Sheffield Eagles have brought an end to their reserve team with immediate effect.
The news follows the decision not to award the Eagles’ academy tier two status, restricting their player pathways.
A club statement read: “Due to not being able to run an academy, there is no cohesive player pathway underneath our reserve side for this to be a viable option to run in 2016.
“Sheffield Eagles will be supporting those players affected by this to ensure they continue playing rugby league and continue developing as players and individuals.”
This will mean that the reserve side will not operate and compete in the 2016 reserve competition.
Speaking of the decision, Eagles Chief Executive John Whaling said, “This was a very hard decision for us to take as a club.
“When we reformed the Sheffield Eagles after the merger with Huddersfield, we did so not only to keep rugby alive in Sheffield but also to give the kids in the city a chance to play our great game.
“We have managed to do this with the majority of the funding being found from our own resources.
“We were very disappointed not to be awarded a tier two academy this year and that now means that the pipeline of talent to progress to our reserve team is no longer available to us.”
