Not 'Sorted' in Manc

Friday 5th February 2010

If you think about it, Rugby League in the Manchester region has been plagued with problems for quite a few years.

Oldham, Rochdale Hornets and Swinton Lions have all had their money worries and shifted grounds at some stage or other in their recent history.

What used to be such a rich region for all three clubs is now a Rugby League black hole and when you consider Oldham's amazing conveyor belt of talent from the amateur game that's particularly worrying.

All three have moved grounds. Hornets left the Athletic Grounds having sold the stadium to Morrison's supermarket. They headed for the uncomfortable ground share with Rochdale Football Club at Spotland and the £1 million they received from the Bradford-based supermarket chain soon disappeared as they tried to buy success.

Oldham Bears were in so much debt that they had sell Watersheddings to survive and later when they were relegated from Super League they went bust.

After that they wandered round south east Lancashire from Hyde to Ashton under Lyne, Spotland Stadium in Rochdale, Sedgely Park and even Leigh to play ‘home' games.

Swinton Lions had to sell their Station Road home because of £1 million pounds worth of debt and they too became nomads having a fairly settled spell at Gigg Lane in Bury before moving to Sedgeley Park rugby union club's Park lane ground.

When I started watching league back in the 1960s all three clubs were powers in the land. So what's gone wrong?

Quite simply the clubs have not been able to manage their finances and have been too ambitious.

Can you be too ambitious? Yes, you can. There's ample evidence that chasing Rugby League glory comes at a price and if you're not generating the crowds; don't have the income streams off field and no man of genuine substance behind you it simply won't happen.

Effectively what has happened is that once you leave Salford City Reds you don't really hit any professional Rugby League of significance until you reach Halifax.

Oldham, Rochdale and Swinton all ply their trade in the Co-operative Championship One and there doesn't appear to me to be any prospect of that changing for quite some time. I wish I could say otherwise.

This week came the news that Oldham, yes once mighty Oldham may have to play their Northern Rail Cup game this weekend on Rochdale amateur club Mayfield's ground and what does that say about the state of the affairs of the professional game in north Manchester?

That a once big club like Oldham has to beg a home from an amateur club in a neighbouring town is a major come down and there's no getting away from that. It;'s sad reflection on the club and its town.

Obviously I'm not privy to all the facts but if a town like Oldham couldn't provide somewhere for its professional Rugby League club which it professes to value somewhere to pay it's a sad do.

You have to ask questions about the viability of the professional game in the town. I don't doubt the town's passion for the game but they knew at the end of last season that they couldn't play at Boundary Park so it's hardly a surprise when the new season starts.

Swinton Lions John Kidd has been beavering away trying to build a stadium that matches their current status at Agecroft near the old coal mine site in the Irwell Valley.

That too seems as far away as ever and meantime they keep bashing away at Sedgeley Park. 

Is there going to come a time when the folk of Swinton finally give up on having a professional team within reach of the borough?

It would seem like a fair question to me and if the Kidd stadium plan doesn't start rolling soon I don't think the Lions will ever come within walking distance of Swinton again.

It's been gone from the town too long and folk are becoming disillusioned. John Kidd is the man who has kept the club alive for which we are all grateful but I do wonder where the club is going and what its future might be.

Hornets have been hanging on for years and you have to admire then for that. But I've lost count of how many times they've had to start again and without the steadying influence of Jack Grindrod and Ray Taylor they seem destined to exist in the Championship margins.

Nothing stays the same for ever. Change is inevitable but Rugby League needs to take seriously the retreat of the professional game in this area.

It counted among the game's heartlands at one time and if they can drift away then it can happen elsewhere too.

Either the plan is wrong. Or the people running the clubs are wrong or the fans have lost faith in the game. It could even be a combination of all three. This rich area of Rugby League heritage is starting to run dry and that wouldn't do anybody in the sport any favours.

Is anybody at Red Hall listening?

These people need help. The Club Support Unit is a great innovation but it needs more than them. A concerted development plan together with people of action are the first requisites, and this is the remit of the RFL.

Surely somebody at Red Hall could help Oldham find a ground at least!

Otherwise could I suggest the next logical step would be an amalgamation of all three clubs into a ‘super club' representing the region could be considered and maybe that would plug the gap between Salford and Halifax!