142 replies to this topic

[Spicer]

I would be reluctantly waving goodbye if it ever became a permanent move

Could not agree more.
Maybe a game on the road I could run with.
Will have to wait and see what David Hughes has to say at the next fans forum.
To be fair to him if he thinks its the way forward and he is the only investror I can
understand why he would look after his own interests.
But from my point of view if we are not London playing in London or its confines its end of.
Also there is plenty to watch down here all be it at the lower level at Eastern Raiders, Hainault,
Greenwich and of course those up and coming in the London Junior League such as Brentwood Elvers.
If Quins go it will be a blow but not a knock out punch.
If anybody doubts the commitment of some (not me I might add in recent times ) in London they should have been at The Stoop yesterday for the London Junior League finals It was a pleasure to behold and a clear indicator that London has a lot to offer to Rl.
And besides if I want to watch Super League perhaps I can have a very occasional jolly to Catalans or maybe a Championship away weekend in Toulouse.

Edited by Spicer, 19 July 2010 - 03:41 PM.

[Bulliac]

It won't fly. People would confuse them with another Super League franchise -- Toulouse Olympique -- who may drop out of the Championship in 2011 so as to qualify for a Super League license under the category of a "foreign club invited."

Olympique Miltonaise, peut être?

[RP London]

not overnight, but from little acorns mighty oaks do grow. i think Quins RL as they are known today have possibly one more move to get it right in London. i dont think gates are going to get much better if at all at the Stoop. the options as i see it for them are a move to the olympic stadium after 2012, or a move to a west London soccer staduim. i did live in London for a while a few years back, and i must admit that when the London Bronco's as they were then started playing out of the valley i did think that Rugby League in London would take off, sadly i was wrong.

problem is with the little acorns dity is that most of them dont grow at all..

A large olympic stadium would be a bad move IMO... MK may just work, Oxford may well be better though.

[THE RED ROOSTER]

As someone who sometime ago posted the idea of Milton Keynes as a potential venue for Rugby League. If you were starting from scratch on this forum. I am not surprised this has come up.
As the only poster to have watched a "rugby" match at MK Dons - Saracens v Bristol in May 2008 IIRC I would point out that Saracens got a crowd of 10,000 for a nothing game when they averaged about 7,800. The Stadium is superb and is located between Bletchley and Milton Keynes and has good transport links to the North. it's a growing area with little top flight sport so the paralell is with Wrexham.
That said all this has come about because Harlequins are in a bind over the Warrington game on September 4th. With Twickenham booked for the London Double Header and over 60,000 plus due to be present . The landlords may require the overspill car parking ruling out the Saturday at the Stoop and before some enter on an anti-RU rant the Metropolitan Police may also insist on this. Sunday is the Wimmins Rugby Union World Cup Final - I am sure of great interest to you all - which rules out that day.
To announce Friday night now means
* Cheesing off Wire fans who have bought cheap return tickets on Virgin trains for the Saturday 3.00pm kickoff
* Ditto Harlequins fans like myself who can just about stomach the ONE Friday night per season.
Much better to blame it al on SKY moving the game to 8.00pm on the Friday to cover the Wire's push for one of the top two spots and two bites of the cherry* in the playoffs.
A cunning plan which Baldrick would have been proud of by Quins....

* Maybe two bites of the Cherry & Whites....

[Spicer]

Hadn t realised about the womens world cup RR.

Never was able to make the Hull game so looks as though my season may be done then

[shrek]

50k+ stadiums is crazy talk considering even if everything went swimmingly they'd never even average half of that.

Personally I'd like to see the ownership sorted out before deciding on venues, no point being tied into somewhere then a new owner having a completely different strategy.

If they are to stay in London there are plenty of small to medium football clubs who'd be looking for more income I am sure, a return to The Valley even, Charlton must be feeling the pinch as another season in League 1 looms and there's plenty going on at a junior or amateur level round about (or the used to be way back when when I lived in that neck of the woods!).

[nadera78]

Milton Keynes might have made sense 10 years ago - for all the reasons listed previously - but it now has its own (stolen!) soccer team for the population to gather round. I doubt there will be much spectator or business support left over for a relocating RL team with no money to spend on marketing and promotions.

