it has been a tough week at the club following a number of positive Covid-19 tests that caused the postponement of the derby clash at Workington Town on Sunday.
The club has been locked down since the middle of last week, with Crarey seeing first hand, just how disruptive the virus can be.
“It started on Monday and just escalated from there,” explained Crarey.
“We just had lads phoning up all the time with positive tests, so it was a crazy week. I haven’t seen anything like it since the pandemic started.
“We even had some players and staff that were tested at training on Wednesday and showed up as positive, so we decided there and then not to train.
“We had more lateral flow tests come back positive on Thursday so we had to get the RFL involved and they have taken over.
“Lockdown might have ended, but this hasn’t gone away and it’s been as if a wave has swept over us in the space of a couple of days. It’s quite frightening really, but all we can do is try and keep everyone safe.
“We really wanted to play and we looked at all possibilities, but with the protocols in place we just couldn’t.
“But when you look at the number of games that have already been called off, we’re maybe lucky that we got to this stage without having to call one off ourselves.
“It is disappointing for us, the fans and Cumbrian Rugby League because there is nothing like a good old-fashioned derby.
“We’ll get back in next week and see where we are. Hopefully we’ll be able to get a side out to play Hunslet at the weekend because we want to play as many games as we can in our bid for promotion.”
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