The rfl's response to a fans question about goings on at swinton,doesnt look like it is going to change anytime soon
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 Morrison
· J Mendeika
· 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
