The Swinton Lions are a professional rugby league club based in Swinton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the RFL Championship. The club has won the Championship six times and three Challenge Cups. Before 1996, the club was known simply as Swinton RLFC.
Contents
History
Early years
The club was formed in 1866 when members of Swinton Cricket Club decided to take up Rugby football in the winter to keep fit. Other than an annual challenge against the local Lancashire Rifle Volunteers from 1869, the only games played were amongst the club's own membership.
In 1871, they joined the Rugby Football Union as Swinton and Pendlebury F.C., playing their first game at Burying Lane against Eccles Standard. The team quickly became virtually unbeatable in the Manchester area and beyond. This rise in stature was surprising because Swinton and Pendlebury was a tiny colliery village with a few cotton mills, but it had a large number of local junior teams from which the club drew its talent.
In 1873, they moved from Burying Lane (Station Road from circa 1889) to a ground known as Stoneacre, and used the nearby White Lion public house as changing rooms. They have been known as the Lions ever since.
Having gone three years undefeated in the mid-1870s, the Lions gradually sought a tougher fixture list. In 1878, the club ventured into Yorkshire, and was soon travelling throughout England taking on opponents including Oxford University. Such was the Lions' success that by the mid-1880s Swinton had become recognised as a national force and were considered the strongest team in Lancashire. The first rugby match under floodlights took place in Salford, between Broughton and Swinton on 22 October 1878.
In 1886, they moved to Chorley Road. The new ground could accommodate much larger crowds and the staging of County matches added to Swinton's growing reputation. The Lions produced several England internationals and dozens more who gained representative recognition wearing the red rose of Lancashire.
They were initially reluctant to join the new Northern Union, but did so on 2 June 1896 due to the fact that the majority of other teams in the area had done so, causing financial hardship to the club. The Northern Union was then split into two county leagues, Lancashire and Yorkshire.
In 1900, led by Jim Valentine, they won the Rugby League Challenge Cup defeating Salford at Fallowfield, Manchester.
Inter-war period
Lions' directors managed to call upon the support of local businessmen. The signings of Hector Halsall, a centre and future captain, and Albert Jenkins, a Welsh half-back, provided the catalyst. Throughout the 1920s the Lions got better and better, they beat the visiting Australasian team of the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain 9–0. At last they won the Lancashire County Cup in 1925 before recapturing the Challenge Cup in 1926.
They then followed this with their first-ever Championship a year later, and in 1928 the team reached its zenith becoming the last team to secure All Four Cups; they were also the only side from Lancashire to achieve this feat (Hunslet and Huddersfield were the two other clubs). In addition to the Championship Trophy, the Challenge Cup, the Lancashire League and the Lancashire Cup; Swinton won a fifth cup, the Salford Royal Hospital Cup, which was competed for by Salford, Broughton Rangers and Swinton. Crowds in excess of 20,000 were commonplace at Chorley Road.
Under captain, Hector Halsall, the Lions were a side with a strong Welsh presence, with players like Billo Rees as well as the Cumbrian goal-kicking second row forward, Martin Hodgson who signed for Swinton in January 1927. Hodgson still holds the long distance penalty goal world record with a kick of 77¾ yards (at the Athletic Grounds, Rochdale Hornets, in April 1940).
The 1927–28 season saw the Lions sweep all before them. They topped both the Championship and the Lancashire League, having already defeated Wigan in the Lancashire Cup. In a tense Challenge Cup Final they squeezed past Warrington 5–3, and three weeks later the Holy Grail was achieved when they comfortably eased past Featherstone Rovers 11–0 to take the Rugby Football League Championship.
A rent dispute in 1928 caused the club to search for pastures new. In 1929, the club then moved to a new stadium back near their original home off Station Road, taking the old stands with them. This new stadium's name was named after its location, Station Road. In March 1929, a 22,000 thousand crowd saw the Lions defeat Wigan in the first match on new turf. This soon became a favoured ground for major fixtures such as Test matches, Challenge Cup semi-finals, Lancashire Cup finals and Championship finals.
