Shocking that our sport has no pro club in Manchester

[JohnM]

1 hour ago, Agbrigg said:

Last time I looked Swinton was in Manchester. When I first started watching the game they were a top club and test matches were played at their ground. I also went to a Wakey/Sainrs chamionship final there and the crowd was about 38,000. I know the ground is long gone, but surely with a bit of branding etc, Swinton would be the obvious choice to have a significant presence.

Swinton as a club in the late 1950's as and early 1960s enjoyed great success but never got large crowds. semi finals and Internationals did though, attract huge crowds.   As a  young lad at Station Road at that time, I was there. Growing up in Swinton, I can testify that rugby league in the borough was never particularly popular. At an amatuer level, Folly Lane Juniors ruled the roost and the team I played for , badly and not very often, Moorside Juniors, struggled to put out a full team.

[hunsletgreenandgold]

25 minutes ago, RP London said:

I totally get what you are saying, I dont 100% agree with it but I do get it. 

What I dont get is the argument that if we cannot do that (in a totally different environment, one with already viable alternatives for the RL lovers on the doorstep) then we should not be looking at any other form of expansion with "pop up clubs"... even though in areas they are working (Sheffield, Midlands, Newcastle [though that nearly fell over]) without any real help from the RFL etc

I think i'm more coming at it from a 'quick win' POV mate. Imagine how much stronger this 'M62 corridor' sport looks if it has viable clubs in 3 of it's biggest cities. As an overall opinion - I am and always have been supportive of national expansion, but there's so much more the powers that be should be dong to shore up the game on it's existing doorstep. 

[Derwent]

2 hours ago, sam4731 said:

What do you mean remember them? They still exist and play in League 1. They just happen to play their home games slightly outside Ottawa.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottawa_Aces

I think you have had a "whoosh" moment....

[RP London]

16 minutes ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

I think i'm more coming at it from a 'quick win' POV mate. Imagine how much stronger this 'M62 corridor' sport looks if it has viable clubs in 3 of it's biggest cities. As an overall opinion - I am and always have been supportive of national expansion, but there's so much more the powers that be should be dong to shore up the game on it's existing doorstep. 

To be fair I think they are doing a lot to shore up the game in "manchester" at the moment when you look at what they are doing with Salford!

Trying to expand where it may not be wanted and putting potential competitors to take the support from existing clubs in those areas though does not seem to be "shoring up the game" on its doorstep.. it could be simple spreading support that 2 clubs have across another one which makes 3 not so viable teams instead of 2 strong one.. certain names like St Helens and Wigan potentially add more to the game than Liverpool and Manchester.. however, add into those historic clubs Birmingham, Sheffield, Newcastle... now you have something (arguably)

Again though its not zero sum.. just becuase we cannot make Liverpool or Manchester work (and as above arguably we are just without those 2 does not mean we shouldn't be trying it in other areas.

[sam4731]

1 minute ago, Derwent said:

I think you have had a "whoosh" moment....

I'm not sure if you have. I am aware that Ottawa are just Cornwall now. It was a joke.

Edited March 14 by sam4731

[Derwent]

1 minute ago, sam4731 said:

I'm not sure if you have. I am aware that Ottawa are just Cornwall now. It was a joke.

Gooleboy's comment was nothing to do with RL or Cornwall.....

 

[sam4731]

1 minute ago, Derwent said:

Gooleboy's comment was nothing to do with RL or Cornwall.....

 

Got ya!

[langpark]

3 hours ago, Spidey said:

After being rejected as a pro club it seemed they didn’t want to continue as a community club and folded shortly after 

No I get that part.  But I wonder more if it could have been handled better.

It would have been nice if RFL could have given them, say a roadmap to League One, in three years or something, rather than giving them a flat-out, hard NO.

It's even more frustrating when you remember it was around the same time West Wales got in.

 

[Agbrigg]

2 hours ago, Just Browny said:

Last time I looked Swinton was in the City of Salford, so either:

- there are no Manchester clubs as originally stated; or

- we are defining Manchester as the Greater Manchester area, and we have the following pro clubs: Salford, Wigan, Leigh, Swinton, Oldham and Rochdale.

I am no expert on the boundaries between Salford and Manchester. But Swinton could be well placed to grow as a manchester club. They need to re brand and give it a real go. They have nothing to lose as they are just floating about and treading water going no where. 

Again  no expert , but arn't Man Utd actually in Trafford but dosnt stop them being Manchester

[The Daddy]

11 minutes ago, Agbrigg said:

I am no expert on the boundaries between Salford and Manchester. But Swinton could be well placed to grow as a manchester club. They need to re brand and give it a real go. They have nothing to lose as they are just floating about and treading water going no where. 

Again  no expert , but arn't Man Utd actually in Trafford but dosnt stop them being Manchester

There has been talk in recent years of Swinton fully rebranding as Manchester, they have flirted with the idea but never followed through on it. 

I remember several years ago Andy Mazey who was leading the club was in the process of doing so and done a u turn after some resistance. Of all the clubs in Greater Manchester they are the obvious choice but I just get the impression they are happy to float along as Swinton, keeping their head above water. 

