Lee will be making his come back from injury for the Swinton Lions on Thursday.

For any wire fans who fancy it, it will cost you just a £5 to watch the Lions v Whitehaven, at Leigh Sports Village.

Quote: Marshy1 "Lee will be making his come back from injury for the Swinton Lions on Thursday. For any wire fans who fancy it, it will cost you just a £5 to watch the Lions v Whitehaven, at Leigh Sports Village.'" I am a big supporter of Championship RL and regularly watch games at the LSV, but I cannot bring myself to put money into a club which is frankly making a mockery of the league. Here is the story for anyone interested. web.orange.co.uk/article/sports/ ... nton_shift

Quote: Marshy1 "Lee will be making his come back from injury for the Swinton Lions on Thursday. For any wire fans who fancy it, it will cost you just a £5 to watch the Lions v Whitehaven, at Leigh Sports Village.'" I am a big supporter of Championship RL and regularly watch games at the LSV, but I cannot bring myself to put money into a club which is frankly making a mockery of the league. Here is the story for anyone interested. web.orange.co.uk/article/sports/ ... nton_shift

It's on Premier Sports on Thursday. Or you can watch it by other means.

I understand and appreciate that Warrington didn't want this to happen, and there has probably been an element of 'sabotage' over the past few months, but I think that the way Swinton, a once proud club have sold their independence to become essentially a glorified academy is shameful. I am not really up on the Swinton squad this year if I am honest but I presume a player, who is probably getting paid by the match will now have to drop out and miss the chance to play in front of the cameras.

Some may argue that Swinton are simply picking the best squad, but the league table would suggest otherwise. There has been talk of players unhappy, and if relegated at the end of the year and this shoddy system stays in place will Warrington still want to be partnered with them? That is a lot of gaps to then try and fill if not.

Is it fair that Whitehaven should have to play against an international stand off (who's wage would probably take up the majority of the C salary cap) then the next week Batley play a much weakened side? No. The Championship is a strong competition in its own right, and it is incredibly disrespectful to treat it (and the paying fans) as some kind of glorified warm up for recovering Super League players.

Blokes and their dopey principles. A northern disease ?

Agreed - but as I said, it's not swinton's fault.

Morley playing for Swinton as well in the next couple of weeks

It has been their choice to not sign the memorandum of understanding and use the system in a way which no other club has though. Last year Smith said to Paul Rowley that we couldn't be partnered as Leigh are "too ambitious", it is pretty clear what he meant now. I understand the reasons why but it is sad to see us use a once proud club in this way.

I was always terrified of first team players making their comebacks in A team games in case someone wanted to make a name for themselves by cleaning out, or singling out, one of our "stars".

Obviously players need to get match fitness somehow so we have no choice, but hope Gary Chambers looks after him.

Leigh are in the again moneywise, how's that ambition working out for them?

A once proud club.

Hate that sentence, years of mismanagement and dwindling crowds and we are the architects of a loss of pride?

You lot are fantastic. all pride in rugby league was lost when promotion and relegtion was scrapped. dont be blaming anything else for this. This is all down to the biggest teams in the land wanting to keep themselves in the top league. even if it means kicking the soul out of the competitio. dont blame anything else apart from the franchise system.

So, without franchising Swinton would be playing in a brand new stadium in front of thousands of fans with a team pushing for promotion? It's not just franchising or P&R; clubs are well managed or they are not. Look at Salford - same city as Swinton with a franchise and a new stadium but hardly any fans and went bust. Every situation is different and to blame Super League or the clubs or the economy or the fans or the media is just lazy. You need to look at the circumstances in each case. If you are looking for an overarching reason, then it is that Rugby League is a minority sport in this country with a low profile and a limited fan base which in turn means that there is not enough money (from sponsorship, gate receipts, merchandise and media rights) to make it sustainable at a fully professional level for more than 10-15 clubs. Sorry.