Sorry. : Sat Apr 30, 2011 8:17 pm  

But how can a professional RL club survive on crowds like this?
Harlequins v Salford
1,957
Enough said.

Re: Sorry. : Sat Apr 30, 2011 8:29 pm  

and i bet they were all freebies

Re: Sorry. : Sat Apr 30, 2011 10:04 pm  

A team in Yorkshire/Lancashire would be berrated for a crowd like this but remember it is sky sports who pay the money they aren't bothered about the crowd figures they just want people to buy their tv packages

Re: Sorry. : Sun May 01, 2011 10:51 am  

A disgrace to the game. And how many times have Harlequins been bailed out over the years?

Re: Sorry. : Sun May 01, 2011 7:06 pm  

007 wrote:

But how can a professional RL club survive on crowds like this?
Harlequins v Salford
1,957
Enough said.

Devil's advocate...

To be fair to London the Reds sure won't be their biggest gate of the season. Quins home average at the time of writing is hovering on 2600, which still ain't knocking the pots over, but it is a fair bit over the sub 2k. And they've yet to see Bradford, KR, Leeds, Saints, Wakey, Warrington and Wigan visit the Stoop, most of whom are more than likely going to push that number upwards.

Still not amazing I understand that, but there you go...

Re: Sorry. : Sun May 01, 2011 7:31 pm  

Do we have to have a thread on the Cas board every time Quins have a home game?

If you want to whine about it, go to the VT.

Re: Sorry. : Sun May 01, 2011 7:42 pm  

The problems are numerous though.

They get prefferential treatment because of their geographical location. They have been in the top flight for a number of years with nothing so much to shout about apart from one CC final appearance which they got trounced in. They have brought through one player of any decency through their system throughout the numerous years they have been top flight. They consistantly average poor attendances even though they have such a large catchment area. They have changed names more times than soft mick. And to top it all off they would almost certainly in every instance get chosen to appear in the top flight before any heartland club, including ours, no matter what state the heartland club was in.

And if any Cas fan doesn't have serious problems with the last part of my post then you should do. Because in a one on one franchise application between us and them, they would get the nod every time. Now tell me if this is fair?!

Re: Sorry. : Sun May 01, 2011 7:47 pm  

*sigh*

Re: Sorry. : Sun May 01, 2011 8:01 pm  

Gaz, sorry pal but if you don't want to read it. Then don't.

Re: Sorry. : Mon May 02, 2011 3:19 pm  

Gaz, I understand your point, but this does all have a baring on Cas. Some people say that we are at risk of not been given another Superleague license, although going by the criteria we should get one quite easily. The only criteria we don't really meet is that we won't have a stadium that meets all of the stadia criteria for the full 3 years of the next franchise.

The KEY thing about any business franchise is that the franchisee must be able to run a stable business. That means that (in an RL sense) the clubs must be financially sound and receive a sufficient income to be able to meet the costs of fielding a successful rugby league squad. The quins fall down here and even had to fully financially restructure during the demise of the Broncos and the birth of the quins rl. Their crowds are often around the 2k Mark which is simply not viable.

The bottom line is that if the RFL have any credibility at all, then the quins can not be given a franchise. I know that Wakey have had their problems of late but even they have got a far better case to put for a franchise than the quins have. Sadly I feel that the rules will just not apply to the quins (you only have to read Lewis's comments about their crowds) and that they will somehow be given another franchise.

If they did get one over us then (regardless of how much I love this sport and Cas) I will no longer be able to keep paying my money to watch a sport which I could only view as being corrupt. I am actually a big fan of the franchise system, but it needs to be fair with all teams playing from the same rule book.