London in SL is a big opportunity to raise the sports profile

[The Daddy]

London being back in SL is the biggest opportunity the sports had in a while to raise its profile and get casual sports fans talking about rl again. 

Over the past few seasons SL outside of catalan has been enclosed to a narrow area across Yorkshire and Lancashire and the profile of the sport has really dipped over that period. 

I really hope the Broncos, RFL and Robert Elstone maximises this opportunity. Let's get London players out around Ealing and London drumming up as much publicity as possible. Get them on local radio, can we get a radio station to commentary on their games? 

The other important thing is the ground, I know the capacity is going up but what is the long term solution? 

The SL clubs, London and the RFL need to come together, buy a patch of land in central/west London and gradually develop it. There are still areas waiting to be bought and the Skolars ground is just one example. 

Lastly, it's important that London are competitive next year and have a team that can beat any other on it's day. 

Let's go broncos!! 

[Damien]

3 minutes ago, The Daddy said:

The SL clubs, London and the RFL need to come together, buy a patch of land in central/west London and gradually develop it. There are still areas waiting to be bought and the Skolars ground is just one example.

I certainly agree with this and have long said the same. It is about time that RL had a proper strategy for London, with real investment, instead of the piecemeal effort we have seen to date. Even a modest ground could host England internationals instead of the likes of Leigh too.

[Manx RL]

23 minutes ago, The Daddy said:

London being back in SL is the biggest opportunity the sports had in a while to raise its profile and get casual sports fans talking about rl again. 

Over the past few seasons SL outside of catalan has been enclosed to a narrow area across Yorkshire and Lancashire and the profile of the sport has really dipped over that period. 

I really hope the Broncos, RFL and Robert Elstone maximises this opportunity. Let's get London players out around Ealing and London drumming up as much publicity as possible. Get them on local radio, can we get a radio station to commentary on their games? 

The other important thing is the ground, I know the capacity is going up but what is the long term solution? 

The SL clubs, London and the RFL need to come together, buy a patch of land in central/west London and gradually develop it. There are still areas waiting to be bought and the Skolars ground is just one example. 

Lastly, it's important that London are competitive next year and have a team that can beat any other on it's day. 

Let's go broncos!! 

Skolars ground is neither central or west. How does it provide and example given that it's north and east ?

Chelsea and QPR will tell you just how difficult it is to find land in the west suitable for a stadium. But maybe you can share where these areas still waiting to be bought are.

 

[Tre Cool]

5 hours ago, The Daddy said:

 

The SL clubs, London and the RFL need to come together, buy a patch of land in central/west London and gradually develop it. There are still areas waiting to be bought and the Skolars ground is just one example. 

 

Having a long term lease to play at a run down old stadium in Haringey is not the same as owning land.

And if you think RL can afford to 'buy a patch of land' in central / west London you're living in a fantasy land.

[Oliver Clothesoff]

London’s promotion hasn’t changed a thing thus far. They’ve been promoted about a month now and in the buildup to the Million Pound Game and after the game, there was absolutely no coverage of the game. Nothing. 

Will much change when the season kicks-off? Nope. 

What are London doing right now to attract new fans? I’ve not seen a thing. 

[MustardBoy]

Nothing will change, something radical would need to happen such as a ground like Craven Cottage being used, and tickets for kids dished out in vast numbers across schools. Flyers put on every seat at football grounds in London, adults for a fiver, fun days. That Ealing location and ground is utterly useless, they may as well be in League 1 with a feeble presence.

[Tre Cool]

32 minutes ago, Oliver Clothesoff said:

London’s promotion hasn’t changed a thing thus far. They’ve been promoted about a month now and in the buildup to the Million Pound Game and after the game, there was absolutely no coverage of the game. Nothing. 

Will much change when the season kicks-off? Nope. 

What are London doing right now to attract new fans? I’ve not seen a thing. 

It can't be easy to sell something if they don't even know the fixtures yet.

[Tre Cool]

Just now, MustardBoy said:

Nothing will change, something radical would need to happen such as a ground like Craven Cottage being used, and tickets for kids dished out in vast numbers across schools. Flyers put on every seat at football grounds in London, adults for a fiver, fun days. That Ealing location and ground is utterly useless, they may as well be in League 1 with a feeble presence.

