Six rugby league championship successes and three Challenge Cup victories in their glorious history could not stop them being forced out of their famous Station Road ground to pay off huge debts.
They spent 10 years at Gigg Lane and two at Salford City football club before moving in at Sedgley Park this season.
But now a group of volunteer fans is working to bring the team home to Swinton and Pendlebury.
The M27 Sports and Community Project is hoping to build a sports complex which would include a 2,500-capacity venue for the Lions.
The new facility would also be used by schools, colleges, community groups and amateur sports clubs.
Spokesman Alan Cresswell said: "It was quite tragic to leave Station Road and the last 13 years have been really difficult for Swinton as a rugby league club and for their fans.
"We are trying to construct a sports and community project within the M27 boundary for the residents of Swinton, Clifton and Pendlebury.
"The finance is based on it being a community stadium. It will be used 360 days of the year by the community. It will be paid for by aggregate planning supplemented by grant-aid funding.
"We have a number of sites in mind which are being considered by the city council planners and we're hoping they will report back to us within the next month.
"The community has become the poorer for Swinton not playing in the area and the club's development has been curtailed. When we return the community will ultimately benefit.
"It's imperative the complex can stand financially on its own two feet and we can fund it without being a burden to council tax payers."
The Lions have been going well this season, but were knocked off the top of National League Two on Sunday after losing to Hunslet.
Coach Paul Kidd is right behind the M27 Project.
He said: "It can get difficult at times not having a home of our own. We play at Sedgley Park and train at Eccles rugby union club. We're between the two venues all the time. It's not that bad but in the ideal world you want to be at one base under one roof.
"M27 are working extremely hard, not just to create a home for the club but also a community sports environment, which naturally would be good for the area."
Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
ABOUT TIME!! SWINTON HAVE BEEN BEGGING FOR A GROUND FOR THE PAST 10 YEARS LETS HOPE IT GETS SORTED OUT QUICKLY.
Just think they could name the four stands
Ken Gowers
Danny wilson
Les Holiday
Albert Blan
great news...lets hope it actually happens.
Excellent news. It will be music to a lot of Lions fans ears - past and present! Excellent that schools and the community as a whole will benefit from it!
Although the M27 project has been running for 2/3 years it's nice to get some belated media publicity for M27 readers and hopefully get just a tiny bit excited at the future of our beloved Lions. A couple of errors to note though. The planned home for Swinton is not a 2,500 capacity affair as stated. It's actually 5,000 with a hoped for option of more room at some future point.
Also, this is the Lions' second season at Sedgley Park and not first.
Many thanks for this Chris and may I say what a refreshing change to have something else to pour over apart from the staple readers' diet of Salford RLFC.
Blue Monkey - we got to call the bar the Danny Wilson bar. We are still a long way from achieving this, but it's a very exciting thing for the people of the M27 community to look forward to if it succeeds, Swinton, Pendlebury and Clifton have not had a lot to shout about in recent years, surely something like this can boost community spirit
its a fantastic idea not just for the rugby for the school kids as well theres plenty of these stadiums around the country and its about time salford had one.
As a SALFORD CITY REDS fan living downunder I really think this is great news for Swinton and genuinely hope it comes to fruition. All the best Lions.
So I come from Swinton, and although moved away my father still lives in the town, Aand I still get my meat from Chappells.
I have notced the great decline in entertainment venues, and can never forgive those who sold Station Road or the "salford" councillors who let it happen.Although we are now part of "salford" we are still Swinton, there should be a stadium built , 5000 capacity is not enough as we need the numbers to let sport in our borough flourish.
As a kid I was proud to play for Swinton town teams against salford and I rue the day we were ever brought in to the salford borough.
salford have continually ruined all that was good around them, let us build a new stadium in Swinton, for Swinton.
Lets build the stadium and get back to an identity for Swinton away from the dross of salford