Post-war
Throughout the late 1940s, and the 1950s the Lions strove unsuccessfully to repeat former glories and often flattered to deceive, but the appointment of Welshman Cliff Evans as coach signalled a renaissance. Concentrating on a youth policy and training methods beyond his era, Evans began to model an exciting, young Swinton team. This new era saw some notable Welshmen in the Lions' ranks such as Rees Thomas, Ralph Morgan, Frank Osmond, Dai Moses, Ron Morgan and Graham Rees. Also in the 'swinging 1960s' years the Lions fielded real top class performers such as GB internationals Ken Gowers at full-back, Alan Buckley at left-centre plus his wing partner, John Stopford. During this same decade, local talent came to the fore with the likes of Graham Williams (scrum-half), Derek Whitehead (full-back/utility), Barry Simpson (2nd-row) and classy GB loose-forward Dave Robinson. During the second half of the decade other prominent players turned out for the Lions. Of these, perhaps the most worthy were stand-off Billy 'Daz' Davies, scrum-half Peter Kenny and 2nd-rowers Rod Smith (ex-Workington Town) and the highly respected Bill Holliday (ex-Whitehaven, Hull Kingston Rovers, Cumberland and GB). In fact it was the Lions 1960s quartet of Gowers, Buckley, Stopford and Robinson who were selected to play for the GB tourists on the 1966 tour to Australasia. Gowers was even given the honour of being awarded the position of tour vice-captain. However, some critics saw this as an apology for overlooking him when the previous tourists were chosen in 1962, when many believe he was easily the most outstanding player to wear a full-back's jersey in the British game.
A proposal in 1960 to create a Manchester rugby league club at the former White City Stadium on Chester Road, Old Trafford, Stretford, received strong opposition from Salford and Swinton. Their protests were renewed when a match was staged there between a Manchester XIII (Salford and Swinton players) and the New Zealand tourists in September 1961 and the idea was subsequently dropped.
Swinton made it to the final of the Lancashire County Cup in three consecutive seasons 1960–61, 1961–62 and 1962–63 plus 1964–65 but lost to St. Helens on each occasion at Central Park, Wigan. However, by the end of the 1960s they finally lifted the trophy after overcoming a strong Leigh side 11–2 led by Alex Murphy. Their victorious captain that early November day in 1969 at Central Park, Wigan was long serving dependable right-centre Bob Fleet.
Swinton became Champions of the Rugby Football League Championship in the 1962–63 season. Led by coach Cliff Evans and inspirational skipper Albert Blan, the team recovered from a slow start to complete the final backlogged 18 games (delayed due to the severe winter weather) of a 30-match league calendar undefeated to walk away with the Championship. Swinton's 6th Championship was retained in style 12 months later (1963–64).
1996–2024: Summer era
In 1996, the first tier of British rugby league clubs played the inaugural Super League season and changed from a winter to a summer season. The rest of the professional game in Britain would follow this move to summer.
In 1996, Swinton officially added Lions to their name. Peter Roe led Swinton to promotion from Division Two in 1996. The former Great Britain captain, Mike Gregory was the head coach of the club between 1998 and 2001. The popular but ultimately disastrous reign of Tony Humphreys followed in the early period of 2002. Humphreys was sacked in late May 2002 and replaced by former player Phil Veivers. Under the guidance of Veivers performances and result improved significantly and the Lions finished in a promotional playoff position. Only a loss to Sheffield Eagles denied the Lions the opportunity of promotion to National League One.
The financial failure of major creditor and de facto owner Hugh Eaves in 2002 put the future of the club in jeopardy, the chairman and benefactor Malcolm White resigned. The Swinton Supporters' Trust began life on 14 February 2002 in the White Lion public house and set about raising funds for the club. Shortly afterwards, Swinton were forced out of Gigg Lane by the financial problems of their landlords, Bury F.C.
In August 2002, the club were brought the club back to within one mile of the Swinton and Pendlebury border when they played their first match at Moor Lane in Kersal as tenants of Salford City F.C., after travelling to Leigh and Chorley to play 'home' matches. Unfortunately the football club would not grant Swinton a ten-year lease which would be required to enable much needed funding to bring the ground up to standard.
