Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:56 pm  

Roofs wrote:

Gutterfax my problem is FCBQE contribute nothing to other clubs, where the likes of us do, eg watch us take 1500-2000 to Cas on Friday night.

Fully aware the lack of away fans bothers you roofs....it bothers many, including the Bradford Chairman who wanted to vote us out in 2005......what's that saying about it being a dish best served cold...

For RL to ever become a NATIONAL sport in the UK, a team in the SE is a must.....but the RFL would rather spend money to preserve a hole of a ground that is Oddlsum. (sod the heritage bollox.....they bulldozed wembley quick enough).

London will survive this licence period....after that, I believe they will drop down to CH level unless an investor can be found to replace St David Hughes.

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Wed Mar 28, 2012 6:46 am  

saintcj wrote:

... Obviously France has proved the it can be done outside the main areas.

There was already a long history of the sport in the south of France.

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Wed Mar 28, 2012 8:41 pm  

As a northern knuckledragger I cannot possibly comment,however I have me ferrets to concentrate on.

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Wed Mar 28, 2012 9:21 pm  

Roofs wrote:

Gutterfax my problem is FCBQE contribute nothing to other clubs, where the likes of us do, eg watch us take 1500-2000 to Cas on Friday night.

Wow a 50 mile journey. Would they all make the trip to London for Friday night game?

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Wed Mar 28, 2012 10:18 pm  

50 miles along the M62 is a piece of mickey compared to trying to get from one side of London to another, you should try it one day then wonder why a nomadic team such as 'London' don't have the fan base many clubs do that have/had close knitted communities at the heart of their clubs. It makes a massive difference.

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Wed Mar 28, 2012 10:22 pm  

knockersbumpMKII wrote:

50 miles along the M62 is a piece of mickey compared to trying to get from one side of London to another, you should try it one day then wonder why a nomadic team such as 'London' don't have the fan base many clubs do that have/had close knitted communities at the heart of their clubs. It makes a massive difference.

Does the rugby union club that play at the stoop gather its support off the doorstep or do they come from all over?

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Thu Mar 29, 2012 12:16 am  

gutterfax wrote:

Fully aware the lack of away fans bothers you roofs....it bothers many, including the Bradford Chairman who wanted to vote us out in 2005......what's that saying about it being a dish best served cold...

For RL to ever become a NATIONAL sport in the UK, a team in the SE is a must.....but the RFL would rather spend money to preserve a hole of a ground that is Oddlsum. (sod the heritage bollox.....they bulldozed wembley quick enough).

London will survive this licence period....after that, I believe they will drop down to CH level unless an investor can be found to replace St David Hughes.

That's all well and good, and I agree if expansion is the Holy Grail then we need a successful team in the South East - but London? Over my many, many visits to the capital and with many family and friends living there I've never felt a sense of identity from one area to another, even less for some huge overbearing entity called 'London' that no-one has any particular affinity with. Despite the boroughs, towns, villages, etc, the entire place is perceived as (and not far from) one huge urban sprawl, nothing more. How many sports teams are 'London xxxxxx'? I remember the Yankee Futbol team but that too died a death.

Further, football and RU are too deepy ingrained in the psyche for a London team to make an impact over the metropolitan area of London, as appears to be the goal. We need to be targeting urban areas with minimal influence from football and RU. Hemel, whilst holding a fairly small a population, is the perfect example - build slowly and establish yourself over many years. I absolutely love the fact Hemel Stags have been admitted to Championship 1 for 2013 - they've gone about it the right way. I have extended family in the area (only recently discovered, mind), and I'm looking to take in a few games during future visits.

If I were looking at expansion in the SE I'd aim for areas people are more affiliated with. I dunno, 'Surrey Titans', 'Essex Saxons', 'Kent Kants' if we want to appeal to larger, widespread populations, or carry out market research on towns and cities in the SE and pick the most likely target. 'London' just isn't working. People tend to be proud of their counties, whereas most people I know in the South talk about 'London' almost apologetically.

At the same time the game needs to be strong at home before diverting much-needed cash and man-hours elsewhere. Get the current SL teams running viable operations and a few strong tiers below, then you can think about ploughing millions elsewhere. Even once you picked your area it's not a case of simply forming a team and giving it a nice name, you need to make contacts in the local media, get RFL development officers into local schools and colleges, market the team successfully around the area, perhaps form youth teams a few years before launching any open-age or high-level teams, work social media in the correct way, get volunteers involved behind the scenes, find year-round training and playing facilities, etc, etc, etc.
(I'm basically telling mmp's (he posts on here) life story over the last few years!)

