Apparently these arrangements have also backfired on Leeds. Kylie Leulie was dual registered at Hunslet & was hoping to play for them this week but the Border Agency have stepped in & said his visa won't allow it. This could affect all overseas players especially when returning from injury to get back to match fitness.

Could the said ex Wire players have signed pre-contract agreements with the consent of Swinton from let's say, the 2014 season onwards?

I don't know sufficient about the legal side to answer that one. Perhaps somebody else on the board might ?

I'm sure the lads just want to play rugby, but i bet they're not happy giving up full time contracts for not much money at swinton.
Have the links with wire been broke completely or could they be doing community work and maybe supplementing ther wages that way?

Just as importantly, what about the players that Swinton had on board for this year , are some of them now surplus to requirements ?

Iv'e not heard of them letting any players go yet, but the belief is, they only started the season with 16/17 players anyway so these kids just give them the squad depth they need

I imagine there will be clauses giving Warrington first refusal etc, no doubt we pay a chunk of their wages too. Swinton were reluctant to reveal any of this and there had been nothing to my knowledge from our club. What an utter farce.

The official Statement from RFL;
"The RFL has been informed by the UK Border Agency that under the terms of his visa, Kylie Leuluai of Leeds Rhinos is unable to play for Hunslet Hawks as a dual-registered player.

The RFL has recently lobbied the UKBA for a change to the rules which prevent players on Tier 2 visas playing for a second club on a short-term arrangement. This follows on from changes to the Super League Academy structure, which from 2013 is an exclusively under-19s competition, an arrangement that means open-age overseas Tier 2 visa players returning from injury cannot gain match fitness on short-term loans or dual registrations.

Dialogue with the UKBA continues but the UKBA have confirmed that until any change in circumstance is agreed, under existing provisions no player on a Tier 2 visa can be dual registered. "


Perhaps I could write a statement;

The RFl and SL chairman implemented exciting changes to the structure of SL Academies for 2013. We carefully avoided formalising any of these changes in a set of rules, prefering instead to make them up as we went along and to write ideas down on the back of a fag packet. Astonishingly we now find that there appear to be some minor flaws in the system, and one very big one; the refusal of some Championship sides to participate and the frustration of their fans is of course irrelevant (we get all our dosh from SKY), however we failed to consult the Border Agency on the rules regarding overseas players and in consequence Gary is unable to play Kylie Leulie at Hunslet.

Nice one Charlie ,is the fag packet now in the bin ?

I am not 'in the know', but lets hope some sensible changes are made for 2014 that use joined up thinking. This is just embarrassing at the moment.

Do the 6 players have the option to go back to Warrington in 2014 or are they now in no way linked to Wire.

This Duel Reg is confusing me.n

The majority of the youngsters in question are still "Warrington players" and are on a season long loan with Swinton, they still train full time with Warrington and train additionally with Swinton in the evenings.

Is there any difference in what will happen at the end of the season in the rugby league 'world' cup?

The top teams like Australia, NZ and England will select their players and then the ones that don't make the squads will get distributed around the other teams. If Danny Brough doesn't make England then Scotland will be able to use him etc. Samoa will be full of ex NZ players or NZ players that didn't make the squads. If Rangi Chase doesn't make the NZ squad he might get picked for England too.

It is the way of rugby league.

Extract of letter from RFL;

[i"Picking up on your specific point I can confirm six Warrington players have recently transferred to Swinton, all of whom were ineligible to play in this season’s U19s competition due to being in the U21 and U20 age categories. Having taken the view point they were not going to play many, if any, games in the first team in 2013 all six players have agreed to the transfer arrangements and their new employment contract with Swinton Lions RLFC. These players are now not registered or contracted with Warrington Wolves and therefore do not count towards the regulation regarding only allowing 5 loan and/or dual registered players in any matchday 17".[/i

WRT training, you need to remember that Wire are allowing Swinton players to train with us and use our facilities. So yes, the 'ex Wire' players will be seen training in Warrington.

Having said all this, the arrangements are clearly a mechanism for ensuring that the overage youngsters get a game each week. The RFL are 'being helpful' in order to avoid a group of 6-8 younger players, who through no fault of their own, have nowhere to play.