James Mendeika who LEFT wire and SIGNED for Swinton on 12 month deal as today GONE to London Broncos on loan from WIRE. What a joke they are and the RFL for allowing this pathetic situation, how many of the other 5 so called Swinton players signed for wire are still contracted wire players. Blatant cheating the system I really do despair at rugby league these days

Just another reason why RL is struggling to catch the fans attention, people are beginning to see the game as a farce (in all leagues) as 'rules' like the merger/ DR ones are not really what independent sports clubs should be about in the UK.

Actually I don't think Mendeika was one of the Warrington 6, so we had all better stop composing our emails to the RFL

Defo one of the six released and signed by Swinton.

Wire Youngsters have Signed Contracts with Swinton

Fri Feb 08, 2013 3:31 pm
Looking at the Swinton board of Total RL, it transpires that 6 of our ex U20 squad have now signed with Swinton Lions for the season. These are Morrison, Mendeika, Burke, Shaw, Ormsby and Riley. Reading between the lines, it looks as though some or all these players had a 1yr contract, with a club option of extending this for a further two years. Hence, their contract could be terminated with Warrington, allowing them to sign with Swinton. The information comes from the RFL offices in response to a query from a Swinton fan.

You have to laugh at the amateurish manner in which this 'partnership / youth changes' is being implemented. I strongly suspect the RFL initially washed it's hands of the proceedings when the SL chairmen voted to get rid of two age groups. But of course it now has to pick up the pieces of a poorly thought out change, which I strongly suspect was engineered by Hetherington who knew full well he would get agreement to the cuts because of the financial 'carrot'.

Anyway, Wire have hung on to their 'over-age' youngsters, and now have managed to find a way to ensure they get a match most weeks.

I would quite like to know if Wigan have got a problem giving their ex U20's a match each week, because it certainly doesn't look as though Leigh will be taking many, and south Wales is a long journey to make. Rogues ?

You can go back on swinton's board now and see what they have to say

Posted by Eclecticsheep on the Swinton TotalRL board

I contacted the RFL about this and got a measured reply that does state the situation and aims quite clearly, I post it on here just in case it is Helpful....


FAO Mr Ralph Rimmer,

Please will you scrutinise the current Dual Registration situation as I suspect there has been unfair (and not in the spirit of the game) registrations (as players of Swinton Lions) of at least five Warrington Wolves Players, one who has only been signed on a three year contract a few months ago by Warrington Wolves, The Swinton Lions also played another Three Dual Registered players in their first game against Workington.

It would appear that the DR scenario is being ruthlessly and knowingly flaunted by clubs already and is bringing the Game (in NL) into disrepute to the dismay of many fans, (myself included).

Here is the reply


Dear Brian

Thank you for your correspondence regarding the Swinton and Warrington partnership however all activity, which has been fully disclosed by the clubs to, is within the current regulations. As with all regulations the RFL will monitor, review and, if necessary, adapt things moving forward. With the RFL concentrating on four strands of the sport i.e. international, full time, semi-professional and community, a constant consideration is how a change to one will affect the other. At all times we wish to find the right balance on these matters and clearly want to have thriving clubs and competitions.

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.

The 6 players in question are· J Burke
· R Shaw
· G Ormsby
· G Riley

I can confirm none of these players had a contract with Warrington until the end of 2015, as annual extension clauses which are in favour of the club do not guarantee the player employment. Using an example, if the contract is for 1 year with annual options in the clubs favour to extend this on an annual basis for a further 2 years; it could be viewed as a 3 year deal when it is actually a 1 year deal with 2 years of options. Many contracts for young players are put in this way and if the player in the example contract was underperforming then it would be likely the club would not take up the option and player would be without a contract after 12 months.

The players permission is essential in all of this and shouldn’t be forgotten. Even if a club wants a player (back or otherwise) it is still the decision of the player to sign the playing contract put forward. With this in mind, even if Warrington wanted to resign one of these players at the end of the Swinton contract, the player is free to refuse this and sign with another club.

11 of the 13 British Super League clubs have a formal partnership with 14 clubs in the Championships in 2013. Having a good majority of clubs involved in such partnership arrangements shows the regulation is meeting a need within the clubs, both Super League and Championships. If there to be any regulation changes in the sport these will be made at the end of 2013.

I hope this response helps in some way and I will ensure my colleague Ralph Rimmer is across this correspondence.

Kind Regards


Chris Thair
Salary Cap and Licencing Manager

Gareth obrien played for Swineton yesterday.How many clubs has he played for this season? 3 i think.If the rfl are not botherd about this happening,we should sign him on A MONTHS LOAN asap.

Now a list i read on the swinton total rlforum from February did not feature Mendeikas name but did have 6 names.

Rather than worry about us I'd worry about the fact your ageing squad took a real pasting yesterday.....for what it's worth Alex Hurst signed for Broncos before the start of the season despite having signed for Swinton....didn't see a rush of complaints from you lot then. What do you want Swinton to do stand in the way of a player trying to better himself by playing in the elite league.

Thought you might manage a positive spin, Marshy! As these guys seem to be 'available', any chance of us borrowing ten or eleven of them?

Of course, it's not just Swinton who are playing the rules. (or should that be Warrington?)

Our next home game is against Batley who, according to the information provided, currently only have two D/C's - one from Castleford and one from St Helens. (how is that possible?) Their partnership agreement is with Huddersfield. (how is that possible?)

Your right I am very worried about our team & performances, but your an intelligent bloke marshy and for you to claim that these players have left wire & signed for you but yet wire can still put them out on loan is not good for Swinton Lions or the championship as a comp. You are being used by warrington and rolling over and letting it happen. We may go the same way ( although I doubt it would get to this level ) but if we did believe me I would not step foot through the gates again. You cannot possibly be happy with how your Once Great & Proud club is being run.

Well all of these players could have an "SL get out clause" like some of our players have had and some probably still do.

Quite possibly but then he would be on loan to London from Swinton ( just like hurst was)....no problems, the fact remains it was claimed he is a full blown contracted Swinton player along with 5 others so they could play them 6 & 5 D/C at the same time yet warrington have sent him on loan to London not Swinton ????

They set up the deal with Saints over Walmsley before the new rules came in. Anyway no danger of him playing for Batley again this year.