Quote ="Chris B"I don't feel too bad for their fans now.
As I see it the punishment they have got away with seems fair if not a little lenient. They are effectively back to where they started and the fans will still have a team on the park next year. The RFL could (and should) have gone further in my view and stripped them of their titles in the period in which they cheated. But I suppose that those victories are now tainted with the knowledge that they were gained with a distinct unfair advantage. Makes our NRC win a little more impressive knowing that Barrow were up to serious no good.
Des had the opportunity to build something up there. Something that he could have been proud of. It's no secret that a good percentage of the RL world would like to see a successful side up in that part of the world and I genuinely believe that he could have gone some way to making that happen.
Instead he did what he did for personal glory and in doing so has become infamous.'"
To be honest my sympathy has been tempered a little by posts like [url=http://www.totalrl.com/forums/index.php/topic/221932-ironic/this[/url and others made through the recent years particularly by people like Mick Wilson who was quick to sling mud in our direction to cast doubt on Widnes' credentials but I remind myself that my trip up there a year back was very hospitable and no one really deserves to have their hearts ripped out like this.
But the club left the RFL no choice. And I'm with you, they should be stripped of the title. It wont achieve much but the history books will show the true story. They cheated, massively, to the cost of all of the other clubs and the credibility of the league, and didn't deserve the success they briefly achieved. The fans have been taken for a ride, the other clubs have been taken for a ride and a whole years worth of league fixtures might as well be in the toilet.
As far as I'm concerned, they've got off lightly. 8 years should have been a lifetime ban, their trophies in that period taken off them.
