Nope.

Neither Leigh nor Wigan will have any influence on Government policy.

A pretty important point is that this is not, as some on here keep saying, 'dual contract' but dual REGISTRATION. The players involved are contracted (and have allegience) to one club, and one club only - and in case you've not realised it's not the Championship club.

They may be to some Leythers but not to the fans of those clubs. The last time Leigh were viewed as genuine rivals was when you won the Championsip with greats like Woodsy and Des. Wiganers actually want Leigh to do better these days and would enjoy seeing them in the top tier primarily for selfish reasons such as well attended fixtures, short travelling to an away fixture. If / when Leigh make it back into SL then and only then will any rivalry emerge. Even then, you have to progress. Widnes were wants incredible rivals to Wigan. Now, they are not. Wiganers want more 'Lancastrian' clubs in SL.

A minority of Leythers can cling to a so called rivalry but it is currently dormant and will be until Leigh re emerge as a RL force. As it stands survival / existence has been everything to Leigh in recent seasons which makes this obsession with a so called rivalry ludicrous. Leythers need to sell Leigh RLFC to Leythers.

OFF THE FIELD OF PLAY, IE FOR THE SUPPORTERS AND SPONSORS THAT BRING IN THE MONEY TO OPERATE, BECAUSE LEIGH CENTURIONS ARE A BUSINESS, NOT AN AMATUER CLUB OR CHARITY

DO YOU NOW UNDERSTAND?

eh ???
Cryptic reply from an ex Leigh fan/director(?) with his CAPS LOCK ON.
WEIRD....

Wouldn't say it was cryptic. I asked my son what rugby teams his schoolmates supported. He answered Warrington, St Helens or Wigan. None of them support Leigh.
We live in Leigh by the way.

You will have to expand your explanation.

If you are saying for the fans then only amongst many of the dwindling existing supporters. Sponsors?

Fylde Warrior - let me try and break it down nice and simply for you. Quite clearly, Wigan (sadly) is not our biggest rival on the pitch - but they are the biggest rival, at least as far as rugby league is concerned, for our potential fan base and our sponsors. In the same way that Clyde are concerned about Rangers or Celtic and not Clydebank, so we are concerned about Wigan, rather than Swinton or any Championship club. We also have threats from football and a host of the big clubs on top of that. Many of us are wondering why we would get closer in bed with Wigan in that context.

Cheers Maple. Sadly, such a notion of rivalry are nonsense. Wigan / Leigh, like all League Clubs biggest rival are other sports, particularly football. Fantastic piece on Radio 4 today about 'rivalry' and how futile and pointless so called rivalries are when the reality is rather than trying to win small petty minded squabbles over similar sized rivals these very like minded groups should be working together to contest genuine rivalry rather than replicating the behaviour of cavemen.

Supporters / Sponsors are so much easier to obtain in a healthier sport that requires everybody putting aside their pointless self interests and actually working together. Tad like the partnership idea that some prehistoric fans are so mortified about.

We are all guilty of self harming through small minded pointless attempts to screw each other I.E RL clubs / fans. Partnership whilst far from perfect is actually a step in the right direction.

Hopefully plenty people will read Paul's interview. Although even that won't be good enough for some. Arrangements now are the same as last two years except THE RFL state you can only go to one club for DR players. He also explains how difficult the loan system makes things. If we were down to 17 fit players then something has to give. Until Sam T plays for I'll believe it. I pointed out the rfl bye laws as did Fred, it seems there are too many deaf ears.

I don' think anyone understands this.

You are so close to the point of the argument here

So tell me, does forming a partnership with another much bigger RL club playing in a much higher profile competition with attendances 10 times bigger just a few miles away help Leythers ' SELL ' Leigh Centurions to the poplpulation of Leigh?

Would Wigan Athletic forming a partnership with Manchester United help to sell ' Latics ' to the population of Wigan?

Leigh Centurions need to SELL LEIGH CENTURIONS to the population of Leigh

And people need to realise that what happens ON the pitch has bugger all to do with marketing a club to its towns population, and also that just getting the young kids of the town to play the odd game of RL will not result in them suddenly wanting to watch their local Championship club

One last thing is also the tendancy for juniors who play regularily at junior club level to want to watch the highest level of the sport available to them, you will not build a fan base out of them

If you must use football as a comparison, it's not done Watford much harm, constant financial problems every other year, 13th, 16th, 14th and 11th then set up an agreement with a much bigger club and turn a profit and are 3rd in the league.

I don't agree with comparing RL with other sports, but if you must do so try harder.