I'm full of admiration for London's hardcore fans, but at the moment I just don't see the point, or where it's going.

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Thu Mar 29, 2012 2:56 am  

Cronus wrote:

That's all well and good, .....

Fair Post, but in the real world, the club need to stay exactly where they are and start to MARKET themselves. Believe me when I say that up until 2009 there was little or no marketing of the club and since then, it has been farcical to say the least.
By no means, unless the club managed to find 30 million to fund a new stadium, move from the stoop. West London is where the Broncos have been in ESL with the exception of a spell at Charlton.......I even suggested that if the club insisted on the stupid rebranding (a total waste of time BTW) then West London should have been used.....

...to suggest a move to a village or borough just smacks of exactly the same mistake being made again. At Griffin Park the club left in 2005 with more fans than it had when it arrived in 2002. They should never have moved back to twickenham, but at the time, Evans at the Union lot and Lenegan thought it a good move....they were wrong and neither are still in the roles they were then.

If the club moves agin, it truly will die and I can only hope the Skolars are there to pick up some of the fans and players that will otherwise be lost to the game.
IMO that is.

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Thu Mar 29, 2012 7:55 pm  

Cronus wrote:

That's all well and good, and I agree if expansion is the Holy Grail then we need a successful team in the South East - but London? Over my many, many visits to the capital and with many family and friends living there I've never felt a sense of identity from one area to another, even less for some huge overbearing entity called 'London' that no-one has any particular affinity with. Despite the boroughs, towns, villages, etc, the entire place is perceived as (and not far from) one huge urban sprawl, nothing more. How many sports teams are 'London xxxxxx'? I remember the Yankee Futbol team but that too died a death.

Further, football and RU are too deepy ingrained in the psyche for a London team to make an impact over the metropolitan area of London, as appears to be the goal. We need to be targeting urban areas with minimal influence from football and RU. Hemel, whilst holding a fairly small a population, is the perfect example - build slowly and establish yourself over many years. I absolutely love the fact Hemel Stags have been admitted to Championship 1 for 2013 - they've gone about it the right way. I have extended family in the area (only recently discovered, mind), and I'm looking to take in a few games during future visits.

If I were looking at expansion in the SE I'd aim for areas people are more affiliated with. I dunno, 'Surrey Titans', 'Essex Saxons', 'Kent Kants' if we want to appeal to larger, widespread populations, or carry out market research on towns and cities in the SE and pick the most likely target. 'London' just isn't working. People tend to be proud of their counties, whereas most people I know in the South talk about 'London' almost apologetically.

At the same time the game needs to be strong at home before diverting much-needed cash and man-hours elsewhere. Get the current SL teams running viable operations and a few strong tiers below, then you can think about ploughing millions elsewhere. Even once you picked your area it's not a case of simply forming a team and giving it a nice name, you need to make contacts in the local media, get RFL development officers into local schools and colleges, market the team successfully around the area, perhaps form youth teams a few years before launching any open-age or high-level teams, work social media in the correct way, get volunteers involved behind the scenes, find year-round training and playing facilities, etc, etc, etc.
(I'm basically telling mmp's (he posts on here) life story over the last few years!)

I'm full of admiration for London's hardcore fans, but at the moment I just don't see the point, or where it's going.

That's a very thought-provoking post sir. Thanks.

Re: Can London Broncos survive much longer? : Fri Mar 30, 2012 3:53 am  

j.c wrote:

Does the rugby union club that play at the stoop gather its support off the doorstep or do they come from all over?

I've no idea but given that they've been in the twickers area for over a 100 years I'd say a fair portion do.

Harlequins RU has been going for a dogs age (1866 to be precise) whereas London rugby league in its various guises has been here there and everywhere in a relatively short period of history comparatively.. Not particularly condusive to attracting a local loyal fan base. Of those fans that have chosen to continue to follow the club (albeit in small numbers) some come from all parts of the capital and a few from the home counties (I know of a couple of season ticket holders from near St.Albans)
The point I was making is that for some a journey across London is for the most part more tedious and lengthy than a 50 mile hike across the M62 to see your team, that that is a home game is one of many reasons London do not get decent support. That some fans do travel that far should be applauded.