Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Mon Mar 26, 2012 9:55 am  

4thchoicecentre wrote:

Toulouse were in the Championship and are now back in the French League, I count that as someone pulling out of a competition.

But they are now in the FRench League from where they can be invited to apply to super league without having to meet some criteria set out for championship clubs - eg grand final appearances.

In their interests to go back to france really eh?

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Mon Mar 26, 2012 9:59 am  

wrencat1873 wrote:

If London are to survive/prosper it requires some radical thinking and some significant help from the RFL.
Perhaps someonne like Brian Noble as coach and then some serious cash spent on making them top 4/5 club.
They desperately need some profile and a couple of top signings.
Whether they should receive this tye of "special" help is another question all together. It flies in the face of fair competition.
However, without something special, they are going to struggle to keep the Capital dream alive.

I think you are right about getting someone in like Noble. In needs someone who can make them competitive because on paper they don't have a bad squad of players.

A London side in the top 6-8 would be good for the game, but a bottom 4 side with small crowds adds nothing.

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Mon Mar 26, 2012 9:59 am  

4thchoicecentre wrote:

Pulling out of London a year after pulling out of Toulouse and Wales will send a ridiculous message to fans. There are a lot of fans down in London and a lot of good amatuer and semi pro clubs down in the south that look upto the Bronco's. If you were to pull the Bronco's you'd never get a club back in the south again.

We already upset a lot of Welsh fans by getting them hooked on Rugby League and then pulling it away from them, lets not do the same in London

Were are all these fans when the bronco's are playing?

And yet they've sold more ST this season in the third league of RL than they did in the top league last season

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:01 am  

4thchoicecentre wrote:

Pulling out of London a year after pulling out of Toulouse and Wales will send a ridiculous message to fans. There are a lot of fans down in London and a lot of good amatuer and semi pro clubs down in the south that look upto the Bronco's. If you were to pull the Bronco's you'd never get a club back in the south again.

We already upset a lot of Welsh fans by getting them hooked on Rugby League and then pulling it away from them, lets not do the same in London

Odd because I think the teams who have been pulled away from are Halifax, Featherstone, Leigh and others who have as good a chance of SL success as London and have been genuine hot beds of RL for a hundred plus years.

You grow as a game naturally, you don't impose it. The best example of this is Sheffield Eagles - a genuine club which was close but not in a traditional area. Which expanded the game into a bigger city but was close enough to home base to benefit. With both football teams foundering I think this is the team we pulled away from too soon - the money wasted on London and Wales would have built Sheffield a Stadium. Sadly spreading the game to Britains 6th biggest city clearly wasn't good enough for some.

If we'd have stuck with it we'd probably have a midlands team by now - there was once a realistic chance of giving Nottingham a working club - yet somehow someone thought heading north and even further away from the holey grail that London seems to be was a great idea.

If we are going to ever do this, get a plant hat is workable, long term and realistic.

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:16 am  

Odd because I think the teams who have been pulled away from are Halifax, Featherstone, Leigh and others who have as good a chance of SL success as London and have been genuine hot beds of RL for a hundred plus years.

Utter tripe-Leigh are bust, Fax submitted a dreadful franchise submission.

Going back to the M62 is not the answer

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:17 am  

vastman wrote:

Odd because I think the teams who have been pulled away from are Halifax, Featherstone, Leigh and others who have as good a chance of SL success as London and have been genuine hot beds of RL for a hundred plus years.

You grow as a game naturally, you don't impose it. The best example of this is Sheffield Eagles - a genuine club which was close but not in a traditional area. Which expanded the game into a bigger city but was close enough to home base to benefit. With both football teams foundering I think this is the team we pulled away from too soon - the money wasted on London and Wales would have built Sheffield a Stadium. Sadly spreading the game to Britains 6th biggest city clearly wasn't good enough for some.

If we'd have stuck with it we'd probably have a midlands team by now - there was once a realistic chance of giving Nottingham a working club - yet somehow someone thought heading north and even further away from the holey grail that London seems to be was a great idea.

If we are going to ever do this, get a plant hat is workable, long term and realistic.

Very good points, Sheffield, Nottingham and Cumbria on paper look as viable as London considering we are 30 years into the experiment.

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:29 am  

vastman wrote:

the money wasted on London and Wales would have built Sheffield a Stadium.

What money is this then?

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:47 am  

east stander wrote:

Utter tripe-Leigh are bust, Fax submitted a dreadful franchise submission.

Going back to the M62 is not the answer

And London aren't.

[Hillsborough Lad]

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:51 am  

Sheffield aren't bust and will be applying for a SL franchise in 2015.

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:55 am  

Ironically, Sheffield were sacrificed at the RL alter, somehow deemed as unsustainable and yet they managed to re-form and are doing ok.
They were a good step in the right direction and I agree that natural expansion is always going to be better than imposition.
However, this still doesn't solve the best way forward for London.
Although grass-roots rubgy is doing well in the south east, they are, seemingly, going backwards.