In 2004, the Lions moved to Park Lane, Whitefield, home of Sedgley Park R.U.F.C.
Peter Roe quit as coach of Swinton Lions in September 2003, after less than a year in charge. He rejected a two-year contract to continue as the coach and general manager and left the National League Two club.
In 2006, the return to Swinton and Pendlebury was taken one step further when club chairman, John Kidd, announced on 9 August that the club had acquired a site to build a 6,000 capacity stadium with training facilities and community use in Agecroft, Pendlebury.
Home grounds
Chorley Road (1896–1929)
Station Road (1929–92)
Gigg Lane (1992–2002)
Park Lane (2003–2010)
The Willows (2011)
Leigh Sports Village (2012–15)
Heywood Road (2016–)
Source:
2027 transfers
Players
Seasons
Honours
Rugby Football League Championship: 6
1926–27, 1927–28, 1930–31, 1934–35 (also Match of Champions), 1962–63, 1963–64
Challenge Cup: 3
1899–1900, 1925–26, 1927–28
Lancashire County Cup: 4
1925–26, 1927–28, 1939–40, 1969–70
Lancashire League: 5
1924–25, 1927–28, 1928–29, 1930–31, 1960–61
Second Division Championship: 1
1984–85
Second Division Premiership: 1
1986–87
RFL League 1: 1
2011
Records
Player records
Most tries in a match: 6 by Mark Riley vs Prescot Panthers, 11 August 1996
Most goals in a match: 15 by Dan Abram vs West Wales, 13 August 2022
Most points in a match: 38 by Dan Abram vs West Wales, 13 August 2022
Most tries in a season: 48 by Jim Valentine, 1888–89, (2nd most tries in a season, John Stopford, 42, season 1963–64)
Most goals in a season: 128 by Albert Blan, 1960–61
Most points in a season: 338 by Ian Mort, 2011
Most career tries: 301 by Jim Valentine, 1884–1901
Most career goals: 970 by Ken Gowers
Most career points: 2,105 by Ken Gowers
Most career appearances: 602 (including 8 as substitute) by Ken Gowers, 1954–1973.
World record distance for a penalty goal, 77¾ yards by Martin Hodgson, Rochdale Hornets v Swinton, at the Athletic Grounds, Rochdale, 13 April 1940
Team records
Biggest victory: 96–0 vs LLaneli, 30 January 2021
Heaviest defeat: 0–112 vs Warrington Wolves, 20 May 2011
Highest attendance:
Club: 26,891 vs Wigan, RL Challenge Cup 1st round replay, Wednesday, 12 February 1964 (Swinton defeated Wigan 13–8 at Station Road)
Station Road: 44,621 for Challenge Cup semi-final Warrington vs Wigan, 7 April 1951
vs International touring team: 13,341 vs Australia, 4 November 1933 (1933–34 Kangaroo Tour. Swinton defeated Australia 10–4 at Station Road)
Women's team
In 2020, Swinton established a women's team known as the Lionesses. Initially the open age team played friendlies/Merit League matches with an under-16s team competing in U16s Division 1 West. In the 2022 season, Swinton Lionesses competed in League 1 where they finished second in the table before losing to Illingworth in the play-off semi-finals. The moved up to the RFL Women's Championship for the 2023 season before the restructuring of the league system saw them go back to League 1. They returned to the Championship in the 2025 season. In May 2025, Swinton won the Challenge Shield, by defeating Salford Red Devils 12–4 in the final. In July 2025, Swinton made their début at the RFL Women's Nines where they reached the semi-finals of the main competition.
In November 2025, the team was renamed as the Manchester Swinton Lionesses. In May 2026, the Lionesses were runners-up in the Challenge Grade competition at the Women's Nines. In July 2026, they won the Challenge Shield by defeating Warrington Wolves 18–10 in the final. In the 2026 National Championship, the Lionesses finished as league leaders but lost 28–10 to London Broncos in the Grand Final.