Leeds chief executive Gary Hetherington hopes rugby league can enjoy a post-coronavirus boom, just as the sport did at the end of the Second World War.
The Rhinos, one of the most successful clubs since rugby league switched to being a summer sport in 1996, have furloughed nearly all their playing and office staff as a result of the ongoing pandemic.
But Hetherington hopes the community spirit within the sport will help it come back stronger.
"We are coping as best we can, all our players and the vast majority of our staff are cocooned at home," he told his club's website.
Gary Hetherington has confirmed that Leeds Rhinos have furloughed virtually all staff & players – Emerald Headingley & the training ground are closed until government guidelines say it is safe for staff to return to work➡ Watch the interview in full here https://t.co/8ThV3AXHU5 pic.twitter.com/Mj8HWgDZ51 — Leeds Rhinos (@leedsrhinos) April 1, 2020
"As a business, this is our major challenge, the next three months. We have significant liabilities. We have made a pledge to keep all our players and staff in employment, but our income streams have already started to dry up and we are living off the income we have already received."
Accepting that the current season will have to run longer than planned, possibly even into 2021, Hetherington was bullish about the sport's prospects, adding: "We can come out of this a stronger game.
"A lot can be learned from history and as we look back to the war years in the late 1940s when society was completely disrupted, rugby league survived the war years and post-war the game enjoyed its boom period.
"We have to display those war-like characteristics and hopefully come out of this intact and look forward to boom time."
