Swinton clearly going places!

[Richard de la Riviere]

Are Swinton Lionesses a future WSL team?

They're now in the Championship and their recruitment for 2025 looks very impressive, and there's some more news of signings in this article where director Jason Harborow outlines the club's ambitions...

https://womensrl.com/?p=611

[The Blues Ox]

Their PR over the off season has been really good and it quickly became clear they had put together a squad that would run away with League 1 so it makes sense for them to be placed in to the Championship. The Championship looks a tough division and it will be interesting to see how they go but to go to the next step the reality is they will have to outspend some big teams.

Good to see as well that the games at Heywood road will be after the mens games which will avoid the problem of not been able to provide proper changing facilities for the girls after their games like when its a curtain raiser.

[unapologetic pedant]

Swinton first hinted at plans for a women's team before Covid. Went on hold during lockdown. Good to see the club making every effort to pick up the more ambitious threads. As with the men since 1992, lack of an authentic home base will be a drag on progress.

The potential for a smaller club to transcend customary limits via a place in WSL is well-recognized. York the obvious blueprint. There is equal scope for areas to punch above their usual weight in grass roots women and girls participation.

I started watching the men's team in 1980. Aside from the occasional Folly Lane product, most of our squad came from Wigan or St. Helens. A competitive women's team in the Championship, full of local players, sustained by a vibrant junior structure, would arguably be a bigger prize than a team in WSL composed of recruits from elsewhere.

Said it many times, bears repeating - the Tackle game will never spread the net sufficiently wide. A non-contact form of RL has to be the entry point. Maybe try to incorporate the Manchester Oztag set-up in our female pathways and work to have Tag or Touch embraced as a staple sport for girls in local schools.

[unapologetic pedant]

"We'll play every team at least once, and a couple twice which will be regionalized"

I make that 13 games.

[BroncoFan]

They will be competitive which is great, it should be a really interesting second tier.

 

[The Blues Ox]

On 12/12/2024 at 08:51, BroncoFan said:

They will be competitive which is great, it should be a really interesting second tier.

 

Yeah that league is looking really strong. I do think Bradford, Cas(both struggling for players), and Dewsbury(losing a lot of players since their coach left) will all struggle at the bottom. The top could be really tight though.

[RBKnight]

14 hours ago, The Blues Ox said:

Yeah that league is looking really strong. I do think Bradford, Cas(both struggling for players), and Dewsbury(losing a lot of players since their coach left) will all struggle at the bottom. The top could be really tight though.

I agree it will be tight at the top. Sheffield will be competetive again next year, bolstered by York U19 players on dual reg and with a returning Super League Grand Final winner Lisa Parker.

Sheffield have just put up the interview below with coach Andrea Dobson and York's Lindsay Anfield. Last three minutes gives some insight into how the dual reg is going (well!)