It's that time of year AGAIN : Wed Apr 21, 2021 12:55 am  

Reading 40-20 and then associated posts across League forums, it would seem that SL is yet again going to shake up its format (seems to be a popular move around TV negotiation time?

Question is, where, if anywhere, do the London Broncos fit into any future SL DNA?

In our current format, we're hardly fit for purpose in the 2nd tier, but if the club and the sport genuinely want a club in the Capital, how can the London Broncos get themselves into a position whereby they qualify for the list of minimum requirements that get rolled out by armchair administrators every time this happens?

These Include in Licenced format:

1.Academy. We tick that box
2.10k Capacity Modern Stadium. We're very close (Wimbledon) to that figure and given a number of clubs who've promised new builds for decades and not delivered, we should qualify.
3. 6,000+ Attendances with a plan to increase this. Not going down that Rabbit Hole, but it does links nicely to the next point
4. Financial stability/security. Mr Hughes has done all he can and if we want to stand on our own 2 feet in a modern new look Super League then we need 6,000 people paying £20 a week 13 times a year, buying shirts/merch, corporate Hospitality to stand any chance. Failing that we need a benefactor happy to throw £1.5 million a year at the club until such time that we can stand on our own and Mr Hughes, for all he's done, just isn't the man to lead the club into the future..

If on the other hand, P&R remain, then I see little hope for teams Like London, Leigh, Fev, Salford (punched well above recently but so did we 20 years ago), Halifax, Wakefield....in fact, pretty much every club outside Wigan, Leeds, Saints & Wire who have appeared in 28 of the 30 finalist spots in the last 12 SL Grand Finals.

Toulouse are pretty much bolted o to go up this year and whichever team just avoids the drop will be chasing just Toulouse in 2022 in a bid to stay up......whilst St Helens play one of the other 3 at Old Trafford again. That's tedium and that's not helping the game grow, so let's hope we see a return to licencing with some proper governance and if need be, so tough decisions at the start in terms of clubs not making the cut.

Re: It's that time of year AGAIN : Wed Apr 21, 2021 7:49 am  

orangeman wrote:

Reading 40-20 and then associated posts across League forums, it would seem that SL is yet again going to shake up its format (seems to be a popular move around TV negotiation time?

Question is, where, if anywhere, do the London Broncos fit into any future SL DNA?

In our current format, we're hardly fit for purpose in the 2nd tier, but if the club and the sport genuinely want a club in the Capital, how can the London Broncos get themselves into a position whereby they qualify for the list of minimum requirements that get rolled out by armchair administrators every time this happens?

These Include in Licenced format:

1.Academy. We tick that box
2.10k Capacity Modern Stadium. We're very close (Wimbledon) to that figure and given a number of clubs who've promised new builds for decades and not delivered, we should qualify.
3. 6,000+ Attendances with a plan to increase this. Not going down that Rabbit Hole, but it does links nicely to the next point
4. Financial stability/security. Mr Hughes has done all he can and if we want to stand on our own 2 feet in a modern new look Super League then we need 6,000 people paying £20 a week 13 times a year, buying shirts/merch, corporate Hospitality to stand any chance. Failing that we need a benefactor happy to throw £1.5 million a year at the club until such time that we can stand on our own and Mr Hughes, for all he's done, just isn't the man to lead the club into the future..

If on the other hand, P&R remain, then I see little hope for teams Like London, Leigh, Fev, Salford (punched well above recently but so did we 20 years ago), Halifax, Wakefield....in fact, pretty much every club outside Wigan, Leeds, Saints & Wire who have appeared in 28 of the 30 finalist spots in the last 12 SL Grand Finals.

Toulouse are pretty much bolted o to go up this year and whichever team just avoids the drop will be chasing just Toulouse in 2022 in a bid to stay up......whilst St Helens play one of the other 3 at Old Trafford again. That's tedium and that's not helping the game grow, so let's hope we see a return to licencing with some proper governance and if need be, so tough decisions at the start in terms of clubs not making the cut.

Have to say I agree with most of that. I don't think RL is strong enough to support a promotion & relegation format. Licensing has to be the way forward.

Re: It's that time of year AGAIN : Wed Apr 21, 2021 8:20 am  

Promotion and relegation is important. Without that you get a lot of meaningless games.

Re: It's that time of year AGAIN : Wed Apr 21, 2021 9:22 am  

jbuzza wrote:

Promotion and relegation is important. Without that you get a lot of meaningless games.

There are currently plenty of meaningless games in SL. If Leigh lose every game this season, which they could having been robbed of fair funding, that would be meaningless too.

Re: It's that time of year AGAIN : Wed Apr 21, 2021 9:30 am  

Deadcowboys1 wrote:

There are currently plenty of meaningless games in SL. If Leigh lose every game this season, which they could having been robbed of fair funding, that would be meaningless too.

OK, but that is not an issue caused by promotion and relegation, it is a fair funding issue.

Re: It's that time of year AGAIN : Wed Apr 21, 2021 10:03 am  

The game just seems to have lost the plot completely, a broadcaster that treats us like a joke, those conditions many clubs in Super League will struggle to achieve that, Salford, Huddersfield, Leigh, 6,000 LOL! Look at Widnes now, to think how they were such a major club, now struggling to even win?

Re: It's that time of year AGAIN : Wed Apr 21, 2021 10:36 am  

While we tick the box on the academy (and I applaud the investment that is made in it) is it really doing the job it needs to ? It doesn't provide the backbone of the team since the best players move on elsewhere. So while it benefits RL in general what does it do for LB ? Perhaps it keeps the costs down because I doubt academy players graduating into the 1st team squad for their first professional contract are on particularly high wages.

Re: It's that time of year AGAIN : Wed Apr 21, 2021 10:56 am  

So what’s the rumours? One going up form champ and SL teams going down?

It would be catastrophic for almost any super league team to get relegated.
Not saying that’s a reason to scrap promotion and reg but I’d get rid.

Our Academy brilliant we should absolutely keep putting money in.
We’re gonna lose players to bigger clubs but not all

Re: It's that time of year AGAIN : Wed Apr 21, 2021 11:05 am  

jbuzza wrote:

OK, but that is not an issue caused by promotion and relegation, it is a fair funding issue.

Wasn't the notion at the time of the Great Snatch that the reduced funding would prove whichever club was selected were able to compete in SL by compensating for the reduced income?

Would Toronto have done better than last place if covid hadn't of happened? Although we were close, we only survived 1 season. Tend to agree with the article in Love RL that suggested that Cats & Toulouse should be exempt from relegation from SL in exchange for having a high number of French players in match squad. Would apply that to Broncos too (which we already do).

Re: It's that time of year AGAIN : Wed Apr 21, 2021 11:28 am  

jbuzza wrote:

While we tick the box on the academy (and I applaud the investment that is made in it) is it really doing the job it needs to ? It doesn't provide the backbone of the team since the best players move on elsewhere. So while it benefits RL in general what does it do for LB ? Perhaps it keeps the costs down because I doubt academy players graduating into the 1st team squad for their first professional contract are on particularly high wages.

How many transfer fees have we received to feed Super League clubs along the M62 corridor over the years? We can all list a team of players we have developed, that would make a fine Super League team, I have said over and over again, Any Club who develops young players, should receive a reasonable fee, we and other clubs are not here to feed Top Super League Clubs!