[Wanderer]

As Swinton play in Sale which is in Trafford Borough, maybe they could rebrand accordingly?

[Big Picture]

3 hours ago, Agbrigg said:

I am no expert on the boundaries between Salford and Manchester. But Swinton could be well placed to grow as a manchester club. They need to re brand and give it a real go. They have nothing to lose as they are just floating about and treading water going no where. 

Again  no expert , but arn't Man Utd actually in Trafford but dosnt stop them being Manchester

Just whom do you think would ever be fooled by such a rebranding anyway?

[Griff]

4 hours ago, langpark said:

 

It's even more frustrating when you remember it was around the same time West Wales got in.

 

You'll find a lot of posts on here about  spreading the game away from the M62. This is the result.

[lucky 7]

13 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

Manchester Rangers should have been brought in. Like Goole they would have been a strong asset to the lower divisions and could have grown from there with easy access to the SL academies and strong amateur scene to draw upon. That they weren't was a disgrace especially the circumstances around the supposed opinions of other clubs.

It's unfortunate that the clubs in and around Greater Manchester, of which we have 6 (Salford, Swinton, Oldham, Wigan, Leigh, Rochdale) haven't been able to really build in the city more broadly. Salford should be our vehicle to do that but they have too many issues. Swinton and Rochdale seem to be destined for obscurity for various reasons till some major investment comes in. Oldham may grow into that Manchester side too but they need to focus on their locale in the short to medium term.

Wigan and Leigh are way out relatively, but I'm surprised the former haven't explored "Big Game" type events in Manchester for example. They're a big brand and have a good existing support base for this sort of event. 

RL has a long history in the city and is a key part of the wider Greater Manchester area.

The Manchester Rangers was a perfect example of Rugby League missing another golden opportunity, which there have been many

[lucky 7]

13 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

Weren't the Manchester Rangers board asked to stump up £500k too or am I confused?

That sounds very Rimmer like

[Spidey]

1 hour ago, lucky 7 said:

The Manchester Rangers was a perfect example of Rugby League missing another golden opportunity, which there have been many

Or another club built on foundations of sand

[Cliff Promise]

5 hours ago, lucky 7 said:

The Manchester Rangers was a perfect example of Rugby League missing another golden opportunity, which there have been many

Presicely that.

[Eddie]

18 hours ago, hunsletgreenandgold said:

My post cut off for some reason - I've gone back an edited and partly replied to this. It's not enough to just have clubs surrounding them - the buy in from the city as a whole is carried with the name. Hunslet is vastly different to the pull Leeds has and that's not me suggesting existing clubs should just rename, but new clubs could and should be set up in those cities. 

It would be great to have a Manchester club, just as it would be great to have new clubs everywhere. However as with anything you need the people with the time, desire, knowledge and money to do it and evidently those people don’t exist in Manchester; so it’s not a case of saying new clubs ‘should’ be set up in Manchester or anywhere else as there’s nobody to do it. 

[Eddie]

15 hours ago, The Daddy said:

There has been talk in recent years of Swinton fully rebranding as Manchester, they have flirted with the idea but never followed through on it. 

I remember several years ago Andy Mazey who was leading the club was in the process of doing so and done a u turn after some resistance. Of all the clubs in Greater Manchester they are the obvious choice but I just get the impression they are happy to float along as Swinton, keeping their head above water. 

Iirc they announced the rebrand and Mazey got so much abuse that he left and went to Rochdale. However if the majority of their fans want to remain as Swinton I get that and it’s fine, changing the name to Manchester wouldn’t have guaranteed anything in terms of making the club bigger or better, if anything they’d definitely have lost fans and may not have replaced them. 

[hunsletgreenandgold]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

It would be great to have a Manchester club, just as it would be great to have new clubs everywhere. However as with anything you need the people with the time, desire, knowledge and money to do it and evidently those people don’t exist in Manchester; so it’s not a case of saying new clubs ‘should’ be set up in Manchester or anywhere else as there’s nobody to do it. 

Cheers captain obvious. 

[groundhopper]

I visited Manchester twice, the first time at the athletics stadium next to Man City.

There USP was the game was on a Friday night and this led to great crowds for MWC 2 or 3.

There was however no foundations, they were playing at the right level for what they had and the ground was unsuitable for any fundraising. I dont think they managed promotion.

The second time was across the road at the Basketball and Speedway stadium on an almost hidden 4g pitch. We struggled to find the way in and there was less than 10 people watching.

The only thing that said pro club was what I read on here, not what I saw and the only evidence of money being spent was on the prospectus.

They may have become a success but the attendances at long established local clubs does nothing to indicate there were the potential crowds. I accept they have been good at obtaining sponsorship but I cannot see that we actually missed much when they folded any more than any other local side. Using the name Manchester is not sufficient in itself.  

 

[Roughyed Rats]

21 hours ago, The Daddy said:

So according to this article, they were refused because of the presence of other greater Manchester clubs. 

Where does it say that?

[The Daddy]

1 hour ago, Roughyed Rats said:

Where does it say that?

Can you read bro?

[Pie tries]

Swinton re-branding as Manchester and moving to the Etihad campus would be far better than than simply existing in Sale.

[jroyales]

There isn't one in Liverpool!