Thought the game would of learned from trying to convert the Wakefield area to rename it as Calder but obviously not

Swinton havent played in that town since 1992 so its a bit different to changing the name of a towns club.
If people genuinely believe that a name is more important than the club then good luck.

They don't play in Swinton, so if anything the Swinton name is the bit that does not hold true. Basically Swinton the club is on life support and you could call the Manchester club a successor club or the birth of a new club.

But if they keep their name but lose everything else how does that benefit them?

Other clubs have changed their name before now, manningham changed its name and its sport.

Or chorley to Blackpool panthers.

Even the northern Union changed the sports entire name.

Its a different thing to compare a stable club like Warrington, that have a stable fan base and suggests changing their name or moving location.

When you've got over a century of history, the name IS the club. Sale RU don't play in Sale, and probably have a far higher percentage of their regular home crowd that don't live in the town whose name they bear than any RL club does. They tried a Manchester rebrand a few years ago, but reverted back to Sale because ultimately that is who they are, regardless of where they play or where their fans are drawn from. Swinton are Swinton and that's that.

Swinton directors should have learnt off Salford when koukash tried the same thing 2 years back.Koukash had to leave after fans abuse when he wanted to change Salfords name

Well the fans can do what they want now they have chased away the only fan putting money in to the club.

I'm sure them fans who chased away the chairman will dig into their own pockets to make up the shortfall that the chairman was putting in before.

RL Supporters: "The game needs better marketing!"
Swinton Board: "OK, we're going to reposition the club and work hard to make it appeal to new markets that don't necessarily identify with Swinton"
RL Supporters: "No, not like that. We meant put some posters in the bus station or something."

I enjoyed that, real rollercoaster

Us older one's remember the days when more or less had posters in their windows advertising the next home games.

In many ways I hope Swindon fold now, and the fans all like 500 of them have no club anymore. It's the whole bexit attitude that sums up this country, people cannot accept change and the world is not the same as in 1970.

If someone wants to start a club in a new town do it. Don’t steel the resources of an existing club, move them, disregard their history and expect all of the existing fan base to be happy about it.

Firstly, that's not what Swinton were doing. They were simply 'rebranding' as part of an attempt to make them relevant to an audience that doesn't necessarily identify with Swinton.

Secondly, the response from the existing fan base sums up so much that is wrong with many attitudes in the game. There's a sense that many would prefer to be "king of the rubble" than be a smaller part of something much bigger. And for what? A sense of nostalgia? People shouldn't cling to history because they are afraid of the future.

there's always some that doesn't effect they own club got some smart d comment

Swinton haven’t played in Swinton for a generation and may never play in Swinton ever again.

What’s the point in them being called Swinton?

They play in Sale in Trafford in Greater Manchester. They should be called Sale Lions, Trafford Lions, Manchester Lions, Greater Manchester Lions or any of them with just RLFC at the end with no “Lions”.

This is very ironic as Swinton have effectively set up an old club in a new town.
If Castleford started to play in Barnsley should they still be called Castleford?

Should Bradford change their name to Keighley Bulls?

Not while playing at Dewsbury

If in 2047 & they're still playing in Dewsbury in front of a handful of their "Bradford era" fans (with an average age of approximately 52), then yeh, they should probably look to changing their name or something fairly substantial to stop the rot.

If they move to Keighley on a permanent basis then yes.

E. G.

Milwaukee Braves to Atlanta Braves

The American model doesn't always work that well in the States never mind here Rams Raiders and Chargers spring to mind where the franchised are disenfranchised due to commercial pressure and stadium leases and to some extent they are used to it we aren't.

British sports fans generally have an emotional attachment to their teams do you think that the AFC Wimbledon MK Dons transformation was fair?

Its irrelevant.

The point is that Swinton already don't play in Swinton. So they have already done the geographical move. The name change would simply make the naming of the team more accurate.

The question was asked should other teams change their name if they move locations, my example was there to show that yes they should. It was not addressing whether the club should move out of Swinton.

If the Swinton board were proposing to move the team outside of Swinton then we could equate it to afc Wimbledon. But the move has already happened. If you move house you don't get to keep your street name and house number.

Well said

The problem with your moving house analogy is that a sports club is made up of a number of parts, including the Officials, the Team and the Fans. Sure the Officials and the Team have moved, did they want to, did they have an alternative? However, at a guess the Fans haven't moved in a permanent sense, they are supporting their club, just visiting if you like or in temporary accommodation, hoping for a return 'home' to Swinton and better times.

I think the MK Dons AFC Wimbledon probably reflects what's going on despite the move out of Swinton already being made. OK Change the location, change the name but I don't think that I'd expect the supporters to embrace that. It's the final straw, they will have effectively lost their club and what you are saying is that they have already so why should they or anyone care what they are called. What's in a name?

Got to disagree with you there, for two reasons really. firstly the majority of fans (90-95%?) come from Swinton/ area. You've got to remember the move outside Swinton was not a chosen scenario for the Club, they have been trying to get back there on numerous occasions, its only since Mazey came in that the Manchester thing has crept in. Don't get me wrong a lot of what he says makes perfect sense, just don't think its been thought through or handle well (excluding fans). I can't see a fan base being built in Sale with the Manchester name as its [uGreater[/u Manchester. You are stretching it to say you come from Manchester when you come from Sale, what does it say on your birth certificate if you come from Sale?. I can understand Broncos being called London but they struggle as they've never set down roots for a length of time and did best when known as Fulham. Secondly, Should Sale RU change their name? This changing your name to Manchester and everything is great is not going to work cuckooing another clubs history no matter whether you think they'll fold or not as a result. Its the decision of the fans, of the club in question I'd say.