What's useless about Ealing as a location or ground exactly?

[MustardBoy]

Just now, Tre Cool said:

What's useless about Ealing as a location or ground exactly?

The thread was about raising the profile of Rugby League in London, or the sports profile outside of the Heartlands!

How will playing at a 3,000 capacity ground, with no promotion or advertising in Ealing do absolutely anything to raise the profile in a city with an urban pop of nearly 11 million? What do you think will happen or come of it?

[Tre Cool]

2 minutes ago, MustardBoy said:

The thread was about raising the profile of Rugby League in London, or the sports profile outside of the Heartlands!

How will playing at a 3,000 capacity ground, with no promotion or advertising in Ealing do absolutely anything to raise the profile in a city with an urban pop of nearly 11 million? What do you think will happen or come of it?

Well it will actually be a 4k capacity which is more than 4 x their average attendance this year.  Your comment was that Ealing is a useless stadium and area.  Why?

[bazzzz65]

23 minutes ago, MustardBoy said:

Nothing will change, something radical would need to happen such as a ground like Craven Cottage being used, and tickets for kids dished out in vast numbers across schools. Flyers put on every seat at football grounds in London, adults for a fiver, fun days. That Ealing location and ground is utterly useless, they may as well be in League 1 with a feeble presence.

How much would renting Craven Cottage cost? Beyond the reach of Broncos I would think. If you were only charging a fiver , even more so.

[MustardBoy]

31 minutes ago, Tre Cool said:

What's useless about Ealing as a location or ground exactly?

No, I'm deluded. Playing at Ealing with the 4,000 capacity will raise the profile of RL in London & The SE beyond recognition! There's no need for a huge cash injection, marketing, larger crowds or an increase in awareness, everything will be fine... Carry on the same as before!

[MustardBoy]

8 minutes ago, bazzzz65 said:

How much would renting Craven Cottage cost? Beyond the reach of Broncos I would think. If you were only charging a fiver , even more so.

No, I agree, there's no money for investment or any kind of change. So in my opinion, London in SL at Ealing, will do absolutely nothing to improve the profile of the sport in the region.

[Derwent]

What's different this time to last time ?

[andyscoot]

28 minutes ago, MustardBoy said:

No, I'm deluded. Playing at Ealing with the 4,000 capacity will raise the profile of RL in London & The SE beyond recognition! There's no need for a huge cash injection, marketing, larger crowds or an increase in awareness, everything will be fine... Carry on the same as before!

What specifically is it about Ealing that is bad? Ignore the ground as a structure but the actual location? Personally, if there was an RL stadium as close to C London as Ealing that's a great thing. It's closer than where it was in Twickenham.

You're not going to find a good bit of land closer to C London and if you can, no team in RL will be able to afford it. For reference, West Ham and Tottenham play over 8 miles from Charing Cross and the Broncos play 11 miles.

[gingerjon]

2 hours ago, The Daddy said:

London being back in SL is the biggest opportunity the sports had in a while to raise its profile and get casual sports fans talking about rl again. 

The biggest opportunities for the sport to raise its profile will always come from international matches on FTA television.

The rest could be useful but it's a long way behind that.

[gingerjon]

Just now, andyscoot said:

What specifically is it about Ealing that is bad? Ignore the ground as a structure but the actual location? Personally, if there was an RL stadium as close to C London as Ealing that's a great thing. It's closer than where it was in Twickenham.

You're not going to find a good bit of land closer to C London and if you can, no team in RL will be able to afford it. For reference, West Ham and Tottenham play over 8 miles from Charing Cross and the Broncos play 11 miles.

I put the link up a while ago but it's worth seeing just how few soccer teams are able to play at grounds that are within even the broadest definition of central London. And that's the most popular sport in London by a long, long way.

[MustardBoy]

2 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

The biggest opportunities for the sport to raise its profile will always come from international matches on FTA television.

The rest could be useful but it's a long way behind that.

Yes, FTA International matches are great...

However, with regards to London, surely the right minds could create one off games at a large(ish) london ground, against a top team with super discounted tickets / free tickets for kids and students? Isn't that how the profile is raised? Get people to taste RL. Ealing will do nothing to draw anybody in, there's no incentive or awareness, people need to know it exists.