If you want some more baseless rumours, Hemel Hempstead council is planning to build a 6,000 capacity stadium with room for expansion to 12,000.

[RP London]

50k+ stadiums is crazy talk considering even if everything went swimmingly they'd never even average half of that.

Personally I'd like to see the ownership sorted out before deciding on venues, no point being tied into somewhere then a new owner having a completely different strategy.

If they are to stay in London there are plenty of small to medium football clubs who'd be looking for more income I am sure, a return to The Valley even, Charlton must be feeling the pinch as another season in League 1 looms and there's plenty going on at a junior or amateur level round about (or the used to be way back when when I lived in that neck of the woods!).

problem with football clubs is that they are not always looking for more income.. they are looking for more profit.. opening up the ground for RL in the summer also costs money so the income has to outweigh these costs.. that means taking gate money, taking bar profits, or charging very high rent.. maybe too high for the club to stomach.. they need the summer to sort the pitch out etc as well so at some point the RL team will have to go on the road.. i would love to see them back at the valley, its the best ground outside of zone 1 and 2 which isnt actually that far away and easily accesible a few stops down from london bridge and waterloo (would only be annoyed as i would have loved it there when i lived in blackheath and my bro lived in charlton! but no they were at griffin bloody park then!)

MK is not a bad idea i see how it could work well and how it could grow.. the football club is doing ok but notpulling up any trees so i dont see that being that big an issue and not only that but again this sport is played at a different time so the two could actually have quite a nice tie up.. a small overlap period yes but not major and the two could live quite happily side by side.. it would just be sad to see the London club leave london really IMO

[Lobbygobbler]

problem with football clubs is that they are not always looking for more income.. they are looking for more profit.. opening up the ground for RL in the summer also costs money so the income has to outweigh these costs.. that means taking gate money, taking bar profits, or charging very high rent.. maybe too high for the club to stomach.. they need the summer to sort the pitch out etc as well so at some point the RL team will have to go on the road.. i would love to see them back at the valley, its the best ground outside of zone 1 and 2 which isnt actually that far away and easily accesible a few stops down from london bridge and waterloo (would only be annoyed as i would have loved it there when i lived in blackheath and my bro lived in charlton! but no they were at griffin bloody park then!)

MK is not a bad idea i see how it could work well and how it could grow.. the football club is doing ok but notpulling up any trees so i dont see that being that big an issue and not only that but again this sport is played at a different time so the two could actually have quite a nice tie up.. a small overlap period yes but not major and the two could live quite happily side by side.. it would just be sad to see the London club leave london really IMO

RP - Have you been to Tooting & Mitcham's ground? Is it suitable for SL? Or could it be with extra temporary stands?

Not much top notch soccer in the area

[RP London]

RP - Have you been to Tooting & Mitcham's ground? Is it suitable for SL? Or could it be with extra temporary stands?

Not much top notch soccer in the area

no not been to that one to be honest..

i would be surpised if it were suitable but it would be an interesting option if they could easily get it up to it..

[Lobbygobbler]

no not been to that one to be honest..

i would be surpised if it were suitable but it would be an interesting option if they could easily get it up to it..

Definitely. There is quite a suprising vast swathe of working class areas (e.g. Sutton, Carshalton, Mitcham and even Croydon) around that area all the way down to the posher bits near the southern fringe of the M25. A very large untapped population

[Dave T]

RP - Have you been to Tooting & Mitcham's ground? Is it suitable for SL? Or could it be with extra temporary stands?

Not much top notch soccer in the area

Just looking around the stadium has a capacity of 3,500 with 612 seats.

Is it you who says that Leyton Orient could be a good base, as their stadium looks quite ok with a decent capacity?

[Pottsy]

RP - Have you been to Tooting & Mitcham's ground? Is it suitable for SL? Or could it be with extra temporary stands?

Not much top notch soccer in the area

Looks quite a tidy (three sided) ground.

Wouldn't meet Super League standards in terms of capacity though.

