2,381 : Sun Mar 11, 2012 10:17 am  

That was the attendance at London Broncos v Castleford !
Is it working down south is there a point when the RFL stop bailing them out and admit its not working !
People's thoughts on this ?
I want them to be successful but after 32 years of existence you would have thought they would have progressed further than they have as a club but they haven't IMO
I would say failed try somewhere else but let them grow rather than thrown into the big league !

Re: 2,381 : Sun Mar 11, 2012 10:57 am  

A thread about a poor London attendance? I've never seen one of these before.

Agree that there is no foreseeable increase in attendances but from what you hear there's a lot of participation going on. The arguments been done so many times that there's no point anyway. Plus they're in for at least the next 3 years so we're stuck with them whether we like it or not.

Re: 2,381 : Sun Mar 11, 2012 11:04 am  

The R.F.L. will never bin them off....That is all..

Re: 2,381 : Sun Mar 11, 2012 11:26 am  

MikeyWire wrote:

The R.F.L. will never bin them off....That is all..

We all know London as a top RL side is a waste of a time, but why can't the RFL bin them off exactly?

If its because of media coverage, which I feel some might state, then, let's be honest, even WITH London our media coverage is a joke, so losing them wouldn't matter a jot?

Re: 2,381 : Sun Mar 11, 2012 11:36 am  

PADDERS wrote:

That was the attendance at London Broncos v Castleford !
Is it working down south is there a point when the RFL stop bailing them out and admit its not working !
People's thoughts on this ?
I want them to be successful but after 32 years of existence you would have thought they would have progressed further than they have as a club but they haven't IMO
I would say failed try somewhere else but let them grow rather than thrown into the big league !

If the the powers above got rid of london who would we end up with ?.
Another french team

Re: 2,381 : Sun Mar 11, 2012 11:39 am  

They should bin them off, its never going to take off. No fans = No future.

The RFL should reduce the Super League by 2 teams now that it has expanded the exiles format.

Super League would then be a much stronger competition and most games would be entertaining and of higher intensity rather than the majority of one sided dull affairs we have now.

Having Leeds, Wigan, Warrington, Saints and possibly Huddersfield fighting it out for honours every year is becoming tedious.

The playoffs need to be looked at too as these league games just dont carry any significance anymore. As Leeds proved in 2011, you can play pretty average footy for most of the season and then string 4-5 games together at the end and be crowned champions. That game on friday night was nowhere near high intensity as it didnt really matter who won or lost. As long as you pick up enough points over the season and finish in the eight you have a good chance of being champions.

I honestly think that the league leaders should be the season champions and the playoffs be run as some kind of elite knock out cup competition at the end of the year, both in their own rights.

The winners of the league would go on to play the world club final against the nrl champions.

Re: 2,381 : Sun Mar 11, 2012 3:40 pm  

I think as a club London Broncos is heading for extinction but they may struggle along for a few more years.

For the first 10 years of SL they were reasonably successful on the field, usually mid table playoff contenders, with some good players, but since Tony Rea left in 2006 they have been in decline and so have their gates, they had average gates of 4600 in 2006 but since then its been creeping down towards the 3000 mark.

There will always be a few die hards there but there's no real market for rugby league down there and the whole project of a London franchise is running out of steam.

As far as 'expansion' teams go Catalans have left London for dead, they have always been around 7000-8000 crowds mainly made up of home supporters as its expensive for away fans to travel, the difference is there's a market for RL in the south of France, there isn't a market for RL in the south of England.

Re: 2,381 : Sun Mar 11, 2012 4:09 pm  

There are a ridiculous number of children playing RL in London, even if they never make the grade we have a generation of RL fans in 'the south', who will potentially give birth to another generation of fans... These things take time. The only problem is the name/location changes... Fulham, Twickenham, Charlton, Brentford, Twickenham again... The fans don't know whether they're coming or going...
As for attendances, yes they have several million potential fans to preach to, but football, yawnion and Tube engineering works to compete against...

Re: 2,381 : Sun Mar 11, 2012 9:29 pm  

PADDERS wrote:

Is it working down south is there a point when the RFL stop bailing them out and admit its not working !

The RFL have never contributed a penny to the London club. They may be struggling but the bailing is done by their owner, David Hughes. I'm a Wire through-and-through but regularly went to see Fulham ( etc ) during the 18 years I lived in London. You'd probably feel different if you were one of the loyal 2,000 or so who did turn up this weekend.

Re: 2,381 : Sun Mar 11, 2012 10:40 pm  

Dita's Slot Meter wrote:

We all know London as a top RL side is a waste of a time, but why can't the RFL bin them off exactly?

If its because of media coverage, which I feel some might state, then, let's be honest, even WITH London our media coverage is a joke, so losing them wouldn't matter a jot?

I said they won't bin them, off not can't.... And i actually agree they've had everything done for them bar been given league points..Yet it seems only a tiny proportion of the southerners are interested in RL...