Flood victims Bradford and Bingley can finally raise a glass

The North One East side sat 12th, third from bottom and in the relegation zone, when the season was halted owing to the coronavirus last month with most clubs still having four fixtures to play.

However, in confirming promotion and relegation for all divisions, the governing body agreed that final standings for the Greene King IPA Championship and men’s and women’s community game would be derived from a ‘best playing record formula’.

On Friday, the results of those complicated calculations were revealed when the RFU published the final league tables.

They showed that Bradford & Bingley had shifted up two spots to 10th, swapping places with Percy Park who joined West Hartlepool and Huddersfield YMCA in being demoted.

Although you would imagine that brought glee, Gumbs had mixed feelings.

“It’s disappointing for any club as a whole not to complete a season,” the Bees chief told The Yorkshire Post.

“For us, it was a very close league. We’d never been in the bottom three all season (until the last round) and one win would have seen us up to touching distance of fifth.

“We didn’t just suffer from this situation we’ve got now but also we were flooded three times. We spent from November onwards fighting to keep the club going. We’ve had to play games away from home and Keighley have been fantastic with us; from Christmas onwards we had to train there.

“The impact has been a long one for us. I don’t think the club will look upon it (RFU decision) as something that’s great.

“But it’s something we think we deserve anyway to stay within this league and to be competitive against Old Brods and all the rest of the local derbies that will be coming forward next season.

“It’s going to be fantastic and it offers us a massive opportunity.”

Local derbies will, indeed, be a theme in 2020-21 given Old Brodleians came up as Yorkshire One champions with fellow Halifax outfit Heath also promoted in second spot.

Moreover, Ilkley have also been relegated into North One East.

On Friday’s events, Gumbs added: “It’s hard on many clubs as, if you look at Otley and their form, they’d won plenty of recent games and had Wharfedale to come in a humdinger.

“But they’re now relegated (from National Two North). I can see why some would think it’s not a very good method.

“But those are the rules. You had to be a near mathematician to work it out.

“Some of our boys had the formula and – especially those who weren’t at work – they did it so knew beforehand we wouldn’t be relegated. But it’s not until it’s actually stated that you can actually find relief in that.”

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