Any fans of

[Owl]

2 minutes ago, Whippet13 said:

They wanted to appeal to "Lancashire" fans, including remnants of the Blackpool and Chorley clubs.

Never been any RL in Preston, was amateur RL in Bamber Bridge in the 80's/90's, plus we have Leyland Warriors 6 miles to the south, they are a stable club with decent facilities. Bit of a hybrid RL/RU set up with both for men and women at open age but the junior teams are all RL I think.

An incarnation of Chorley I think it was played some games at Grasshoppers in Preston

[Hopping Mad]

1 hour ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Even at amateur/grassroots level. Throw in lancaster and bury too.

Lancaster had an amateur team in the recent past - the summer era. Played at Giant Axe, the Lancaster City football ground.

Heysham Atoms are very close to Lancaster.

[Hopping Mad]

9 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Imagine if Scarborough launched in the summer rugby era. It would have helped the marketability no end. 

Apart from getting there and back on the A64, gridlocked, east of the A1, between Easter and September.

Has the amateur team in Scarborough packed up now?

[fighting irish]

1 hour ago, Angelic Cynic said:

What about South Wales Ironmen?  Interesting board of directors.Didn't last the season at Merthyr Tydfil.

Yes I went there too, bought the shirt, it was their last season before moving to Llanelli (West Wales)

[Whippet13]

1 hour ago, Owl said:

An incarnation of Chorley I think it was played some games at Grasshoppers in Preston

That was 1998-ish I think when they were Lancashire Lynx and owned by Preston North End, who obviously gave the football priority for stadium use.

Chorley also played at Horwch RMI's old ground in 1992. In 1993 they were controversially relegated to the National Conference along with Blackpool Gladiators and Nottingham City. May be wrong, but I think Chorley are the only team to have ever been promoted into the professional league from there.

RL survives locally in the form of Chorley Chieftans who have been going for 30 years and have a very good set up. Sam Tomkins and Josh Charnley played their first RL there.

[Oldbear]

5 hours ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

RL seemed more progressive back in the 80’s&90’s regrading expansion inside and outside of the heartlands.

really miss the border raiders if I’m honest.

Used to make the journey from Whitley Bay to Carlisle for every home game, plus all away games in Yorkshire and Cumbria, the biggest pain were the home games in Penrith as there always seemed to be a crash on the A66 on the way back. I miss the Raiders too, especially the great battles with Town and Haven, plus coach Cameron Bells interesting programme notes, which always seemed to involve a certain sexy Sadie from Soho! Happy days indeed, thankfully Gateshead were formed not long after the Raiders demise thus keeping me in the game.

[Griff]

15 hours ago, Scubby said:

There may have been some repeat fixtures but it was only one season. I went to pretty much every home game

Well, the ones you noticed, anyway.

[Scubby]

2 hours ago, Griff said:

Well, the ones you noticed, anyway.

Just looked it up. Wakefield and Leeds both played at Gateshead twice in repeat fixtures (30 league games, 14 teams). Gateshead played Wigan at Hearts in an on the road fixture. There we go lol. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateshead_Thunder_(1999)

 

[Griff]

1 minute ago, Scubby said:

Just looked it up. Wakefield and Leeds both played at Gateshead twice in repeat fixtures (30 league games, 14 teams). Gateshead played Wigan at Hearts in an on the road fixture. There we go lol. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateshead_Thunder_(1999)

 

Did you look up their Divisions 2 and 3 record ?

[Scubby]

2 minutes ago, Griff said:

Did you look up their Divisions 2 and 3 record ?

#### me I didn't know this was going there. I enjoyed watching rugby for a season while I lived up there temporarily. Is there a problem with that or do I need some kind of badge of honour?  

[Leyther_Matt]

 

16 hours ago, Whippet13 said:

That was 1998-ish I think when they were Lancashire Lynx and owned by Preston North End, who obviously gave the football priority for stadium use.

Chorley also played at Horwch RMI's old ground in 1992. In 1993 they were controversially relegated to the National Conference along with Blackpool Gladiators and Nottingham City. May be wrong, but I think Chorley are the only team to have ever been promoted into the professional league from there.

RL survives locally in the form of Chorley Chieftans who have been going for 30 years and have a very good set up. Sam Tomkins and Josh Charnley played their first RL there.

The amateur club is Chorley Panthers. Chieftains was one of the more short-lived incarnations of Borough/Lynx, I think.

In much the same way as Bolton with Leigh/Wigan/Salford, Chorley is near enough to Wigan that anyone with a RL inclination can head to established clubs, I suppose. Even Charnley ended up playing at Wigan St Pat's once he was on Wigan's books.