[bowes]

Looks quite a tidy (three sided) ground.

Wouldn't meet Super League standards in terms of capacity though.

Sounds like a potential for a Championship side some time in the medium to distant future maybe?

[PREPOSTEROUS]

Just looking around the stadium has a capacity of 3,500 with 612 seats.

Is it you who says that Leyton Orient could be a good base, as their stadium looks quite ok with a decent capacity?

I also brought it up a whiles ago, it's a clever way for developing the ground when strapped for cash. Developers have used the corners to build residential properties whilst providing new facilities for the football club. I thought it would be a great base then take big games to the Olympic Stadium when that was constructed with it been only a few miles away.

[shrek]

problem with football clubs is that they are not always looking for more income.. they are looking for more profit.. opening up the ground for RL in the summer also costs money so the income has to outweigh these costs.. that means taking gate money, taking bar profits, or charging very high rent.. maybe too high for the club to stomach.. they need the summer to sort the pitch out etc as well so at some point the RL team will have to go on the road.. i would love to see them back at the valley, its the best ground outside of zone 1 and 2 which isnt actually that far away and easily accesible a few stops down from london bridge and waterloo (would only be annoyed as i would have loved it there when i lived in blackheath and my bro lived in charlton! but no they were at griffin bloody park then!)

Agreed, problem with London though is alternatives are few and far between. I'd rather be a tenant on somewhere with reasonable rent, grateful landlords and in a ground I have an outside chance of one day filling than some of the other ideas being banded around.

We must have almost been neighbours! Although I was further up shooters hill in the rough part of town, so rough, Tony Mestrov was a neighbour. We did occasionally sneak into Blackheath under the cover of darkness to sample the delights of Zero degrees and that ropey curry house around the corner!

[Lobbygobbler]

Agreed, problem with London though is alternatives are few and far between. I'd rather be a tenant on somewhere with reasonable rent, grateful landlords and in a ground I have an outside chance of one day filling than some of the other ideas being banded around.

We must have almost been neighbours! Although I was further up shooters hill in the rough part of town, so rough, Tony Mestrov was a neighbour. We did occasionally sneak into Blackheath under the cover of darkness to sample the delights of Zero degrees and that ropey curry house around the corner!

We have no idea what the "rent" is at Quims, also who is to say that Quins RU are grateful. Finally it is such a remote stadium with no RL interest in the local area, that there is zero chance of even filling up 2 stands

That is why other ideas are necessary

[shrek]

We have no idea what the "rent" is at Quims, also who is to say that Quins RU are grateful. Finally it is such a remote stadium with no RL interest in the local area, that there is zero chance of even filling up 2 stands

That is why other ideas are necessary

I presume you read the posting from RP I was replying to regarding using football stadiums! We didn't say Quins were grateful, the rent was reasonable or they should stay and were talking about alternatives!

[Methven Hornet]

RP - Have you been to Tooting & Mitcham's ground? Is it suitable for SL? Or could it be with extra temporary stands?

Not much top notch soccer in the area

Mitcham? Why does that ring a bell?

Edited by Methven Hornet, 20 July 2010 - 12:48 PM.

[RP London]

Agreed, problem with London though is alternatives are few and far between. I'd rather be a tenant on somewhere with reasonable rent, grateful landlords and in a ground I have an outside chance of one day filling than some of the other ideas being banded around.

We must have almost been neighbours! Although I was further up shooters hill in the rough part of town, so rough, Tony Mestrov was a neighbour. We did occasionally sneak into Blackheath under the cover of darkness to sample the delights of Zero degrees and that ropey curry house around the corner!

i would say the hardest things to find are the grateful landlords and reasonable rents.. and of course location.. location wise QPR or Fulhm would be fatastic as would be really easy for people to get to frommost parts of london but i would be very suprised to see that happen.. its a very hard thing to do and get right which is why it isnt happenin at the moment..

oh so it was you who would come down and sully the great street of blackheath i loved it there and only moved out as i couldnt afford to buy a flat in the area so moved to whitechapel instead..

Zero degrees was fantastic, though sometimes for comedy value