Maybe copy what Toronto have done on some level? It needs money and marketing, promotion.

[gingerjon]

1 minute ago, MustardBoy said:

Yes, FTA International matches are great...

However, with regards to London, surely the right minds could create one off games at a large(ish) london ground, against a top team with super discounted tickets / free tickets for kids and students? Isn't that how the profile is raised? Get people to taste RL. Ealing will do nothing to draw anybody in, there's no incentive or awareness, people need to know it exists.

Maybe copy what Toronto have done on some level? It needs money and marketing, promotion.

I'd rather London looked after London. I want us to be a sustainable club bringing young players through and being competitive in whatever division we're in. We've had visionaries, initiatives and all manner of great ideas in the past couple of decades and yet we are where we are: at a rugby union ground in Ealing.

It's not our job to save rugby league. It's our job to get out on the pitch and perform. If we can do things to raise our gates and sponsorship - organically and with a decent foundation - then brilliant. But I do not want to see us engaging with any pipe dream idea of hiring random grounds with the thought that 5,000 in Loftus Road to watch us not beat Wigan is 'better' than 1,500 at Ealing.

[IM2]

2 hours ago, Manx RL said:

Skolars ground is neither central or west. How does it provide and example given that it's north and east ?

Chelsea and QPR will tell you just how difficult it is to find land in the west suitable for a stadium. But maybe you can share where these areas still waiting to be bought are.

 

its pretty central. zone 3 of london. its definitely accessible as well. 1 tube and 2 rail lines close by

[Tre Cool]

1 hour ago, MustardBoy said:

No, I'm deluded. Playing at Ealing with the 4,000 capacity will raise the profile of RL in London & The SE beyond recognition! There's no need for a huge cash injection, marketing, larger crowds or an increase in awareness, everything will be fine... Carry on the same as before!

How does playing in a massive empty expensive soccer stadium raise the profile of RL? Do you want a sustainable RL club (which produces a lot of top quality pros, more than most northern clubs), or do you want a fantasy RL club that will go bust again in a couple of years chasing an unrealistic dream of being some massive sports club?  The top top northern RL clubs are lucky to scrape together 10k crowds.  How are London going to be the next Brisbane Broncos?  Time for some realism and sustainability.

[Big Picture]

37 minutes ago, MustardBoy said:

Yes, FTA International matches are great...

However, with regards to London, surely the right minds could create one off games at a large(ish) london ground, against a top team with super discounted tickets / free tickets for kids and students? Isn't that how the profile is raised? Get people to taste RL. Ealing will do nothing to draw anybody in, there's no incentive or awareness, people need to know it exists.

Maybe copy what Toronto have done on some level? It needs money and marketing, promotion.

How exactly can London copy what Toronto have done?  Playing teams from northern England is strangely exotic to Torontonians, but not so much to Londoners.

[MustardBoy]

6 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

How exactly can London copy what Toronto have done?  Playing teams from northern England is strangely exotic to Torontonians, but not so much to Londoners.

You know exactly what I meant, mass promotion and incentives, pushing the brand, investing heavily, etc... Not just bumbling on with the same old...

[Big Picture]

Just now, MustardBoy said:

You know exactly what I meant, mass promotion and incentives, pushing the brand, investing heavily, etc... Not just bumbling on with the same old...

What do they have to promote though?  What makes anyone think that Londoners care to see a team playing those northern teams?

[MustardBoy]

17 minutes ago, Tre Cool said:

How does playing in a massive empty expensive soccer stadium raise the profile of RL? Do you want a sustainable RL club (which produces a lot of top quality pros, more than most northern clubs), or do you want a fantasy RL club that will go bust again in a couple of years chasing an unrealistic dream of being some massive sports club?  The top top northern RL clubs are lucky to scrape together 10k crowds.  How are London going to be the next Brisbane Broncos?  Time for some realism and sustainability.

So how does playing to 1,500 fans in Ealing raise the profile? Carrying on with the same old mediocrity? You want them to stay as large as Non-League soccer teams, of which there are hundreds.

Are Toronto a fantasy RL club who'll go bust with an unrealistic dream of being some massive sports club? They can do what London can't?

Seriously, you think top, top Northern RL clubs are 'lucky' to scrape 10k fans?