39 minutes ago, Scubby said:

#### me I didn't know this was going there. I enjoyed watching rugby for a season while I lived up there temporarily. Is there a problem with that or do I need some kind of badge of honour?  

I think it was reference to Gateshead's "only" season when of course they existed for a number of years in NL1/NL2 before becoming Newcastle. I'll be honest, I thought you were lining up a Gateshull Thundersharks joke.

[Griff]

1 hour ago, Scubby said:

#### me I didn't know this was going there. I enjoyed watching rugby for a season while I lived up there temporarily. Is there a problem with that or do I need some kind of badge of honour?  

Just saying Rugby League in Gateshead lasted more than one season.  I'm not saying you should've attended the games.  Just that you should acknowledge that they happened.

[CmonTheBorough]

I used to watch Blackpool Borough and later Chorley Borough when I lived in Preston but I also got to most of the other grounds in the region.

Since moving back to Scotland I’ve been to Workington, Whitehaven, Newcastle Thunder and the biggest derby of all, Wath Brow v Egremont!

[Scubby]

41 minutes ago, Griff said:

Just saying Rugby League in Gateshead lasted more than one season.  I'm not saying you should've attended the games.  Just that you should acknowledge that they happened.

They actually only lasted one season. A new club emerged from the ashes but the actual club itself and all its admin went to Hull. I get what you mean though. I left the UK at the end of that year so that was it all I got to see.

[EssexRL]

22 hours ago, fighting irish said:

yes they did, but i can't remember how many games.

The finished, i'm sure at Aberavon. 

I saw them play Skolars at Cardiff Arns Park. There was a good crowd there, with a fair few of us up from London. 

[Wigan Riversider]

On 22/11/2020 at 18:17, Whippet13 said:

Supporter of Chorley/Lancashire Borough/Chieftans/Lynx. 

I watched the club in all their different incarnations.

16 years since they became defunct but I still miss watching them.

I watched them as Lancashire Lynx and Chorley Lynx. Wrote a programme column for their last 2 seasons. Fond memories of Victory Park. Still miss them. 

[Wigan Riversider]

On 22/11/2020 at 18:25, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Why didn’t they change their name to Preston when they played at deepdale?

along with bolton it puzzles me how RL never really took of in Preston. Even at amateur level. Are there even any amateur teams in either Preston or bolton?

Preston is a football city. Bamber Bridge has an rl team. 

Think Bolton has an rl team in Westhoughton. 

[Wigan Riversider]

On 22/11/2020 at 19:23, Anita Bath said:

North Sydney Bears...yes the Mighty Bears. While some might say there is still a team under that name playing in the NSW league.... as a farm team for NRL teams, the Bears were sacrificed to save that lot from the northern beaches.

whats the difference between an egg and a sunday afternoon watching the Bears play at North Sydney Oval? 

You can beat an egg.

Went in 1997. 

Was a mate of North's number one supporter. 

A ladies cricket match from their ground was on BT sports yesterday. Lovely ground. 

[Scubby]

8 minutes ago, Wigan Riversider said:

Went in 1997. 

Was a mate of North's number one supporter. 

A ladies cricket match from their ground was on BT sports yesterday. Lovely ground. 

Really nice stands, pretty as a picture!

[Whippet13]

5 hours ago, Leyther_Matt said:

 

The amateur club is Chorley Panthers. Chieftains was one of the more short-lived incarnations of Borough/Lynx, I think.

Sorry, yes, I meant to say Panthers are the amateur team.

The Chieftans were an incarnation of the pro team as you say, no idea where they thought that name up from.

[iffleyox]

On 22/11/2020 at 17:29, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Defunct RL clubs like Trafford borough, Carlisle border raiders, Nottingham city, Scarborough pirates, Runcorn  and Lancashire lynx on here??
 

im sure there’s many more defunct clubs of the past 30-40 years but these are the teams I remember seeing as a kid.

See badge to left...

[Griff]

18 hours ago, Scubby said:

They actually only lasted one season. A new club emerged from the ashes but the actual club itself and all its admin went to Hull. I get what you mean though. I left the UK at the end of that year so that was it all I got to see.

Bu99er that.

The fans are the heart and soul of the club.

[Leyther_Matt]

14 hours ago, Wigan Riversider said:

Preston is a football city. Bamber Bridge has an rl team. 

Think Bolton has an rl team in Westhoughton. 

Yes Westhoughton Lions have a full junior set up, Ryan Brierley being an alumni of theirs. I do know that, as a kid, Leigh East, Leigh Miners and Hindley all benefited from having players from Westhoughton, but I'd like to think they'd play for the Lions these days given the hard work they've put in to developing their set up. Bolton Mets are an open age team based at Bolton RU club off Chorley Old Road (claiming the distinction as probably the only RU club I've ever encountered that isn't in the leafy suburbs).