History
Early years
The club was formed in October 1866 when members of Swinton Cricket Club decided to take up football in the winter. In 1871 they joined the Rugby Football Union, under the name Swinton and Pendlebury FC, playing at their first ground located off Station Road in the town. Their first game was against Eccles Standard.
They moved from playing at a field in the Station Road area in 1873 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.
The first rugby match under floodlights took place in Salford, between Broughton Rangers and Swinton on October 22, 1878.
In 1886 they moved again to their Chorley Road ground. By this time the Lions had become a very strong team, and played the likes of Oxford University. 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 region had done so, causing financial hardship to the club. The Northern Union was then split into two county leagues, Lancashire and Yorkshire.
In 1900 they won the Challenge Cup defeating Salford at Fallowfield, Manchester.
On Saturday 8 September, 1906, Swinton hosted a Pontefract team who arrived with only 12 players. The Lions scored 18 tries in a club record 76-4 victory. This record would stand for ninety years but three months later when the Lions visited Pontefract they lost 5-0.
In 1925 they won the Lancashire Cup. In 1926 they won the Challenge Cup again.
Swinton were the final team to win 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. The Lions were a side with a strong Welsh presence, with players like William "Billo" Rees, Rees Thomas, Dai Moses, Ron Morgan and Graham 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 77.75 yards (at the Athletic Grounds, Rochdale, in April, 1940).
The 1927-28 season saw the Lions sweep all before them, under the captaincy of centre Hector Halsall. 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 League Championship.
In 1929, the club then moved to a new stadium back near their original home off Station Road. This new stadium's name was simply named after its location, Station Road. The decision to purchase land next to the railway line, was made after a breakdown in negotiations with their existing landlord at their Chorley Road ground close to the White Lion. This soon became a favoured ground for major fixtures such as Test matches, Challenge Cup semi-finals, Lancashire Cup finals and Championship finals.
Martin Hodgson played his last game for Swinton in December, 1940. In 1941-42 Swinton abandoned the Lancashire League due to the Second World War and did not return until the 1945-46 season.
Post war
Swinton became winners of the Rugby League Championship in seasons 1962-63 and 1963-64, during a decade that saw the club enjoy the services of star players such as John Stopford and Albert Blan.
When two divisions were reintroduced in 1973, Swinton were out of the top flight, and have struggled to regain their former glories ever since. In 1992, financial mis-management necessitated the sale of Station Road for property development. The club moved to Gigg Lane, Bury, the home ground of Bury F.C.. In the Lions' last season at Station Road they were drawing crowds of 3,000 but this sudden move caused the club to lose many supporters. [1]
Summer rugby league era
In 1996 Swinton officially added 'Lions' to their name. Peter Roe led Swinton to promotion from Division Two in 1996 but rejected a two-year contract to continue as the coach and general manager and left the National League Two club.[ http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/rugby-league/ward-is-set-to-retire-after-passion-fades-579393.html]. The former Great Britain captain, Mike Gregory was the head coach of the club between 1998 and 2001.
The financial failure of major creditor and de facto owner Hugh Eaves in 2002 put the future of the club in jeopardy and they spent a short time regrouping at Moor Lane in Kersal as tenants of Salford City FC after having been forced out of Gigg Lane by the financial problems of their landlords, Bury FC [2]. Since 2003, the Lions have played their home games at Park Lane, Whitefield, home of Sedgley Park RUFC.
Peter Roe quit as coach of Swinton Lions in September 2003, after less than a year in charge.
In May 2007, Swinton Lions went into administration for about 48 hours in order to restructure the club from top to bottom. A new company Swinton Lions Rugby Club was set up to remove problems with shareholdings from the previous administration. Currently the club are under the stewardship of chairman, John Kidd and fellow directors Dave Roberts and Ben Jones plus the chairman's son Paul Kidd as head coach.
